We’ve got a Christmas edition of ATIW for your reading pleasure this week.  It’s short and sweet, but the questions are good.  If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Christopher:

As a NASCAR fan (and not other types of racing), I always miss it during the offseason.  I’ve always wondered- why doesn’t NASCAR flip the schedule of the Nationwide or Trucks series so they race during the Sprint offseason?  There would still be some overlap.  I know its winter, but they could race in most parts of the South and West.  Imagine the exposure the series would get without having to compete with the Cup.

The weather this time of year just isn’t optimal for racing. Even February and March aren’t the greatest for racing. You can play football or soccer when it’s raining or snowing but you can’t race. On top of that you have to remember logistically it’s a lot easier to run teams at the same time. If you did that you would have no offseason and staggered employee schedules. – Journo

2. From Loren:

I know garage stalls at tracks are assigned by  points and that the reigning champion always gets the #1 stall but is it determined by owner’s points or driver’s points?  If for instance had Tony Stewart won the championship in 08 would he have been in  the #1 stall in 09 or the #20 car?

Garage stalls are assigned to the teams based on owners points.  In your example, the #1 stall would have gone to the #20 team and Joey Logano, not Tony Stewart. – T.C.

3. From Savannah:

Merry Christmas, NI,  Do you anticpate seeing any of the major teams merging or going out of existence in the early part of 2010?  Do you have any early predictions for some of the drivers who had a less than impressive 2009; specifically Sadler, Earnhardt Jr, and Kenseth?  Thanks for answering the questions every week.

Outside of what we already know about I can’t really think of anyone. If Robby Gordon doesn’t find some sponsorship you might see his team go away, but I believe even he has at partial sponsorship for the season. Any major teams though? I don’t think so. As far as early predictions go. I think Sadler will run like he always does. I think you’ll see improvement from all of the Roush cars this season. As far as Junior goes, it’s hard to say. I think we definitely saw some improvement with Lance McGrew and given they’ll be starting fresh with his stuff, his people I think there’s a good chance you’ll see some improvement out of that team. We’ll probably do some predictions later on here in the offseason where we’ll expand on that. – Journo

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!