Busy offseason offers sustenance to NASCAR fans

Carl Edwards and his driving brethren will give writers and fans a peek into 2008 at January's Preseason Thunder event. David Allio/Icon SMI

Tired of the boring NASCAR off-season already? Can't wait until the start of the 2008 Sprint Cup season with the celebrated and historic 50th running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17?

If so, here's just the tonic you need. Watch out for these events to get your fill of NASCAR-related news. Mark the dates on your calendar.

The Race of Champions: Scheduled for Sunday at Wembley Stadium in London, two-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will once again compete for the Nations Cup title. He'll be part of Team USA, along with motorcyclist Travis Pastrana. Johnson missed this event last year when it was held in Paris with an injury.

NASCAR Preseason Thunder: A few seasons ago, NASCAR officials came up with a good idea. When the teams come for preseason testing at Daytona, make drivers talk to the media and show up for a couple of public appearances, then charge fans to watch the cars go around in circles. The result is NASCAR's Preseason Thunder. There are actually two Cup sessions, though teams can only go to their one assigned event, on Jan. 7-9 and Jan. 14-16. Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch will be at the first session, while the second group of drivers will include Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray. The Craftsman Truck Series (Jan. 11-13) and the Nationwide Series (Jan. 18-22) will have their own Thunder sessions. One-night Fan Fests will be held during the middle of the Thunder testing and will include bands, show cars, pit stop demonstrations, silent auctions of memorabilia and hot laps around the Daytona track.

Testing, testing and more testing: Pick a day and there will likely be a NASCAR team testing somewhere. Teams are limited to official testing sessions at NASCAR tracks, but Goodyear can invite teams for tire testing sessions. Bobby Labonte and Ron Hornaday were at a Goodyear test this week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, while Stewart, Kenseth, Burton, Kasey Kahne and Travis Kvapil tested tires at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Teams can rent out non-NASCAR tracks for as many testing sessions as they want. For example, Chip Ganassi Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing have been testing at Nashville Superspeedway this week, while Dave Blaney is testing at Rockingham, N.C. Besides the Preseason Thunder at Daytona, official NASCAR tests are scheduled for Jan. 28-29 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at California Speedway.

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