Expect no major surprises to emerge from 2016 media tour
This week kicks off the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway/NASCAR Sprint Cup Media Tour in Charlotte, N.C.
Quite honestly I don't know if I really expect to hear anything that major because I think the majority of announcements of teams, or drivers or crew chief changes already have been announced. Now sure, I expect there will be a few that still trickle in -- but for the most part they've been made public and are in place.
For example, Martin Truex Jr. and his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team announced before the end of the 2015 season they were switching manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota for 2016.
There already have been announcements about somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 new driver/crew chief combinations for this year. Just last week team owner Harry Scott announced he's moving his entire operation from Spartanburg, S.C., to Mooresville, N.C., plus the fact that his new driver, Clint Bowyer, will continue to run the No. 15 that he ran all those years at Michael Waltrip Racing.
So I don't know that I can sit here and anticipate anything earth-shattering coming out of this week's media tour.
We already know what the rule package will be for this season. I think it will be interesting to hear what the drivers and teams forecast what to expect by running this package all season long. Several teams, in fact, were able to test the new rules package last week in Las Vegas, so will be interesting to get that feedback.
While I'm still interested in hearing from the drivers, owners and teams this week, I just don't think I'll be on the edge of my seat expecting some major surprise to be announced. It just seems like these announcements come earlier and earlier every year, so for right now everything seems to be pretty much in place for the upcoming 2016 season.
