NASCAR Rewind: News From The Week Of 1/26

Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

Each and every week Beyond the Flag will bring you the NASCAR Rewind. The NASCAR Rewind will briefly touch on the biggest stories from the previous week as well as some of the smaller ones that you might have missed. There is never a dull moment in NASCAR and with NASCAR Rewind you will always be able to catch any moments that you might have missed.

Chase Elliott to drive for Jeff Gordon.

The announcement became official late this past week when HMS announced that Elliott would be taking over for Gordon in 2016. What came as a surprise was that it was also announced that Elliott would be driving the No. 24 machine. Many thought that HMS would take the No. 24 off of the track in 2016 (especially since Gordon might run part-time) but that won’t be the case. The new No. 24 team in 2016 will be headed by Gordon’s current crew chief, Alan Gustafson.

Current NASCAR drivers will call Xfinity Series races.

On Monday it was announced that there will be a new wrinkle added to the Xfinity Series in 2015 in the broadcast booth. Current drivers Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski will each be calling select races in 2015. There has not been any indication as to when or how many races each driver will be calling but if you’re a fan of them this is certainly something to look forward too.

Teams cannot flare side skirts anymore.

Once the 2014 season reached its mid-point it was evident that there was an epidemic sweeping the series when it came to teams flaring their side skirts. Throughout 2014 NASCAR was continuously asked if they were going to address it and they said that they would before 2015. Well, this past week NASCAR did indeed address it and moving forward teams will not longer be able to pull the skirts out. In a statement this past week NASCAR said that they will monitor the skirts “in every possible way” in order to enforce the change in the rules.

Vickers returning March 1st to Sprint Cup.

Brian Vickers will miss the first two races of the 2015 season after undergoing heart surgery in the off-season. It was announced late this past week that he will return to the track on March 1st. Michael Waltrip will run the Daytona 500 in the No. 55 machine and Brett Moffitt will run the second race of the season in Atlanta in the absence of Vickers.

GoDaddy pulls Super Bowl ad featuring Danica Patrick.

GoDadday had made a Super Bowl that featured a cute little puppy that gets lost and is forced to find his way home. The commercial was similar to the Budweiser spot from last year. The twist comes when the puppy returns home only to discover that he has been sold and that his owners are more or less running a puppy mill. Shortly after the commercial debuted there was an outcry to have it pulled and ultimately that is what happened. A different ad will now run during the big game.

Trevor Bayne not eligible for Rookie of the Year.

2015 will be the first time that Bayne will run a full 36-race season. This comes despite the fact that Bayne has won on the series before (Daytona 500 in 2011). Since this is his first full-time season it could be considered his rookie year in the sport. However, NASCAR has decided that since he has accumulated so many starts prior to this season that he will not be eligible to win the 2015 Rookie of the Year award.

Penske could add a third team to their stable in 2015.

If Ryan Blaney wins the Daytona 500 he could end up with a full-time ride in 2015. Blaney is scheduled to run 18 races in 2015 with the Wood Brothers who have backing a support from Team Penske. If Blaney wins the Daytona 500 he will be eligible for the chase assuming that he runs in the next 25 races. Roger Penske was asked about what would happen in that scenario and he admitted that he hadn’t thought about it. He then went onto say that if it were to happen they would have to “reevaluate their schedule” and possible make some adjustments.

NASCAR not looking to lift team number limit.

This past week NASCAR was asked about the limit of drivers that they have placed on each time. Currently a team cannot field more than four cars at one time. There is a catch where teams are allowed to field a fifth car for up to seven races in a season assuming that the driver of that car is a rookie. NASCAR went on the record this past week when they said that they are not currently looking to amend that rule to allow teams to run more than four cars full-time. However, NASCAR did say that they are always looking for ways to make it less of a financial burden for new teams to come into the sport.