Twists and turns mark a new season

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Even die-hard NASCAR fans might need a program to follow who’s who in the first few races this year, starting with today’s season-opening Daytona 500.

Several prominent drivers changed teams, changed numbers, changed primary sponsors, changed car colors and changed their brand of race car.

There’s also a fresh influx of drivers from open-wheel racing who moved to NASCAR, including Indianapolis 500 winners Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti.

NASCAR’s premier series itself changed its name to the Sprint Cup Series from the Nextel Cup Series, owing to Sprint’s acquisition of Nextel.

The most dramatic change was by NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr. He left his late father’s namesake team, where he drove the familiar red No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, to join powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports.

He now drives the No. 88 Hendrick Chevy with two new main sponsors: PepsiCo Inc.’s Mountain Dew Amp Energy drink and the U.S. National Guard. Earnhardt’s cars are painted mostly green and white when they carry the Amp sponsorship, mostly blue and white in the National Guard version, with a red “88” in both cases.

And Hendrick’s team, which dominated the series last year by winning 18 of the 36 races, is off to a fast start again this season with Earnhardt’s help.

Earnhardt, the 2004 winner of the Daytona 500, won the Budweiser Shootout exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway a week ago. It was his first win since May 2006. He followed that with a victory Thursday in the first of two 150-mile races that set the field for today’s 500, which starts in the afternoon (12:30 p.m. PST) and ends under the lights.

It’s probably no coincidence that Earnhardt, 33, is winning again, not only because he’s driving Hendrick’s top-notch cars, but also because the highly publicized drama surrounding his departure from Dale Earnhardt Inc. last year is behind him. “It’s been pretty nice to be able to concentrate on the things that are important,” he said. “There is a peace of mind.”

He also joined a strong stable of Hendrick teammates who include reigning series champion Jimmie Johnson, four-time title winner Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears, a member of the famed Mears racing family of Bakersfield.

Johnson, who won 10 races last year on the way to his second consecutive title, qualified fastest to win the pole position for today’s 500, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The El Cajon native also is gunning to be the first driver to win three straight titles since Cale Yarborough did it 30 years ago.

Another change: Budweiser beer didn’t move with Earnhardt, instead transferring its sponsorship to the No. 9 Dodge driven by Kasey Kahne of Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Earnhardt’s No. 8 Budweiser Chevy was an American icon, its logo displayed on everything from tavern ceilings to T-shirts. But Kahne said that’s changing. “As far as I’ve seen at a few bars and a few places, it’s starting to be more Kasey Kahne Budweiser stuff,” he said. “That’s definitely a big thing.”

DEI then named the U.S. Army as primary sponsor of the No. 8 Chevy, along with two new co-drivers.

Veteran Mark Martin, who missed winning last year’s 500 by a few feet to Kevin Harvick, will drive in 24 of the 36 races, including today’s 500. Aric Almirola, 23, will drive in the other 12. Martin joined DEI – along with the Army sponsorship – last year when DEI acquired Ginn Racing.

Hendrick, meanwhile, made room for Earnhardt by releasing Kyle Busch, a talented, aggressive driver who then signed with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Gibbs’ other drivers are two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart and 2006 rookie of the year Denny Hamlin, who won the other 150-lap qualifying race Thursday. Busch, 22, took over the No. 18 car at Gibbs formerly driven by J.J. Yeley, who moved to Hall of Fame Racing to drive the No. 96 car.

In the meantime, Gibbs and Hall of Fame switched to Toyota race cars from Chevrolets. Gibbs’ decision, in particular, appears to be spawning another notable change: The emergence of Toyota as a major competitor.

Toyota made its debut in the Cup series last year with marginal success and no wins. But with Stewart, Hamlin and Busch now driving the Camry, many observers expect Toyota to finally find Victory Lane in a points-paying race early in the season. Indeed, three of the first six cars in today’s 500 lineup are Toyotas, and there are nine Toyotas overall in the 43-car field – topping the seven Fords on the grid.

The M&M’s division of Mars Inc. also left the No. 38 Ford of Riverside’s David Gilliland, who drives for Yates Racing, to become the primary sponsor of Busch’s Toyota. Also at Yates, former NASCAR truck racer Travis Kvapil replaced the retired Ricky Rudd and now drives the No. 28 Ford.

Back at Hendrick, Mears stepped into Busch’s old ride. Mear, who drove the No. 25 National Guard Chevy in 2007 and won his first Cup race at Lowe’s (N.C.) Motor Speedway, now drives the No. 5 Kellogg’s car. “I feel like we’re a lot more prepared to be successful out of the gate,” he said. “We got all the parts and pieces we need.”

The Toyota team of Michael Waltrip Racing also made some changes.

Veteran Dale Jarrett will drive his No. 44 Camry in the first five races only – including today – and then the 1999 series champion will retire after a 21-year Cup career. Jarrett is then scheduled to replace 1989 Cup champion Rusty Wallace in the booth for ESPN’s television coverage of NASCAR in the second half of the year.

David Reutimann will drive Waltrip’s No. 00 Toyota during that span, then take over the Jarrett car. And 23-year-old Michael McDowell will replace Reutimann in the No. 00.

Waltrip himself qualified second behind Johnson for today’s race, and the two-time Daytona 500 winner will start next to him on the front row.

Elsewhere, Hornish – a three-time IndyCar Series champion – is now driving the No. 77 Dodge for Penske Racing. Franchitti, who won last year’s Indy 500 and is married to actress Ashley Judd, replaced David Stremme in the No. 40 Dodge at Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.

Gillett Evernham hired Canadian open-wheel racer Patrick Carpentier to replace Scott Riggs in its No. 10 Dodge, although Carpentier failed to qualify for today’s 500.

Riggs moved to Haas CNC Racing, where he’s driving the No. 66 Chevrolet and teamed with Jeremy Mayfield, driver of the No. 70 Chevy.

This year also marks the first time that NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow will be used in every race, including – for the first time – at the 2.5-mile, high-banked Daytona track and next weekend at the two-mile California Speedway.

The rear-winged car, a boxier version of the one it replaced, was designed to improve driver safety, promote closer racing and limit team costs because the same car can be used at many different tracks. It was phased in at 16 of the 36 races last year before becoming mandatory this season.

NASCAR’s second-tier circuit also has a new name and sponsor, changing to the Nationwide Series from the Busch Series.

james.peltz@latimes.com