{"id":5592,"date":"2013-01-17T16:40:11","date_gmt":"2013-01-17T21:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/?p=5592"},"modified":"2013-10-16T19:35:49","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T23:35:49","slug":"nascar-five-sizzling-storylines-to-salivate-over-in-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/2013\/01\/17\/nascar-five-sizzling-storylines-to-salivate-over-in-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR: Five Sizzling Storylines to Salivate Over in 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A wise man once said\u2026 the waiting is the hardest part<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As a NASCAR fanatic the winter months seem to drag on forever, and I\u2019m itching to hear the two part harmony between the melodic roar of the engines and those glorious words: Gentleman, start your engines!<\/i><\/p>\n

We\u2019re less than a month away from Daytona and in an attempt to make these agonizing last few weeks roll by quickly, I\u2019m basking in the anticipation of what promises to be another captivating Sprint Cup<\/a> season chock full of intense competition, narratives and subplots that will keep us buzzing all the way through the Chase in November.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s ten storylines for the 2013 season that I\u2019m eagerly awaiting in the days before the green flag flies and the tires\u00a0start spinning at Daytona on February 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brad K.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Brad Keselowski hosted the Sprint Cup in 2012. Can he do it again this year?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Following a meteoric two-year rise from a rank-and-file driver to a contender and then a champion, Brad Keselowski will be looking to hoist another Sprint Cup title in 2013, but to do so he\u2019ll have to adapt to a new engine as the #2 Miller Lite and the rest of the Penske Racing team has left Dodge in the rearview mirror and will now be racing with a Ford engine under the hood.<\/p>\n

How Brad adapts to the change early in the in the 2013 season may give us an early indication if he is destined to become more of a Johnson\/Stewart multiple championship winner or a Bobby Labonte one-and-done champion.<\/p>\n

My hunch is that Keselowski will be much more like the former than the latter.\u00a0 The kid\u2019s legit and has the swagger and confidence that racing legends are made of.<\/p>\n

Bounce backs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two perennial Cup contenders had horrendously disappointing seasons in 2012, and Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch will be looking to wipe the proverbial egg of their face with a bounce-back 2013 campaign.\u00a0 It was only a year and a half ago that \u201cShrub<\/a>\u201d and \u201cCuz<\/a>\u201d were the toast of the NASCAR world, winning multiple races in 2011 and being considered Cup frontrunners.\u00a0 Busch fell flat on his face early in the \u201911 chase, and Edwards had one of the most heartbreaking collapses in NASCAR history when he was edged out of the title spot by Tony Stewart in the final race of the year.<\/p>\n

The hangover continued for both in the 2012 season as both failed to make the Chase, though Busch did finish strong by stringing together several top 10 finishes to close the year.\u00a0 Edwards was an enigma all season, and now will head into 2013 with a new crew chief and strong desire to put his hideous 2012 in the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n

My guess is that both of these guys rebound and work their way back into the Chase this year; whether or not either can fulfill their promise and hoist a trophy is a much more difficult question.<\/p>\n

Champs\u2019 revenge<\/strong><\/p>\n

After winning five straight championships, Jimmy Johnson\u2019s two year title drought must have felt like an eternity for the #48\u2019s many fans.\u00a0 And Tony Stewart was less than pleased to have given his rooters a 9th<\/sup> place finish as an encore to his 2011 championship.<\/p>\n

Will these two top guns be in the mix for yet another title this year?\u00a0 I certainly wouldn\u2019t bet against either.<\/p>\n

Dale and Jeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two of the NASCAR\u2019s most popular drivers seem to be heading in different directions as Dale Earnhardt, Jr. turned in one of his best seasons in years in 2012 and appears poised to be a contender again in 2013.\u00a0 Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon snuck into the Chase last year by the hair on his chinny-chin-chin, only to become a non-factor in the championship contest.\u00a0 Does the aging Gordon have what it takes to still be one of the dominant racers, or is he past his prime?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll go out on a limb and predict the latter, as Gordon will fail to win a race or make the Chase in 2013 (flame away, #24 fans!).<\/p>\n

New car<\/strong><\/p>\n

The latest NASCAR car that will be unveiled in 2013 \u2013 the Gen6 \u2013 has been getting rave reviews for the way it looks.\u00a0 Drivers and fans alike are thrilled with the carbon fiber decklids and hoods have proven popular for their increasing resemblance to production cars.<\/p>\n

What remains to be seen is which manufacturers can best take advantage of the newer car\u2019s potential for improving downforce and mechanical grip.<\/p>\n

Despite test runs having already gotten underway \u2013 including one that ended in a 12-car pileup <\/a>\u2013 nobody will be quite certain which teams have made the most of the transition until the engines fire up\u00a0at Daytona next month.<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Jack Payton, NASCAR commentator and automotive writer whose work appears on behalf of online tires retailer tires-easy.com<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  A wise man once said\u2026 the waiting is the hardest part. As a NASCAR fanatic the winter months seem to drag on forever, and I\u2019m itching to hear the two part harmony between the melodic roar of the engines and those glorious words: Gentleman, start your engines! We\u2019re less than a month away from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4734,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[87,114,686,190,304,316,375,709,637],"coauthors":[705],"class_list":["post-5592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cup-series","tag-brad-keselowski","tag-carl-edwards","tag-dale-earnhardt","tag-daytona-500","tag-jeff-gordon","tag-jimmy-johnson","tag-kyle-busch","tag-sprint-cup","tag-tony-stewart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5592"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tireball.com\/nascar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}