NASCAR’s 75th season one of celebration & transition
Kevin Harvick is looking for the exit ramp as he enters his final season as a NASCAR driver while seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson is sliding back into stock cars.
Harvick's farewell tour will come nine years after his only Cup Series title and ahead of a move into the broadcast booth. Johnson, after two years in IndyCar, has returned to NASCAR as its newest team owner.
Petty Enterprises, an emblem of NASCAR since shortly after the series' 1948 launch, has rebranded once again and is now Legacy Motor Club. Johnson will sometimes drive for the team he coowns; this week, for example, he will attempt to qualify for Sunday's Daytona 500.
This 75th season of NASCAR begins Sunday with the big race and it will be a year of celebration and transition.
Veteran drivers are making room for potential new stars that the public must learn to love. Series leadership is negotiating with its current television partners with the $8.2 billion deal with Fox and NBC set to expire at the end of the 2024 season. NASCAR owners are also demanding a more stable financial model that makes their success less dependent on outside sponsorship.
And then are the frantic changes NASCAR is making to protect its drivers in the second year of the Next Gen car. The rear of the car proved too stiff last year and the energy drivers absorbed in routine collisions led to concussions — including one that ended veteran Kurt Busch's career.
Alterations made during the offseason lacked the desired effect at the preseason Busch Light Clash exhibition at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where low speed bumping and banging left drivers complaining about the “violence” of the race, including the jarring whiplash effect they felt each time their rear bumper was slammed.
Extra points
OU SOFTBALL: No. 1 Oklahoma capped opening weekend with a 9-0, five-inning win over San Jose State on Sunday. Freshman left-handed pitcher Kierston Deal impressed in her first collegiate start, tossing four scoreless innings and allowing just one hit and a pair of walks with five strikeouts. Redshirt senior Grace Green and freshman Jocelyn Erickson each homered for the Sooners (5-0).
OSU SOFTBALL: A combined shutout from Kelly Maxwell and Lexi Kilfoyl helped lead the No. 3 Oklahoma State to a 3-0 win against Ole Miss at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge on Sunday night. Maxwell improved to 2-0, pitching six innings, with eight strikeouts and only two hits allowed. Freshman Tallen Edwards continued her hot streak for OSU (3-1), going 2-3 tonight with one RBI. For the tournament, Edwards went 7-13 with five RBI.