By MIKE MULHERN, Winston-Salem Journal

Kevin Harvick is still one of NASCAR's great unknowns, even after seven seasons on the tour and plenty of big wins, including Indianapolis' Brickyard 400 and the Daytona 500.He used to carry his emotions on his sleeve and wasn't afraid to let his feelings be known.But Harvick has cooled down, if not mellowed. And in the clutch, he's as tough as Jimmie Johnson.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and other NASCAR drivers and crews are battling high winds and periods of rain at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in a crucial week of testing for NASCAR.Two days of Sprint Cup testing at the 1-1/2-mile track on the northern end of Las Vegas Boulevard will be followed by two days of testing at the two-mile California Speedway, three hours away.

Jimmie Johnson did pretty well at the start of the 2007 NASCAR season. He recovered well enough after crashing out of the Daytona 500 to win back-to-back races at Las Vegas and Atlanta and finish a close third at California Speedway.So how will Johnson fare at those mid-sized, high-speed tracks this spring with NASCAR's new car?

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- It was an emotional day on many fronts around here on Day Three of NASCAR's annual media tour, and that was even before the tour hit Michael Waltrip's rebounding Toyota operation for a late-evening stop to consider Dale Jarrett's looming final Daytona 500 run:

CONCORD, N.C. -- "Come home to NASCAR." That's Brian France's key point as he lays out his game plan for the 2008 season.France, NASCAR's CEO, said he wants to "re-energize the bonds with our core fans.""Change is good to a point," he said Monday, "and we think we've had all the change this sport can handle for a while."

The current high RPM range allowed by NASCAR may have given Toyota its edge during the past 10 days of Daytona testing.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If it's not one thing, it's something else, and another element of panic has set in here among stock-car teams as the last round of Daytona 500 testing winds up.The problem? A threat of numerous blown engines in the Daytona 500 next month, because of a big jump in engine RPM, under NASCAR's new rules.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- If speed and prowess in testing is any indication of what to expect during February's SpeedWeeks here, then the Daytona 500 is shaping up as a Battle Royale between Rick Hendrick's Chevy drivers -- Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Casey Mears -- and Joe Gibbs' new Toyota trio of Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick should be the headliners here this week.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Daytona without Robert Yates? It just doesn't seem the same.