It is clear that 2009 brings with it quite a few challenges for all NASCAR race fans and race teams. It is obvious that sponsorships are harder to come by, and that most teams will have to work harder and smarter with the money they have available. However, it was very inspiring to walk through the garage areas in Daytona and see all the new teams (most of them born from a true; heart-felt desire to compete in motor sports) and all of the new driver combinations.

After fourteen years with Craftsman, the NASCAR Truck Series awarded it’s naming rights to Camping World. I think this new association is going to be better than we could have imagined. Look for some really cool new ideas from this energetic group.

Our Speed broadcast team is once again fired-up to cover the very best racing in all of NASCAR, and even though the NCWTS season is a little slow in the beginning, the action is sure to please again in season # 15. It will be hard to match the championship battles we have grown accustom to seeing the past few years. I still cannot believe that Johnny Benson finished just one position ahead of Ron Hornaday in Homestead and won the title by just seven points. That was truly Amazing!

So once again I have polled the guys on our team and asked them to predict the eventual champ for 2009. (This information was gathered prior to the first event at Daytona- and Krista Voda did not get her picks to me before the Daytona race) No driver has ever won championships back-to-back in the truck series. It certainly appears that our team thinks that statistic will continue: not one person picked JB to defend his title. Four of five announcers believe that Ron Hornaday will finish first or second in the run for the first Camping World trophy. Michael Waltrip, Adam Alexander, and Phil Parsons have Horn-blower winning championship number four! Rick Allen believes that Rick Crawford and the Circle Bar team will be at the top in November and I am going way out of the box and picking Johnny Sauter as the victor at season’s end.Todd Bodine gets and honorable mention from three of our pundits and Mike Skinner gets my vote for second best of the season.

While it is certainly true the championship battle has been in the forefront of the past few seasons, this years Raybestos Rookie of the Year title should be a doozie to watch develop. James Buescher will team up with Crawford, Tayler Malsam joins principal Skinner at Randy Moss Motor sports, Chase Austin is with a brand new team Trail motor sports and J.R. Fitzpatrick hopes to make a go of it at TRG. Ricky Carmichael will certainly garner a great deal of attention driving for happy Harvick, but as of now will not run all the races. I certainly do not agree with the rules for eligibility here, but somehow, Johnny Sauter is also considered a rookie in NCWTS events. Mikey Waltrip likes Buescher for ROY, while Adam and Rick both think Malsam will prevail, meanwhile, Phil and I will each wager on Sauter to grab the most points of this impressive group.

It will certainly be different this year not having Jack Sprague (28 wins), Dennis Setzer (18 wins) or Ted Musgrave (17 wins) competing full time with the regulars. Having Roush-Fenway enter only a single team will also be a big change. A few other questions come to mind: Will Kyle Busch win multiple races?/ Will a two-truck team help Jim Harris get his first victory?/ Will a rookie win a race?/ Will car dealer owners Wyler’s and Germain’s make it through the entire season?/ Can Mike Bliss win for Key motor sports?/ Will Colin Braun get win #50 for the cat in the hat?/ and finally, will it take Matt Crafton another 178 races to win again?

Here is a rundown of our predictions:

Mikey: 1.Hornaday 2.Bodine 3.Benson 4.Skinner 5.Buescher

Adam: 1.Hornaday 2.Bodine 3.Crawford 4.Benson 5.Braun

Phil: 1.Hornaday 2.Bodine 3.Benson 4.Crawford 5.Braun

Rick: 1.Crawford 2.Hornaday 3.Bodine 4.Skinner 5.Scott

Ray: 1.Sauter 2.Skinner 3.Hornaday 4.Crawford 5.Starr

There was never any debate that changes would be necessary within the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series to keep it afloat in 2009 but I don’t think many of us in the business were expecting those modifications to hold such promise for the on-track action itself.

Cost-cutting is essential across all NASCAR divisions but especially in the Truck Series because it was the one hardest hit by the manufacturer pullback and sponsorship slowdown. Therefore, NASCAR recently alerted the Truck Series teams of three major policy changes heading into the 2009 season: an engine usage policy; pit stops limited to either adding fuel or tires (but not both simultaneously); and a cap on the number of crew members allowed per team at the track.

Implementation of these policy changes should go a long way toward significant savings. Owners will be required to run an engine in two separate races without a total re-freshening. This policy excludes Daytona and Talladega because we run a different type of engine at the superspeedways.

It’s almost impossible to put a price tag on the average team’s engine budget last year but teams spent anywhere between $750,000 and $1.2 million for the year. There is such a variation between the “haves” and the “have-nots” and some teams still receive engines from their manufacturers, but many fell under that range. We’re expecting to see teams’ engine budgets cut almost in half with this two-race engine rule, which is a great concept.

The pit stop strategy shake-up is the most interesting component of the entire group. NASCAR’s original idea weeks ago was to throw competition cautions throughout the race, during which everyone would pit and return to the track in the same order in which they left, with the end result that specialty pit crews would not be necessary and anyone on the team could leisurely step over pit wall to service the truck. But that idea totally eliminated race strategy from the equation and from a broadcaster’s standpoint, I hated it.

However, I am very fond of this new policy because it will increase the number of and emphasis on strategic decisions crew chiefs make throughout the race. “How hard have we run these tires and do we need new ones during this stop or can we wait? Are we in our fuel window to go the distance?” These are among just a few of the questions crew chiefs will be asking.

All teams won’t make the same calls at the same time. One will gas-and-go while one opts for four tires and as a result, positions will flip-flop on the track throughout the day. These pit stop amendments will elevate the level of competition and intrigue in the races and probably give us an even better product as viewers and spectators. The past few years’ Truck races will be hard to beat, especially given how our championships have gone down to the final lap of the final race, but I think we’ll do it with these new changes, all the while saving the teams money.

Transporting less crew members to the track will cut budgets, as well, because not only will less salaries be paid out, but fewer hotel rooms, plane seats, rental cars and expensive NASCAR credentials will be required. NASCAR is limiting each team to 12 crew members, including the driver, crew chief and spotter. The total number of people credentialed and allowed in the pit area to work will be policed and rest assured NASCAR will be patrolling pit road to ensure everyone is part of that allotment.

Owners will have to decipher who their best people are and put them in the most advantageous position to utilize their specific skills. Some teams used to fly in pit crews whose members did nothing but pit the truck. Those days are over and the guy jacking the truck, for example, must be able to do something else the rest of the weekend during inspection, practice and qualifying.

I was up in arms a few weeks ago when I thought we were going to all competition cautions in the Truck Series but I’m honestly excited about these new changes and opportunities for strategy and competition. Daytona may not be the best place for strategies to play out because it’s a restricted engine track, but it will get quite interesting when we go to the mile-and-a-half and short tracks in the coming weeks.

The race-long “tires or fuel” question is one I’m really looking forward to seeing our teams answer … and I never thought I’d say that. But in the meantime, there are so many new drivers in new trucks and different truck numbers that you might need a program to keep track of them. The next challenge is to try and predict who will do what this Friday night at Daytona.