New faces in new places for Cup Series season

It's a fact that stability and consistency lead to success at the Sprint Cup Series level. What Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team have achieved by winning championships the past four years proves that.

Change is a fact of life in every Cup season. And a double-handful of changes will be on display when Speedweeks 2010 opens at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 4.

Andretti

Jamie McMurray is perhaps the most enthused about his change -- a return to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing -- which was known as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates when McMurray last drove there in 2005. McMurray contended for what's now a Chase spot the last three years he was there.

McMurray drove the past four years with Roush Fenway Racing but never was as successful in the five-car RFR format as he had been at Ganassi. He says he's hit it off extremely well with both his new crew chief, Kevin Manion, as well as his new teammate, Juan Montoya.

Martin Truex Jr. failed to make the Chase in 2009 and he's hoping the switch to Michael Waltrip Racing's Toyota fleet and joining new crew chief Pat Tryson puts them back in contention.

Paring down to NASCAR's four-team limit was only one thing that created change. Economics and family matters made for some alterations as well. With his children growing and wanting to be more of a family man, John Andretti has stepped back into a part-time schedule with Front Row Motorsports.

Kvapil

At the same time, team owner Bob Jenkins made an aggressive step to field three full-time teams, based on the top-35 platform established for his lead team by Andretti and crew chief Steven Lane. On top of that, Front Row has joined the Ford family this season after running a mix of Chevrolet and Dodge last year.

Travis Kvapil, who has the 2003 Truck Series championship on his resume, will be FRM's lead driver, primarily in the No. 34. Rookie Kevin Conway isn't NASCAR-approved to compete at Daytona, but will start his season at Fontana in the No. 37. Jenkins' No. 38 car is a new team that will use a mix of drivers: Andretti, Speedweeks pilot Robert Richardson Jr. and David Gilliland, who will run the majority of the races.

Ford's expansion included Richard Petty Motorsports, formerly a four-car Dodge team, merging with Yates Racing, which fielded three Fords at the beginning of last season. The transition began last fall, when A.J. Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler "test-fired" new RPM Fords.

Allmendinger

This season creates an odd mix of backgrounds running the blue ovals for RPM. Lead driver Kasey Kahne was formerly a Ford development driver before he began his Cup career in Dodges with former team owner Ray Evernham. Sadler achieved his best Cup results driving Fords for the Wood Brothers, for whom he won his first Cup race, and Robert Yates Racing. Paul Menard's in a Ford for the second consecutive season after a stretch in Chevrolets.

And maybe the most significant change, at least for Allmendinger, is a chance to bring Petty's famed No. 43 back to Victory Lane. That'd be a first for the former CART Champ Car star and the first since 1999 for Petty's iconic badge.

If its Web site graphics ring true, Gunselman Motorsports, a startup team re-established in 2009 by a group led by Larry Gunselman, has switched to Ford as well. The team was housed last season at Mike Wallace's shop, with Wallace also driving.

Bliss

The veteran Mike Bliss earned a lot of well-deserved praise for maintaining a top-five position in the Nationwide driver standings while hopping from ride to ride after he was released from Phoenix Racing. Bliss joins Tommy Baldwin Racing's gutsy program that also switches from Toyota to Chevrolet and brings new crew chief Kevin Buskirk into the mix as well.

While it apparently remains to be seen if Phoenix owner James Finch's tribal sponsorship will continue on his Cup and Nationwide cars, Aric Almirola is earmarked to run the full season, which would be a first for the promising Tampa, Fla., native; for hard-core racer Finch's No. 09 team.

A couple drivers who broke-in with their new teams before the end of last season get a chance to start a 36-race run at Speedweeks. Former champ Bobby Labonte did most of the end-of-season races with TRG Motorsports. Labonte starts 2010 with new crew chief Doug Randolph, whom he's worked with previously at Petty Enterprises.

Guy

Brad Keselowski, who's one of three drivers -- along with Carl Edwards and Menard -- who are contesting full schedules in both Nationwide and Cup, ran three races in Penske Racing's No. 12 car last season, after replacing David Stremme. This season Keselowski will work with Penske's newest crew chief, Jay Guy, who came over from Furniture Row Racing.

Crew chiefs who "broke the ice" working with new programs at the end of 2009 also begin a full season, at Daytona. Included in this group is Todd Berrier, who had a stunningly consistent debut last fall at Richard Childress Racing when he joined Jeff Burton on the No. 31 Chevrolet.

Dave Rogers, who was a fixture with Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide program before he took Steve Addington's place as Kyle Busch's crew chief near the end of the season, nearly won with "Shrub" at Texas. Now they face a full season together after winning in Nationwide. (Continued)