Heading into 2015,Change is the Name of the Game

Austin Dillon (3) leads the field to green in last year's Daytona 500
(Google Images)

This is it. After almost three months of waiting, this Saturday's Sprint Unlimited at Daytona marks the beginning of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. This race, which this year has become more like a big game of musical chairs than the prestigious race it was when only pole winners were eligible, will kick off the latest campaign for NASCAR's top series. And as this new season begins, there are a lot of changes taking place and a lot of questions that fans are awaiting the answer to.

First off, will the changes made by NASCAR to limit horsepower have any impact on the actual on-track product? Going into this year, the sanctioning body decided to do to the cup cars what they did to the Xfinity cars and Camping World Trucks a few years ago and run a tapered spacer on the cars at every track. Essentially, a tapered spacer is akin to a restrictor plate. It limits the amount of air allowed into the intake manifold and limits the car's power. This change alone is expected to cut horsepower from around 850 to around 725, according to NASCAR.com. In addition to reducing power, teams will also use roller valve lifters instead of flat valve lifters, lower gear ratios in the rear differentials and rear spoilers that have been shortened from 8 inches to 6 inches. This should all lead to lower speeds, tighter packs and, hopefully, better, closer racing.

One of the more unconventional changes, which has already been tested at Michigan International Speedway, is the optional driver-adjustable track bar. Located in the rear end, the track bar is the part of the race car that helps to control how "loose" or "tight" the car is and helps the rear tires grip better. Until now, it has only been adjustable with a wrench that the tire carrier's had to stick through a hole in the car's rear window. So now that a driver might have the option to adjust the way his car handles on his own and not wait for a pit stop could make things much more interesting.

Changes are coming to pit road in 2015 (Google Images)

Speaking of interesting, NASCAR has also changed their pit road officiating policies. The days of "Storm Troopers" in their white suits and helmets standing beside a car to overlook every pit stop are over. NASCAR will now use 45 cameras placed along pit road, the data from which will be fed to a central location where eight officials will keep track of what happens and report any potential violations. NASCAR.com also explains how this new technology will work in a little more detail.

The sanctioning body also changed the rule that each car must have all 20 lug nuts securely tightened down before they leave their pit stall. This used to draw a penalty and forced the driver to return to pit road to bolt down their loose wheel. But now, tire changers need no longer drive themselves "nuts" worrying about tightening down each lug. Technically, crew chiefs could even gamble and only tighten four or even three lugs on a late race stop with the win on the line, banking on their car crossing the finish line with all four tires still underneath it.

All of these changes are geared towards improving racing and making the competition more enjoyable for fans. But there are quite a few teams that are hoping these changes will help them improve their performance from last season.

Richard Childress Racing might have come within one position of winning last year's championship with Ryan Newman, but that was based solely on consistency. RCR drivers Newman, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon all went winless last year. Roush Fenway Racing also failed to score a victory with drivers Greg Biffle and Ricky Stenhouse Jr (Carl Edwards won two races for RFR, but will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing this year) and Gibbs Racing's Matt Kenseth went from winning seven times in 2014 to a giant goose egg in the win column last season. All of these drivers are more than capable of winning and a few have also shown they're capable of contending for the Sprint Cup trophy as well. These teams are all looking for a serious rebound and will no doubt be expecting big things in 2015 season.



Can Kevin Harvick defend his title this season? (Google Images)

Hendrick Motorsports also has a few drivers worth keeping an eye on. Jeff Gordon will be retiring after this year and his legions of fans will be hoping that his final "Drive for Five" will finally be the one to net him his fifth championship (and his first since 2001). And, in all honesty, Gordon is so well respected that anyone would be happy to see him go out on top like that. It will also be fun to watch his replacement, Chase Elliott run his first five Sprint Cup races in preparation to take over Gordon's famous No. 24 in 2016. With a schedule that is designed to challenge him, Elliott will be running some tough events, like the Coke 600 and the Southern 500 at Darlington. Seeing if he can reach the level of success he has in the Xfinity Series behind the wheel of a Sprint Cup Series car will be exciting to watch.

But perhaps the biggest question is can Kevin Harvick defend his Sprint Cup title? A driver who always came up just shy of the title in his tenure at Richard Childress Racing managed to win his first championship last season in his first year at Stewart-Haas Racing with crew chief  Rodney Childers. As mentioned before, in 2013 Matt Kenseth won seven races and came within just a few points of winning his second title. That was his first year at JGR. But last year he had a serious sophomore slump in his No. 20 Toyota. He failed to win a race and was eliminated right before the final round of the Chase began. Harvick won five races last year en route to his first championship. Will he be able to maintain his success? Or will he suffer the same fate as Kenseth did this past year?

There are a lot of questions to be answered this year. From rules changes to driver changes, there is a lot to look forward to this season. And when these changes go into effect this Saturday night at 8pm Eastern on FOX, fans will finally get a glimpse as to what the season might hold. We also might find out some answers to some of these questions, find out which changes were worth it and which might  work out to be a complete bust.