CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Well, NASCAR, you wanted to reach a broader audience.

So far in 2013, you've done that.

The past few weeks the sport has been all over CNN, MSNBC and even MTV between Danica Patrick setting history at the Daytona 500, the Daytona Nationwide Series crash that left more than 28 injured, little-known Nationwide driver Jeremy Clements being suspended for using a racial slur and the NRA sponsoring a race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Only a few days ago you had CNN host Piers Morgan passionately talking about the sport -- albeit in a not-so-positive way -- in a gun control debate with a Texas politician.

"I'm slightly baffled why you can't have a tobacco company sponsoring this race because, presumably, it's bad for Americans' health -- but you can have the NRA, which is basically funded by gun manufacturers," an outraged Morgan said to Texas State Sen. Dan Patrick.

Speaking of outraged, Denny Hamlin kept the TMZ mood going on Thursday when he lashed out at NASCAR for docking him $25,000 for being critical of the new "Gen-6" car.

It probably won't land on headline news, but it'll draw national attention.

When will it end?

Next thing you know Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be on "The Dr. Oz Show" talking about his detox diet.

In case you missed it, Earnhardt told reporters in Phoenix last weekend that he's down 15 to 20 pounds after a 15-day diet that included prune juice and carrot juice.

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Chris Graythen/NASCAR/Getty ImagesA slimmer Dale Earnhardt Jr. is coming to a track near you.

It apparently was prompted by a "shrinking" firesuit last year.

"That's really what it's about for me is just trying to maintain my weight so I don't have to keep getting my driver suits altered throughout the season," Earnhardt explained. "Last year, I was like, 'Man, they're shrinking, something is wrong with the washer.'

"This offseason I lost a lot of weight … just trying to do a better job of managing my calories and stuff like that. I never really worried about it before. Just eat all kinds of stuff like pizza and wings and stuff every day and not really watching portion controls and stuff like that. Just getting out of control so reining all that back in. Not getting too crazy about it though. I'm no health freak by no means."

That is a relief. The sport may not be able to handle its most popular driver being a health freak around all the other issues.

The good news is all these other issues drowned out much of the debate -- much of that negative, too -- over whether the new Gen-6 car has been a success or failure yet at Daytona and Phoenix.

Hopefully, all will settle down and we'll get a better grip on that this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, one of the mile and a half tracks.

It's time for the talk to return to the drivers and competition, although NASCAR fining Hamlin for what seemed like harmless comments about the new car and single-file racing at Phoenix probably didn't help any.

Particularly since Hamlin is so mad he nearly begged to be suspended.

The bad news? The drivers and competition likely won't connect to a broader audience like everything else has.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The image of five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 team has been vanilla in the minds of those who don't really know them.

Businesslike.

Boring.

That might change if people get to see the video of Johnson, on top of the No. 48 hauler parked on the front stretch of Daytona International Speedway, doing the Harlem Shake with his crew dancing below.

It happened at about 9:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, four hours after Johnson won his second Daytona 500.

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Special to ESPN.comJimmie Johnson performs the Harlem Shake atop his hauler at Daytona International Speedway as his crew plays along Sunday night.

The good news is Johnson didn't fall off the hauler and break his wrist, as he did while surfing the top of a golf cart after winning the 2006 championship, in which he won his first Daytona 500.

"No broken wrist! I survived," Johnson said with a laugh during Monday morning's championship breakfast.

Was anybody concerned?

"I have concerns about him all the time," crew chief Chad Knaus said. "I'm not going to lie, I did have some flashbacks to broken wrists on top of the golf cart and all that. We were keeping everybody in check pretty good."

This priceless moment was totally impromptu. Knaus wanted a picture of the 48 hauler parked on the front stretch of DIS with the track logo painted in the background.

"One of the pit crew guys jumped up and said, 'Let's do the Harlem Shake,' " Knaus said of the contemporary dance that has gone viral on YouTube. "I was, 'All right. Let's see if we can get this thing rolling.'

"We found a photographer from somewhere. He was on a motorcycle. He went back and got his tripod. It was funny."

And it defied the image of Johnson and the 48 team.

"People don't understand what this team is about," Knaus said. "We're serious racers. We want to come out, race to win. And when we have an opportunity, we have a good time. That's the way this team has always been and always will be.

"Jimmie is a guy that likes to have a lot of fun. I like to have a lot of fun. But when it's time to get to work, we work."

Johnson won the 500 in workmanlike fashion, being patient most of the day and then surging to the front with about 16 laps remaining.

Four hours later, he was gyrating his upper torso in a way you've never seen.

"One of the guys arranged it all, and he has some editing to do," Johnson said. "We'll see if it's worthy to put out there. Clearly there's some discussion about it, so I think we might be forced to put it out before long."

As Johnson and Knaus discussed the celebration, team owner Rick Hendrick interrupted.

"Why wasn't I invited?" he said.

There are shakes, and then there are shakes. NASCAR may not be ready for that one.

But Hendrick is glad to see Johnson and the team enjoy their success, something they haven't always done.

"They need to have more fun," Hendrick said. "It's a hard deal out here on the road all the time."

Hendrick also liked the video of four-time champion Jeff Gordon and his team doing the Harlem Shake before the season. Approximately 4 million people have viewed that.

Who knows how many will view Johnson's Shake. Maybe it'll change a few impressions about him, though.

"Jimmie is a funny guy," Hendrick said. "He's the life of the party if you get him … "

Hendrick paused, then continued: "But what you see with Jimmie is he's such a professional. When he walks into that gate he goes into that mode where he's totally in focus. He's not going to clown around in the garage area.

"He might do it later."

He did on Sunday night.

And it was anything but vanilla.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- There's a picture that didn't make the book Jimmie Johnson and his wife published last year that sums up how the five-time Sprint Cup champion feels about restrictor-plate racing.

The picture is entitled "Farewell Talladega." It didn't make the book because it showed Johnson delivering a one-fingered salute to the Alabama track from the seat of his private jet.

He probably felt like doing it again -- this time aimed at Daytona International Speedway -- after Saturday night's Sprint Unlimited, when he crashed out in the first segment.

"I keep telling myself I like plate racing, but it's getting harder and harder," Johnson wrote on Twitter after the race.

Here's why. Counting last year's Budweiser Shootout and this year's Sprint Unlimited, Johnson has gone six consecutive races on a restrictor-plate track without finishing -- mostly due to wrecks.

His average finish in the past six points races at Daytona International Speedway, the site of Sunday's Daytona 500, is 31.8. He's finished on the lead lap in only one of those.

His average finish in the past three Talladega races is 26.0, and that includes a 17th last fall when he crashed coming to the checkered flag.

So if you're looking for a driver to bet on Sunday, Johnson may not be the best choice.

"It's such a balance, too, because one win and you are in Victory Lane and it's the coolest rush because you are gambling the whole race," said Johnson, who won the 2006 Daytona 500. "When it hits, it's a lot like hitting it in the casino. The rush is amazing.

"But it's a different kind of racing. Especially for the No. 48 team, we have had a lot of torn up race cars lately. It's starting to get a little old, but we will keep racing. We will keep building cars and be out there trying to get all the points we can."

A year ago, after waiting an extra 24 hours for the 500 to start due to a rain delay, Johnson crashed hard into the wall after a nudge from Elliott Sadler. On the first lap.

"Last year's was about as bad as it gets," Johnson said. "Leaving the first lap crashing, that wasn't a good one. We will hopefully make 2.7 miles this year before anything happens."

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The marketing machine at NASCAR has been busier than normal the past 24 hours.

They can thank Danica Patrick for that.

Since Sunday, when the 30-year-old Stewart-Haas Racing driver won the pole for the Daytona 500 -- the first time a woman has earned the top spot in a Sprint Cup race -- there has been a significant spike in interest in the sport.

From ABC's "Good Morning America" to "CBS This Morning" to CNN, Patrick's accomplishment was everywhere Monday. She is scheduled for another round of national shows Tuesday, including ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption."

There is increased interest in Las Vegas as well, as Patrick's odds of winning the Daytona 500 dropped from 66-1 to 18-1, according to Bovada online gambling.

And NASCAR is capitalizing on all the attention.

"Just the sheer volume of media requests we've received … it's staggering to see the breadth of requests, from sports, non-sports, national media, smaller media," said Steve Phelps, NASCAR's chief marketing officer. "It's pervasive and that obviously bodes well for pre-promotion of our racing.

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Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesDanica Patrick became the first woman in NASCAR history to win a Sprint Cup pole Sunday at Daytona.

"The great thing is we're not just in sports conversations. We're in a much broader conversation going to places we normally are not."

You can find it everywhere, even on Twitter where former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb sent Patrick a congratulatory message -- though he had his wires crossed thinking Patrick won the Daytona 500 and not the pole.

"Congrats to the Illinois native Danica Patrick on her win today. The first female to win in a big race with this magnitude. Big win," McNabb tweeted.

But you get the picture. The sport is reaching people it typically doesn't.

This is significant to NASCAR's effort to grow its fan base and reach a younger demographic, the 18- to 34-year-old age group that has declined in recent years.

"It's very important," Phelps said. "We've got something we call an industry action plan we have in place. One of the key things is to grow new segments. You want to be diverse and get younger. She helps in both places."

Patrick is the only female driver in NASCAR's top series.

"We've had some great stories, we've had some incredible interest, but this is something I would say is unique and special as she continues to break ground in NASCAR," Phelps said.

Patrick already was scheduled to be a large part of NASCAR's advertising plan for 2013. Of the five new commercial spots for the Daytona 500, she is in most of them.

"We're not trying to overexpose one driver versus another," Phelps said. "I don't think she'd want us to. She wants to go out and prove she belongs here. [Sunday], she proved she does."

You can't blame NASCAR for capitalizing on Patrick's popularity. The Davie Brown Index, which measures celebrity appeal and awareness for brand managers and marketers, ranked her third in the sport last year behind Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

According to the DBI then, Patrick was known by almost 70 percent of all U.S. consumers, and of those 84 percent liked her to some degree.

According to Fox, overnight ratings for Sunday's qualifying were at 1.9, up 6 percent from a year ago. You have to believe Patrick is a reason.

She has been so big here that Earnhardt, the sport's most popular driver for 10 consecutive years, has seemed like an afterthought.

But NASCAR needs to be careful not to overexpose Patrick. She became the face of the IndyCar Series, which didn't always sit well with the drivers who won races and championships.

Some Cup drivers already are tired of Patrick's relationship with fellow rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stealing headlines.

"We're here to race," Jeff Burton said. "All the media wants to talk about is who is dating who. It's freaking ridiculous. Cover the damn race. We're here to race. We're [not] here to talk about a freaking soap opera.

"It gets old."

Phelps understands that.

"There has to be a balance," he said. "I know she faced some of that in IndyCar. The great thing in our sport is we have so many great stars. … We'll certainly put her out there because she is unique, special and has a huge fan base.

"But we want to make sure we do it appropriately."

After this current tidal wave of attention, that is.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Legendary crew chief and former team owner Ray Evernham recently had an opportunity to return to the Sprint Cup Series -- in a big way.

He turned it down.

"I really had to stop and think about it," Evernham said on Thursday as he presented a $280,000 check to the Autism Society of North Carolina. "I had to make sure not to make decisions with ego and think about why I wound it down the first time and the reality of what it would be.

"It's so easy to be 10 years later thinking about how great you are and how you can still do it. You can lull yourself back into thinking, 'I could still do that.' I probably could still do it, but I don't think I could have the results I had."

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Courtesy Ray Evernham EnterprisesRay Evernham, right, holding check, presents a $280,000 donation to the Autism Society of North Carolina.

Evernham wouldn't say which organization came to him other than that it wasn't Hendrick Motorsports, where he won championships as Jeff Gordon's crew chief in 1995, '97 and '98 before moving into an ownership role with Dodge in 2000.

One thing is certain: He wouldn't have considered the offer had it not been a top organization capable of winning titles now.

So Evernham turns his focus to being an analyst on ESPN, building and collecting custom cars and working with charities such as the Autism Society.

The check he presented Thursday came from proceeds from a custom-designed 1964 Plymouth Belvedere ForPly that sold last month for $180,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The other $100,000 was donated by car collector Ron Pratt.

The money will help with projects such as IGNITE, a program Evernham recently helped start to enable adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome to enjoy a better quality of life.

Evernham also has been busy shining up a 1966 Modified built by the Wood Brothers. The car temporarily will be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame with 2013 inductee Leonard Wood while the 1963 Galaxie Wood built spends time in Daytona.

"The Leonard Wood car, talk about blown away and an honor," Evernham said. "I don't know how you explain something like that. As a kid growing up, Leonard is one of my heroes and one of the greatest mechanics ever."

For Evernham, a return to the Cup series in a managerial role would have meant less involvement with this type of projects.

"Would I like to hang out with a race team and be part of answering questions and giving direction on stuff? Yeah," Evernham said. "Would I like to be in that competitive environment? I don't think I fit in that anymore. I think I'd be frustrated all the time.

"I'm an innovator. I cut fenders off in the garage area. I'm not, 'Here's my technical drawing on my part and will you please approve it?' I'm going to read the rule book and say, 'Here's a gap, let's build something here.' Now you go to jail for that. I don't want to go to NASCAR jail. I've been there. It's not a fun place."

CONCORD, N.C. -- H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was in the middle of one of his classic behind-the-scenes race stories on Monday night when he interjected: "Well, we had another drink."

Those do make for some of the best stories -- and Wheeler has a ton of them.

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Streeter Lecka/Getty Images H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was known as the P.T. Barnum of race promoters for his wild stunts.

The former president and general manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway shared a few on this night as he was honored with the Achievement in Motorsports Tribute Award at the seventh annual North Carolina Motorsports Industry banquet.

There even was a moment when Wheeler seemed on the verge of making peace with his former longtime boss, Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith.

"Bruton and I argued a lot, but we did a lot of great things together," Wheeler said during his acceptance speech. "In the end, it was a lot like a football coach who doesn't win enough games; it was time for a change. I'm grateful for the opportunities he gave me through the years and for what we achieved together."

Wheeler and Smith accomplished great things during their long run together at CMS, where Wheeler became known as the P.T. Barnum of race promoters for all his crazy stunts.

To see that relationship end in 2008 was disheartening to those of us who looked forward to seeing each of them on a race weekend.

Maybe Wheeler's acknowledgment of "the opportunities he gave me" will open a door for them down the road.

Maybe it's too late.

Smith definitely would have added another element of entertainment to the post-acceptance speech fireside chat with Wheeler, team owner Richard Childress, broadcast legend Ken Squier and Fox TV race announcer Mike Joy.

Squier had the audience laughing to the point of tears when telling about the time Wheeler considered putting a shark and a swimmer in a giant water tank as prerace entertainment.

Wheeler did the same while talking about the stunt in which he stuck his head in the mouth of a tiger.

"That almost cost me my marriage," he said.

Not to mention his head.

The stories reminded me of why Wheeler set the standard for track promoters today, of why I miss seeing him on race weekends at CMS and hearing his stories.

As Childress told Wheeler: "Everything they said about what you've done is just a small part of what you've done for the sport."

Congrats, Humpy. Well-deserved honor.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Want to hear a disgusting number? According to Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage, NASCAR paid approximately $17 million of its combined purses to start-and-park Sprint Cup teams in 2012.

Gossage actually thinks the number, which he discovered in online research, is a tad low. He believes you could call one or two more teams start-and-parkers, meaning they started the race and parked early without the intention of going the distance.

Bottom line: It's time for it to stop.

Gossage believes it's a disgrace to the sport. His boss, Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith, calls it a joke.

Gossage went so far as to write a two-page letter to NASCAR president Mike Helton in December asking the governing body to do something about it. He said he hasn't heard back.

That's because NASCAR officials don't really believe it's a problem, arguing there have been field fillers throughout the history of the sport. The difference, Gossage insists, is field fillers of yesteryear actually tried to run the entire race.

Start-and-parkers don't.

"It's up to NASCAR to do this, not me,'' Smith said during a Tuesday afternoon discussion among SMI track presidents. "But if it was up to me, I guarantee we'd figure it out. I think it's a joke. It's a joke for the race fans.''

Gossage agreed.

"When you add up the Cup, Nationwide and Truck series start-and-park money, it's an inexplicable number that they can't justify,'' he said. "If a start-and-parker brought something to the program, that would be one thing.

"But when they're in the garage in less than 10 minutes, they're not adding to the competition that is three-and-a-half hours long.''

And to the argument that start-and-park teams sometimes grow into full-time teams, Gossage sarcastically scoffed that he is a big fan of heavyweight boxing and might enter the sport at that level.

"This is the major leagues,'' Gossage said. "This is the top rung. You start in Saturday night short-track racing. You don't start here. This is the highest level of the sport.

"NASCAR has to close this loophole.''

How? Gossage would be in favor of shrinking the field from 43 to perhaps 36 teams, whatever it takes to weed out those that come to the track without a full pit crew or supply of tires knowing they'll be pulling out early.

The other option would be to eliminate paying the bottom six or so finishers and give that money to the top of the field.

Either way, NASCAR has to make the call.

Gossage and Smith are campaigning for it.

"For the good of the sport, we've got to do it,'' Smith said.

David Newton/ESPN.comESPN racing analyst Ray Evernham is auctioning off a one-of-a-kind 1964 Plymouth Belvedere ForPly with the net proceeds going to Evernham Family Racing for a Reason.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Ray Evernham, who won three Sprint Cup titles as Jeff Gordon's crew chief and is considered one of the great innovators of NASCAR, continues to build winning cars.

Only now they're street legal.

The ESPN racing analyst recently designed and built a one-of-a-kind 1964 Plymouth Belvedere ForPly that was selected to the top 10 of the 2013 Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz.

This hot rod has a Dodge R5-P7 race engine, run by Kasey Kahne when he drove for what was known as Evernham Motorsports when Evernham was a team owner.

It will be auctioned on Saturday with net proceeds going to Evernham Family Racing for a Reason, a foundation that funds IGNITE, a new program and facility in Davidson, N.C., for adults with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome.

"We set out to design the ultimate street machine that takes a vintage American muscle car with great motorsports heritage and bring it into the modern age,'' Evernham said of the model that won the1964 Daytona 500 and Grand National title with Richard Petty.

Mission accomplished.

LENOIR, N.C. -- I'm no Oprah, and apparently Jeremy Mayfield is no Lance Armstrong.

More than three and a half years after being suspended from NASCAR, on the eve of Thursday night's Oprah Winfrey television show in which Armstrong ends a decade of denying he used performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France, Mayfield still insists he never took methamphetamine.

Athletes come clean all the time after years of denial -- Mark McGwire, Marion Jones and Alex Rodriguez to name a few.

Others have maintained their innocence despite the evidence.

Count Mayfield among those.

In this society of forgiveness, the 43-year-old driver has nothing to lose in the court of public opinion by confessing now. His racing career is in ruins even if he goes through NASCAR's recovery program necessary for reinstatement, and he's facing 19 felony charges from stolen goods and methamphetamine found in a November 2011 search of his North Carolina home.

Still, Mayfield remains adamant that he never took the illegal drug that resulted in his May 2009 suspension. He remains adamant that his positive test was the result of a false positive that came from mixing Adderall prescribed for attention deficit disorder and an over-the-counter drug for allergies.

He looked me in the eye on Wednesday outside the Catawba County Courthouse, where the case for his felony charges was pushed to March 4 as attorneys negotiated a possible plea bargain, and said it just as clear as he did in 2009.

"No Lance Armstrong moments coming up for me," Mayfield said.

You can decide whether Mayfield is telling the truth. The courts sided with NASCAR, and that isn't going to change.

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Rusty Jarrett/Getty ImagesJeremy Mayfield says he's willing to do what it takes to get back into NASCAR.

What has changed is Mayfield's attitude. Instead of fighting the system that has him in this seemingly never-ending nightmare, he's willing to embrace it.

His hair still spiked with gel, as it has been for years, he said he would do "whatever it takes" to get reinstated.

That now includes drug rehabilitation.

Only a week earlier, Mayfield said he would do everything short of drug rehabilitation to complete the recovery process. He said this because he doesn't believe it to be necessary because he denies ever using drugs.

Apparently, the realization that rehab might become necessary has become real.

That doesn't mean he'll pull an Armstrong and confess, though.

"I did admit to what I took," he said, reiterating the Adderall and Claritin-D scenario. "When I get there [rehab], it's going to be kind of boring."

Had he known what he does today, Mayfield might have entered NASCAR's Road to Recovery program in 2009. He said the string of events that landed him in court on Wednesday were probably why AJ Allmendinger, suspended last season, went through the program despite denying he knowingly did anything wrong.

Allmendinger, after losing his ride at Penske Racing, came back late last season to drive a few races for Phoenix Racing. He is scheduled for more this year.

See, it is a forgiving society.

And although society might be willing to forgive Mayfield, sponsors and team owners are another story -- particularly three and a half years out.

"I'm sure he wasn't going to take my path after what happened to me," said Mayfield of Allmendinger.

Mayfield made many accusations over the years as to how he wound up on this path. He accused NASCAR of setting him up with the felony charges he faces after he fought the system to the point of attacking the character of chairman Brian France.

He's past that now. He knows the least resistant path to reinstatement is to make amends. He recently called France on a live Motor Racing Network radio show and asked what it would take for him to be reinstated.

To France's credit, he took the call and told Mayfield he had to take the same path Allmendinger and others have.

Mayfield insists the call was sincere, that he wasn't trying to be confrontational or cause problems.

On that, I do believe him.

Mayfield is simply ready to move on and seek a second chance, whether that is in NASCAR's top series, where he has won five times, or at a lower level.

"Everybody loves a comeback story," he told me as he walked out of the courthouse.

This would be a big one. And if Mayfield goes through the process, if he is reinstated and proves he still has the talent to compete, he deserves that chance.

Chances are, in a sport built around the image of drivers and sponsors, he won't get it. But Mayfield is quick to remind us that some of the sport's biggest names -- team owners Rick Hendrick and Michael Waltrip, plus driver Tony Stewart -- have thrived after overcoming legal issues.

"A lot of people have been in trouble and are racing again," Mayfield said.

Mayfield is saying all the right things now. He says he and his wife, Shana, are doing well even though they had their house and property -- assessed at $3 million -- auctioned off in foreclosure for $1.7 million. He says he's finding enough odd jobs for them to "survive."

"It's been tough," he said. "But I feel like I'm a better person."

And according to him, he's an innocent person, saying there are others who have had careers ruined from false positive drug tests before and since him.

"I wanted them to realize it happens," he said, again explaining his long fight. "It happens every day."

Say and believe what you want about Mayfield, he is a fighter. He is willing to stand up for what he believes even if most of the world doesn't believe him.

"I can take it," Mayfield said just before heading for his white Ford pickup parked outside the courthouse. "I can take it. Lots of other people couldn't have."

Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesBrad Keselowski stretched his legs in the new Miller Lite Ford Fusion during Tuesday's NASCAR test.

CONCORD, N.C. -- You won't find the sterling silver Sprint Cup trophy made by Tiffany and Co. at the home of reigning champion Brad Keselowski.

"No, I don't keep trophies at my house,'' Keselowski said during Tuesday's test at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "I don't believe in building a shrine to myself. It's kind of weird."

This is why Keselowski will be a threat to repeat in 2013.

The Penske Racing driver doesn't want to be reminded about what he has accomplished. He wants to work on building toward the future, and this two-day test at CMS is the first step in doing that.

Keselowski spent about as much time focusing on how he and new teammate Joey Logano will work together as he did the new car and new manufacturer.

"I'm curious to see over time how we can work together and push each other to be the best we can be, so I've had a lot of fun with that so far,'' Keselowski said. "We've got a lot of work to do.

"We're only a half a day into two really important days, not only for Penske Racing but for the sport itself, and hopefully we can continue to show progress."

Matt Kenseth, who replaced Logano in the No. 20 at Joe Gibbs Racing after spending his entire Cup career at Roush Fenway Racing, also was focused on getting to know new people at a time drivers typically are getting away from the sport.

That he chose to be here instead of spending quality time with his family is a reason he'll be a threat in 2013.

"I've got to be honest, it was probably the first time I've been nervous in a race car -- getting in there and going out for the first time -- in as long as I can remember,'' the 2003 Cup champion said. "It's always exciting and you're a little anxious when you go do something different. It's been fun so far."

OK, it wasn't all fun. Kenseth did create more work for his new crew than they probably expected when he over-revved the engine near the end of the first practice.

"So they're back there changing it,'' he said of the engine during lunch break. "So I think the guys are in love with me right now. Like, 'Where did we find this clown? Give us the other one back.' Other than that it's been good."

Bottom line for Keselowski and Kenseth: They still are hungry to prove themselves.

And that will make both contenders in 2013.