NOTEBOOK: They'll work together even if they can't talk

            NASCAR officials have, by their own admission, been attempting to limit the incidence of tag-team drafting at the so-called “plate tracks,” Daytona and Talladega. Most of the changes will be technical, but one involves communications, or lack thereof.

            In the upcoming races at Daytona International Speedway, drivers will no longer be allowed to communicate with one another by radio. This practice is a recent phenomenon, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. said discarding it will have minimal effect.

“I don't think it'll be a big deal,” he said. “You know, pretty much everybody is working with teammates (via the draft) anyway. I don't think they're going to limit that.

“When we first started tandem drafting, you might end up working with somebody outside of your company, but then everybody sort of got a little strict on who they were going to work with and how they were going to do it, and they stuck with that plan the entire races.

            Pub hound -- Not that this comes a surprise, but Danica Patrick will be featured on two GoDaddy.com ads during the Super Bowl. Patrick, who enters NASCAR full-time this season, has been featured in a total of 10 Super Bowl ads over the past few years.

            It’s back – National Speed Sport News, the venerable publication that went out of business in March 2011, will return as a monthly, not weekly, publication under the direction of Ralph Sheheen, known for his television work. A March season-preview issue will be published under the name Speed Sport Magazine.

            The publication dates back to 1934 and was published by Chris Economaki beginning in 1950.

            Ante upped – The Daytona 500 purse will exceed $19 million, including a new $200,000 bonus for the leader at the halfway point. If the green flag is out, the bonus will go to the leader of lap 200. If that lap is run under caution, the bonus will be awarded to the leader of the fifth green-flag lap afterwards.

            It’s a secret – Only Ford has unveiled its proposed 2013 Sprint Cup model, but the other three manufacturers – Chevy, Dodge and Toyota – tested proposed models at Homestead-Miami Speedway last week. The session was closed in part because the other three manufacturers are not ready to make their tentative designs public yet.

            The participants were apparently Kasey Kahne (Chevy), Kyle Busch (Toyota), Matt Kenseth (Ford) and Sam Hornish Jr. (Dodge).

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