Race fans, start your TV sets. The Rolex 24-hour endurance classic starts today with coverage on SPEED beginning at noon.
NASCAR fans tuning in will recognize some familiar names competing in the race - AJ Allmendinger, Jimmie Johnson, Bobby Labonte, Juan Pablo Montoya, Max Papis, and Kenny Wallace will all be racing along with Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson of the late Dale Earnhardt and nephew of Junior.
Competing from the Indycar ranks will be Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Indycar fans will also recognize Buddy Rice and Dan Wheldon, as well as four-time CART champ and ex-Formula 1 driver Sebastien Bourdais.
As I mentioned last week, Johnson has a good chance to join A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti as the only drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and the Rolex 24. SPEED will cover 14 hours of the 24, with a break for televising the Toyota All-Star Showdown tonight from Irwindale starting at 7 p.m.
•••
Speaking of the All-Star Showdown, the Super Late Models ran last night, but too late for me to get the results before my column deadline.
Tonight it will be a 50-lap contest for the Late Model division and a 225-lap main event for the K&N Pro Series. This race has a definite international flavor about it with Canadian Tire Series champion DJ Kennington, Mexico Series champ Germain Quiroga, past Canadian Tire Series titlist Andrew Ranger and home country champs Lucas Lasserre of France and Michael Paludo of Brazil.
They will be joined by reigning K&N Pro Series West champion Eric Holmes and former K&N champs Jason Bowles and Matt Kobyluck. Sergio Pena, the NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver who battled Sprint Cup star Joey Logano and K&N Pro Series East Rookie of the Year Darrell Wallace Jr. also will attempt to qualify for the field. Both of those drivers were classmates of local racer Mackena Bell in the 2010 Drive for Diversity program, and were featured in the Changing Lanes series on BET.
In addition to SPEED's coverage, the race will be broadcast on Sirius satellite radio channel 128, with commentary by Pat Paterson and NASCAR Camping World Truck former champion Mike Skinner.
•••
The other shoe dropped on Wednesday as NASCAR CEO Brian France and president Mike Helton revealed changes for 2011.
Helton confirmed that two "wild cards" would be added to the Chase for the Championship field, those being the two drivers not qualified through the points system who had the most wins, and in the top-20 in points. This last provision prevents a part-time driver with two or three "fluke" wins from participating in the Chase.The "wild card" drivers will automatically be seeded 11th and 12th in the Chase. The top-10 in points will each be awarded three bonus points per win to start the Chase.
France addressed the new points system, brought in to simplify scoring for race fans. The new system awards 43 points to the winner with one point subtracted for each finishing position - 42 for second, 43 for third, down to 1 point for 43rd place. In addition, the winner gets three bonus points for the win plus a point each for leading a lap and the most laps led.
Since by definition the winner has to lead at least one lap (the last), he might as well automatically get four bonus points. If he leads the most laps, his maximum total is 48. No one but the winner gets bonus points under the new system.
•••
Other changes for 2011 include a couple of modifications to qualifying. The qualifying order will be set based on the slowest to fastest practice speeds rather than random draw. In the event of a qualifying rainout, practice speeds will determine the starting order with the top 35 in points guaranteed a starting spot. If practice is also rained out, the starting lineup will be by points.
In addition, Sprint Cup teams will have only five sets of tires for practice and qualifying instead of six. And the "closed loop" fueling system with eliminates the need for a catch can man will be used in all three racing series.