Bill Davis Racing's No. 22 Toyota will make it's debut on the track at the Daytona 500. Credit: Autostock

'New' is the magic word for NASCAR's '07 season

From COT to Toyota to TV, things will be different compared to '06

"New" will be in the news in 2007. New manufacturers, new owners, new teams, new cars, new venues (in the Busch Series), new drivers, new crew chiefs, new sponsors, new TV contract ... well, you get the picture.

It truly was a sillier than normal Silly Season. With more than 43 fully-funded teams, the first few races -- particularly the Daytona 500 -- will look suspiciously like a 190 mph game of musical chairs. When the music stops, somebody's going to be left standing.

Right now, the mood in the garage area is positively positive. It's a new season and everyone has high hopes.

Old faces in new places

Toyota becomes the first full-time foreign manufacturer in NASCAR's top-tier series, which created a number of new combinations and left voids at the old ones.

In addition, there seems to be a recurring theme: veteran drivers with no wins in 2006 turning into nomads for 2007.

Michael Waltrip, winless the past three seasons, has started his own Toyota team. He remains in the No. 55 with NAPA sponsorship.

Waltrip added Dale Jarrett, whose last win came at Talladega in 2005, as a teammate for 2007. Jarrett brings his UPS colors from Robert Yates but will have No. 44 on the door.

"If I can look back after everything is finished and say I had a big part of helping Toyota enter the Cup series and be successful, then that will be pretty rewarding," Jarrett said.

That opened up a spot for Ricky Rudd's return in the No. 88, with Snickers as sponsor. Rudd, who sat out the 2006 season, last visited Victory Lane in 2002, driving the No. 28 for Yates.

"It was just a chance to get to know everybody again and take a little time off and really figure out what I really wanted to do," Rudd said. "Since I was a kid, this is all I wanted to do."

Dave Blaney, still searching for that elusive first victory, remains in the No. 22 Caterpillar car for Bill Davis Racing, with a Toyota logo on the nose. Guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races, Blaney will have the luxury of having some time to get comfortable in his new surroundings.

If the Daytona test was any indication, Blaney may already be there.

"We have every reason to be excited about how the test in Daytona turned out," Blaney said. "With Daytona you really never know what you have until the race starts but what we learned at the test gives us confidence."

Jeremy Mayfield, winner at Michigan in 2005, slides into the No. 36 as Blaney's teammate, with 360 OTC as the sponsor.

The third Toyota team is Red Bull Racing, which hired Brian Vickers to drive the No. 83. Vickers bucks the trend -- he won at Talladega in the fall -- but fans with long memories and short tempers may not forgive him for spinning Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to do it.

	Toyota is hoping Jeremy Mayfield can turn his luck around. The last time he finished in the top 10 was Homestead in 2005. Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
	Inside the Numbers Toyota driver's '06 Cup results Driver Wins Top-5's Top-10's D. Blaney 0 1 2 D. Jarrett 0 1 4 J. Mayfield 0 0 0 B. Vickers 1 5 9 M. Waltrip 0 0 0 Total 1 7 15 Note: A.J. Allmendinger and David Reutimann did not compete in a Cup race in 2006.

Vickers was available when Casey Mears -- yep, no wins for Chip Ganassi -- agreed to drive Rick Hendrick's No. 25 for 2007. Mears will also have sponsorship from the National Guard, which came over from Greg Biffle. Biffle's sponsor, Ameriquest, moves up from the Busch Series.

"You expect when you come to a team like Hendrick Motorsports to maybe see some differences and they haven't let me down so far," Mears said. "It's a pretty impressive place from top to bottom."

Two years ago, Mark Martin was a few races away from hanging up his helmet. He's in the Army now -- or at least the No. 01 Army car -- for newly-named Ginn Racing, splitting driving duties with rookie Regan Smith.

Don't even mention the word "retirement" to Martin, who failed to win a race for Jack Roush in 2006.

"I wouldn't be surprised to be with Ginn in 19 years," Martin said. "I probably won't be driving them, maybe I'll be driving the hauler or something like that, but I expect to be around.

"The cool opportunity that I have is that I get to do whatever I want to do. That can be drive Cup cars or Busch cars and I get to mentor young drivers or do whatever it is that I would like to do there."

That moves Joe Nemechek, whose last win came in 2004, over to the No. 13.

Last but not least, Ward Burton is back. Absent from a full-time ride since 2004 -- and searching for his first win since 2002 -- Burton will drive the No. 4 with State Water Heaters on the hood after a three-race audition at the end of last season.

"When I got back in the car the first time it was a lot of fun at first," Burton said. "My first instinct was, 'Where in the hell have I been?' It just felt that natural."

In addition, Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray and Mike Bliss have new crew chiefs.

New kids on the block

After all these years, Juan Montoya has a roof over his head.

Without a Formula One ride for 2007, Montoya turned to his old friend, Chip Ganassi for assistance. Yeah, the guy who owned the car with which Montoya won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000.

Ganassi's giving him the keys to the No. 42, vacated by Mears at the end of the year. The key question: How quickly will Montoya acclimate himself to stock cars?

"When you take grip away and you've been used to the grip for a long time, you think 'What the heck is wrong with this?' " Montoya said. "From my ignorance, it could actually help me.

"The engineers and people who work on these cars are really smart people. You hear people say there's no technology, oh, you'd be shocked."

The other new faces may not be able to match Montoya's resume, but that doesn't mean they don't have the desire -- or the talent -- to succeed.

Open-wheel star A.J. Allmendinger, who won five Champ Car races in 2006, attempts to make a similar transition in Red Bull's No. 84.

For others, it's all in the family.

Jon Wood becomes the first member of the famous racing Wood Brothers to steer the No. 21 since Glen stepped away from driving duties in 1964. He'll split time with Ken Schrader -- and run the No. 47 for selected events.

David Reutimann, son of legendary Florida short-track ace Buzzie, moves up from the Craftsman Truck Series to drive the No. 00 for Waltrip's new team.

That's the same career path David Ragan took to get the No. 6 at Roush Racing. His dad, Ken, made 50 Cup starts from 1983-1990.

Johnny Sauter's got this family deal down pat, too. After dabbling in Cup the past four seasons, the youngest of the Sauter clan gets a full-time shot in the No. 70.

Paul Menard's dad made his money in home improvement but was a pretty fair car owner in the Indy-car ranks. Menard, who finished sixth in the Busch Series standings each of the last two seasons, will campaign the No. 15 as a teammate to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr.

Regan Smith posted one top-10 finish and led six races in his first full-time foray into the Busch Series in 2006. That landed him a slot with Ginn, where he'll run the No. 39 when he's not sharing the No. 01 with Martin.

Brandon Whitt is also attempting to make the leap from trucks to Cup in 2007, driving the No. 72.

Beating around the Busch

You can't tell the players without a program as Anheuser-Busch takes its final lap as series sponsor in 2007. Actually, even a program might not help as Busch teams have opted for quantity as well as quality.

Even defending series champ Kevin Harvick may have a difficult time trying to figure out which car he's in, since he'll split time between the No. 21, 33 and 77.

	Ricky Rudd is back with Robert Yates Racing, taking over the No. 88 for the departed Dale Jarrett. Credit: Autostock
	"It was just a chance to get to know everybody again and take a little time off and really figure out what I really wanted to do. Since I was a kid, this is all I wanted to do." - Ricky Rudd

But he won't be the only one. Greg Biffle will share driving duties with Todd Kluever in the No. 16 -- and with Jamie McMurray in the No. 37.

Tony Stewart will be running the No. 18 with Aric Almirola, Brad Coleman and Kevin Conway ... when he's not driving Harvick's No. 33. Almirola? He'll also drive the No. 20 when Denny Hamlin's busy elsewhere. Oh, and Stewart will drive the No. 20 at least once as well.

Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs, Elliott Sadler and Boris Said will share the No. 9. All three full-time DEI drivers -- Menard, Earnhardt Jr. and Truex Jr. -- are scheduled to get seat time in the No. 11.

Ward Burton and Jason Keller in the No. 27, Jeff Burton and Scott Wimmer in the No. 29, Reed Sorenson, David Stremme and Bryan Clauson in the No. 41, Juan Montoya and Kevin Hamlin in the No. 42, Harvick, Bobby Labonte and Kertus Davis in the No. 77 ... there's a trend developing here.

Consider this: Fewer than 15 drivers are currently scheduled to run the entire season in the same car. That includes John Andretti and Jason Leffler, now teammates under the Braun Racing banner; Steve Wallace, driving for father Rusty; Shane Huffman in Junior's No. 88 and Stephen Leicht, under the Robert Yates banner.

Australian Marcos Ambrose moves up from trucks to vie for rookie of the year honors.

The series also adds more international flair with a stop at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in August.

Keep on truckin'

There may be more questions than answers in the Craftsman Truck Series for 2007. Most of the major players are returning, but several teams are still trying to nail down sponsorship.

Defending series champion Todd Bodine and Germain Racing had visions of running a Cup schedule but has since decided to stay put. Runner-up Johnny Benson is back as well.

But several drivers will have new homes this season. Dennis Setzer moves to the No. 75, while Terry Cook hopes to find continued success in the No. 59. David Starr joins Rick Crawford in the Circle Bar stable, driving the No. 10. Aaron Fike moves to the No. 1.

This season will also see the return of former series champ Travis Kvapil in Roush's No. 6 and Busch Series veteran Tim Sauter in the No. 07. Tyler Walker, who ran 16 Busch events in 2006, lands a full-time ride in the No. 36, while Joey Clanton plans to share driving duties with Stacy Compton in the No. 09.

Ken Schrader is also expected to run the majority of the races in Bobby Hamilton Racing's No. 18.

Rookie Willie Allen is taking over Kerry Earnhardt's ride for 2007. Other new faces include Cale Gale, Kelly Bires, Blake Bjorklund, Canadian Peter Shepherd and Englishman John Mickel.