And Away We Go ...

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Here’s what we know for sure so far, after Day 1 of the 2009 Lowe’s Motor Speedway Media Tour:

• Gillett Evernham Motorsports is now Richard Petty Motorsports, although Richard Petty himself won’t be the man in charge. In fact, Petty said he’s glad he doesn’t have to worry about running Petty Enterprises any more.

• AJ Allmendinger will drive the No. 44 Richard Petty Motorsports Dodge Charger, but has no sponsorship after the first five races, no signed contract yet and no real guarantees he’ll race for the whole season..

• Verizon will pay to sponsor Penske Racing’s No. 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup car, but because Verizon can’t be a Sprint Cup sponsor — Verizon and Sprint are competitors — the No. 12 Sprint Cup car will carry Penske Racing logos, while Verizon’s colors will be on the No. 12 Penske Nationwide Series entry driven by talented rookie Justin Allgaier.

• Penske will use Dodge’s new engine everywhere except restrictor-plate tracks, while RPM, the only other full-time Dodge team, will use the old Dodge engine for all or most of the season. All Dodges, however, will get a new nose this year, which might help close the performance deficit they suffered on intermediate tracks last year.

• Tony Stewart will enter a Hendrick Motorsports No. 80 Chevrolet in the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona next month.

• Scott Riggs, not Dave Blaney, will drive for owner/crew chief Tommy Baldwin’s new – and still unsponsored - No. 36 Toyota team.

• On top of Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman O. Bruton Smith’s wish list is for Jimmie Johnson to punch someone — anyone — in an effort to liven up the 2009 season. Smith offered both himself and Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage as targets, if necessary.

• Smith still wants a Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway, but absolutely will not take one away from New Hampshire Motor Speedway, another track he owns. Where will he pull one from? He’s not saying, but speculation is Kentucky could replace the fall race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

• And while this wasn’t officially on the Media Tour, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing cut another 40 jobs on Monday. Late Tuesday, the team confirmed it will run three cars.

Confused?

You aren’t alone. It’s likely to be the wildest NASCAR season we’ve seen in quite a long, long time and the first wheel hasn’t even turned in anger yet.