Muggle, racer and jrfan, I agree with all of that. However, muggle, this is how they do things these days and the presure is on. If you don't produce, you're history. Not that I think Kasey will be history soon, simply because he showed so much last year. Racer and jrfan, you both have good points. If you can remember, it was Dale Earnhardt who had problems with the new radial tires when they were introduced and took a year to get used to them. The rest, as they say, is history.
Of course, we can't count Kasey out of anything just yet, it's so early, but there are a couple of guys who were hot all year last year and they are still going strong. I'd hate to think that the season is decided in the first quarter of the races, but it really hard to make up for three major failures at the beginning. The only thing that is a savior here is the Chase for the Cup. It's a race for tenth place and I'm sure this year the competition will be much better. I'd look for more points racing early on in the season.