It is hard to believe that the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule starts in just over three weeks. The 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Schedule shows that the Budweiser Shootout will roll off on Saturday night February 7th.

If not for NASCAR's ban on 2009 testing this week would have been Preseason Thunder in Daytona as NASCAR teams would have been preparing for the Daytona 500. Instead we have to wait 23 more days for the Shootout and the unofficial start to the 2009 season.

Lots of news this week as teams put the final pieces in place and finish getting ready for the 2009 Daytona 500. The biggest remaining free agent, Bobby Labonte, announced this week that he will move to the Hall of Fame Racing #96 for the full 2009 season after spending three seasons in the legendary #43.

Kenny Schrader was the last driver to attempt to qualify the #96 when he failed to qualify in Homestead. The team ended the season outside of the top 35 in points which means they will have to qualify for the first six races on speed. Labonte will be able to fall back on the past Champion's provisional as the 2000 Champ as long as Tony Stewart doesn't need it. Stewart gets priority as the more recent champion.

This team is a far cry from the Joe Gibb's #18 that Bobby drove to a championship but it's better than sitting home and watching the races on TV wishing you had a ride.

In another sign of the economic times Daytona International Speedway has lowered ticket prices for some seats from $90 to $55. Last year the Daytona 500 was sold out by the end of January. This year the speedway still has thousands of seats available and is taking steps to put race fans in those seats.

Darlington, Talladega, Richmond and Lowes Motor Speedway have also lowered prices for their 2009 races. Do you think we will see even more empty seats at NASCAR tracks across the country or will lower prices bring race fans out to the track?

This topic comes up in the comments quite often. People claim to know what who the "real" NASCAR fans are. This phrase gets kicked around a lot but nobody has ever really explained what it means. I spent some time thinking about "real" NASCAR fans and came up with this definition.

What do you think of my list? What, exactly, defines a "real" NASCAR fan?