NOTEBOOK: Gordon says 2-car drafts are inevitable

            No matter how hard NASCAR officials try to undermine it, tag-team drafting is going to continue at Daytona and Talladega.

            Or so said Jeff Gordon and many others during test sessions at Daytona International Speedway that concluded on Saturday.

Gordon said, “These days the shuffling just goes back and forth, back and forth, and it just seems like the passing and getting passed is … it's kind of easy in some ways, and it's really as much about timing and luck as it is about planning it and … strategy …”

“I mean, I think we're always going (to draft in tandems) now that we know that we can push and as long as the bumpers are lined up,” he said. “If we had known this 10, 15, 20 years ago, we would have done it then, too, or figured out how to do it. Now that it's here, it's always going to be here.”

            Not a quick fix -- Chip Ganassi has changed a lot of personnel to boost the performance of drivers Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya, both of whom major flops in 2011.

            “The frustrating part is that we won races with the guys that were there before, won some really big races,” McMurray said, “but I think the morale in the shop got way down, and everyone -- you know, you start criticizing everybody -- and Chip needed to make a change to get everybody pumped back up.

“I don't think you're going to see immediate results because it's going to take a little time, and our speedway (i.e., Daytona) cars don't seem to be just where they need to be yet. … We lost a little bit last year because we were changing our car so much. It was something different every week.”

            Takes an effort – The second-place finisher in last year’s Chase has one fewer teammate. Lack of sponsorship has forced Roush Fenway Racing to cut back from four to three Fords.

“I think it makes all of us realize we have to do the best we can all the time, not just on the race track,” Carl Edwards. “We have to be the best we can with our sponsors and teams and the fans, and do everything we can to make the business of this sport work.

“We have all experienced it. When it comes down to it, you can’t take anything for granted.”

            You think? “I've always been guilty of doing things the hard way,” Kurt Busch conceded, “and working hard instead of smart, I guess, is my mentality.”

Monte Dutton; 704-869-1841; twitter.com/montedutton