It's almost February and that means the start of the NASCAR season is upon us! The offseason was full of contract negotiations and teams merging and that always makes for a bit of a confusing few weeks! So with 19 days until we hit Daytona I thought I'd give you a little cheat sheet to get you started on the new season.

Newly Formed Teams:

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing:

-Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing have combined forces to come up with a 4 car team for this season.

Richard Petty Motorsports:

-Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Petty Enterprises merged just a few weeks ago and are planning on running 3 cars full time and a 4 car for at least 8 races.

Stewart Haas Racing:

-Tony Stewart makes his way into the owner/driver position this year with his newest endeavor. Tony Stewart has been an owner in the World of Outlaw series for a while so the ownership role should come natural to him by now.

Now here is a list of the major teams and their drivers as of today. I also put the sponsors that I know about on here because a few of those have changed as well. If there are major changes before the shootout I will also update this list.

Hendrick Motorsports:

Jeff Gordon: 24:DuPont, National Guard, Pepsi, PA24.com

Jimmie Johnson: 48: Lowes

Dale Earnhardt Jr.: 88:AMP Energy Drink, National Guard

*Mark Martin:5: Cheez-it, Kelloggs/Carquest

Richard Childress Racing:

Kevin Harvick: 29:Reeses, Pennzoil

Jeff Burton: 31:Caterpillar

*Clint Bowyer:33:Cheerios

*Casey Mears: 07:Jack Daniels

Earnhardt Ganassi Racing:

Aric Almirola: 8

Martin Truex Jr.: 1:Bass Pro Shop

Juan Montoya: 42:Target

*also running the number 41 car, currently no driver or sponsor for that car but there is suppose to be both named soon.

Richard Petty Motorsports:

Kasey Kahne: 9: Budweiser

Elliott Sadler: 19:Stanley Tools, Best Buy

*Reed Sorenson: 43:Richard Petty Racing Experience, Valvoline, Air Force, McDonalds

*AJ Allmendinger: 44 (running short season 8 races): Valvoline

Roush Fenway:

*Carl Edwards: 99:Aflac

Greg Biffle: 16:3M

Matt Kenseth:17:Carhartt, USG, R&L Carriers, DeWalt

*David Ragan:6: UPS

Jamie McMurray:26:Irwin Tools, Crown Royal

Penske Racing:

*David Stremme: 12:Alltel

Kurt Busch: 2: Miller Light

Sam Hornish Jr.:77:(for 5 races)AAA

Joe Gibbs Racing:

Denny Hamlin: 11:Fedex

*Joey Logano: 20:Home Depot

Kyle Busch: 18:M&M's, Combos, Snickers, Interstate Batteries

Red Bull Racing Team:

Brian Vickers: 83: Red Bull

*Scott Speed: 82: Silver Red Bull

Michael Waltrip Racing:

Michael Waltrip: 55:NAPA

*David Reutimann: 00: Aaron's

Marcos Ambrose:47:Little Debbie, Clorox, Kingsford

Hall of Fame Racing:

*Bobby Labonte: 96:Ask.com

Stewart Haas Racing:

*Tony Stewart: 14:Office Depot, Old Spice

*Ryan Newman: 39: US Army

Robbie Gordon Motorsports:

*Robbie Gordon: 7:Jim Beam(Robbie has moved over to Toyota)

Furniture Row Racing:

*Regan Smith:78:(scheduled to run in 12 races)Furniture Row

Yates Racing:

*Paul Menard:98: Menards

(The * before a drivers names means something has changed from last season)

Ok so that's the major developments as of today on the NASCAR front… New for this season I'm going to also be doing a video blog to go with this so if you want to see me rant and rave about things head over to my YouTube account and I'll be adding video's there that are more my opinion about what is going on in the NASCAR world. Take a look leave me a comment! Thanks!

Here is the Link to my account: http://www.youtube.com/user/Carrieliz42