DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 21, 2012) - For one day at least, Sam Alverson of Jacksonville, Fla., could lay claim to being NASCAR's No. 1 fan. It wasn't just because of his devotion to the sport; it's because he was first in line.

After a marathon 26-hour campout session, Alverson was the first of thousands of fans through the doors Saturday for the inaugural NASCAR Preview 2012 Presented by Sprint at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and Charlotte Convention Center. The fan-friendly event, part of NASCAR's Acceleration Weekend, followed an overflow crowd for Friday evening's NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony of Richie Evans, Dale Inman, Darrell Waltrip, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.

Many fans were in line the day before the event, forming a human chain that went halfway around the convention center and weathered cool, drizzly conditions. For Alverson, the reward of a 5 1/2-hour drive and extensive wait in the elements was a chance to greet his favorite driver, four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon.

When Gordon jokingly questioned his motives for spending more than a day in line to meet him, Alverson shot back, "It's because you are the champ!"

"We have the most amazing fans," Gordon said. "It blows you away any time you hear something like that. ... All the fans that came out, some of them traveled long distances, get up early in the morning or stayed up late at night on the sidewalk. That's pretty amazing, and that's what makes events like this so successful."

Gordon also entertained fans during a question and answer session with Richard Petty, unveiling a new paint scheme commemorating 20 years in the sport with longtime sponsor DuPont. More than 60 drivers were on hand to sign autographs and greet fans, with several participating in fan Q&As. Additionally, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductees new and old led fans on personal guided tours of the Hall's exhibits.

"We're thrilled with the turnout and the passion our fans continue to express," said Steve Sweeney, NASCAR's director of consumer marketing. "The NASCAR Preview 2012 Presented By Sprint offered a perfect lead-in for the Daytona 500 on Feb. 26 [on FOX, MRN Radio], and will only grow in the upcoming years."

Winston Kelley, executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, said the NASCAR Preview event was a direct result of listening to fans - including Alverson - clamoring for more of the sport during the offseason and a revival of the preview held in Winston-Salem, N.C., years ago.

"It's met or exceeded all the expectations we had, and we think this is the foundation we can just grow on," Kelley said. "This is just the start to us, and I think we can make it even bigger and better."

Two pieces of news came out of today's event, as Sprint unveiled its Miss Sprint Cup lineup for 2012, and American Ethanol announced sponsorship for two highly visible race teams.

Kristen Beat, a former on-air talent for Fuel TV, joins returning Miss Sprint Cup members Kim Coon and Jaclyn Roney for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Additionally, American Ethanol announced that it will continue relationships with Richard Childress Racing and RAB racing for the 2012 season. Austin Dillon, the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion, will drive the No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet for six races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, as well as one race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2012. Dillon's No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet paint scheme was unveiled at the event. American Ethanol will also partner with Kenny Wallace and RAB Racing for the Daytona 500 on FOX, as well as five races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

NASCAR Acceleration Weekend culminates Sunday morning with more events at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. This year's class of inductees will see their exhibits and spires in the Hall of Fame for the first time and will unveil their engraved granite markers in the Walk of Fame Garden outside the Hall's doors.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 12, 2012) - Within the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage, among crew chiefs and mechanics, the most popular addition to the NASCAR Hall of Fame is one of their own - Dale Inman.

Inman, according to his first cousin Richard Petty, invented the position we now call the crew chief.

"Dale was a racing benchmark," said Petty. "He was the sport's first official crew chief and people modeled themselves after him. He knew what, when and where -- and when he made a mistake he wasn't afraid to admit it. Everyone respected him for that. Nobody even comes close to the number of wins that Dale has recorded."

He'll be inducted Jan. 20 as a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame's third class that includes Richie Evans, Darrell Waltrip, Glen Wood and Cale Yarborough.

Inman's numbers between 1958 and 1992 indeed support "The King's" belief: eight NASCAR Sprint Cup championships, 193 victories and 129 poles.

The 75-year-old Inman won seven titles with Petty and another with Terry Labonte.

Inman began working in the Petty Enterprises Level Cross, N.C. shop for Lee Petty when he was too young to go to the track and be the team's chief mechanic.

Inman's stand-out year was 1967. That season, Inman and Petty won a NASCAR-record, 27 races - 10 of them consecutively. All 27 victories were in the same car they built a year earlier.

"Maurice was in the engine room and we had six employees," said Inman, when asked if he and the team were aware of what they were accomplishing. "We were so busy we didn't have time to think about what we were doing."

In the current era, a crew chief can puzzle over a dozen or more cars before selecting which one to take to a specific race. That was hardly the case for Inman.

Richard Petty frequently had only two or three cars for Inman to supervise, perhaps an even more difficult task considering a 50-race schedule that featured multiple dates during a given week on both dirt and asphalt surfaces.

"Somebody asked me if I was nervous," Inman said, discussing his feelings before the NASCAR Hall of Fame announcement was made. "And I said, 'not as much as I was in some of those races.'"

While Inman was The King's cousin, it seemed as if the pair could be twin brothers. The two worked in the shop on Lee Petty's race cars but also had played football together at Randleman High School. Inman was the team's halfback; Petty was a guard on the offensive line.

"It was scary sometimes how we came up with the same answers," Inman said.

Inman didn't set out to be a crew chief; it just came with the evolution of the sport. "There had to be a leadership role," he said. "I picked that up."

Unlike his cousin, Inman never had a desire to drive race cars. "I just didn't see me tearing up somebody else's equipment," he said. "I always was pretty well content to work on the race cars and make them better."

He also was a gifted teacher. Many of the sport's top crew chiefs matriculated at what became Dale Inman University, among them Mike Beam, Barry Dodson, Jake Elder, Tony Glover, Steve Hmiel, Robbie Loomis, Todd Parrott, Robin Pemberton and Wade Thronburg.

"The things that you learned were not always about being or trying to be the best race car mechanic or your win-loss record; they were also about how you represented your team on and off the track," said Pemberton, a winning crew chief for Mark Martin, Kyle Petty and Rusty Wallace and now NASCAR's Vice President, Competition and Racing Development, recalled of his time working under Inman. "Dale was very good at a lot of things but I really think he was one of the best race strategist I have ever seen week in and week out. The vast majority of the time Dale made the right call to get the most out of the day."

Inman didn't disagree but put it this way: "I kept up with who we we had to beat and what their weaknesses were," he said. "We also surrounded ourselves with good people."

Inman left the team shortly after Petty's 1981 Daytona 500 victory. The decision to move on was incredibly emotional - for both Inman and Petty.

"After I told him I was leaving the team in '81, he looked at me like he was going to cry," Inman said in a feature published later in "Stock Car Illustrated." "'Dale,' he said, 'when I go off down into one of those turns at 170 mph, who am I going to depend on so I know that all the bolts are tight?' I went home and cried."

Inman later worked for Rod Osterlund, J.D. Stacy and Billy Hagan - the latter owner of Labonte's championship-winning team - before returning to Petty Enterprises to manage the organization's business affairs in 1986. He helped mold the careers of John Andretti and Bobby Hamilton, both race winners.

Inman retired from NASCAR in 1998 but remained close to the sport. He helped Kyle Petty complete the Victory Junction camp. When the NASCAR Hall of Fame was opened, Inman brought in its first artifact, the restored Plymouth Belvedere in which Petty set the records in 1967.

In 2006 a national motorsports' journalism organization proclaimed Inman NASCAR's second greatest crew chief. Always humble, Inman responded, "I'm not sure I should even be ranked." He called Leonard Wood of the Wood Brothers - fellow NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Glen Wood's brother - the best crew chief he'd ever seen.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 10, 2012) - The off season is officially over as engines fire and tires turn this week as testing begins at Daytona International Speedway. The 2011 season was one of the most competitive in NASCAR Sprint Cup history - the championship going down to the final turn of the last lap before Tony Stewart was crowned champion for the third time.

Everything points to an equally exciting 2012 as drivers and teams return refreshed, retooled and rejuvenated. The 54th Daytona 500 kicks things off on Feb. 26 - a week later than usual - but the schedule opens without interruption for six consecutive weekends. Last year's surprise Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne returns with his legendary Wood Brothers Racing team attempting to become the first back-to-back winner of the Great American Race since Sterling Marlin in 1994-95.

Off-Season Brings Many Personnel Changes
Last year's conclusion didn't exactly turn the garage upside down but there has been enough driver and crew chief movement to whet the appetite of any NASCAR hot stove enthusiast.

Kasey Kahne, winner at Phoenix International Raceway in November, joins Hendrick Motorsports in one of the most anticipated shifts. Other driver changes include AJ Allmendinger to Penske Racing; Aric Almirola moves from the NASCAR Nationwide Series to Richard Petty Motorsports; Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin head to Michael Waltrip Racing; 2004 series champion Kurt Busch moves to Phoenix Racing; Danica Patrick moves full-time to the NASCAR Nationwide Series and will drive a limited campaign with Stewart-Haas Racing; and David Reutimann takes a seat with Tommy Baldwin Racing.

On other side of pit wall, Stewart-Haas gets two significant additions: Tony Stewart's former championship crew chief Greg Zipadelli becomes competition director and Steve Addington joins as crew chief of the Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet. Additional crew chief moves include Kenny Francis to Hendrick with Kahne; Darian Grubb to Joe Gibbs Racing and Denny Hamlin; Jason Ratcliff with Joey Logano; Brian Pattie to Michael Waltrip Racing and Bowyer; Drew Blickensderfer to Richard Childress Racing and Jeff Burton; Shane Wilson remaining with RCR but taking over Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Chevrolet; Todd Berrier to JTG Daugherty Racing and Bobby Labonte; and Chris Heroy, formerly a Hendrick Motorsports engineer getting his first Sprint Cup crew chief role with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates for Juan Pablo Montoya.

2012 On-Track Action Begins With Daytona Testing
Three days of testing kicks off at Daytona International Speedway on Friday and continues through Sunday. Significant are introduction of Electronic Fuel Injection, which makes its NASCAR Sprint Cup competition debut at Daytona Speedweeks 2012 and aerodynamic and other adjustments expected to change the impact racing in the 54th Annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 26. In addition to testing, fans can enjoy two Fan Fest driver sessions on Thursday at 5 and 7 p.m. and on Friday at 5 p.m.

NASCAR Hall Of Fame Induction, NASCAR Preview Presented by Sprint Hits Charlotte

Charlotte becomes the epicenter of NASCAR Acceleration Weekend on Jan. 20-21. The NASCAR Hall of Fame inducts its third class comprised of the late Richie Evans, Dale Inman, Glen Wood, Darrell Waltrip and Cale Yarborough on Jan. 20 at the Crown Ballroom in the Charlotte Convention Center. Activities begin at 7:30 p.m. Media credentials (deadline Jan. 12) can be requested from NHOFmedia@NASCAR.com. NASCAR Preview 2012 Presented by Sprint takes place beginning at 9 a.m. Jan. 21 with NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series drivers on hand for autographs in the ballroom and Exhibit Hall. A complete rundown of drivers and times is available on nascarmedia.com.