Nascar Race Today

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske have both tweaked their team names headed into the 2014 seasons.

Ganassi has dropped "Earnhardt" from the formal name of his NASCAR organization. His team will now be known as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, the name it used before a late 2008 merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc.

The signs at the shop have already been changed to drop Earnhardt from the name.

Penske, meanwhile, wants all of his teams to be called Team Penske. His NASCAR organization had used Penske Racing, while IndyCar had been Team Penske.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- NASCAR is replacing longtime Sprint Cup Series director John Darby with Richard Buck.

The move comes four years after NASCAR first announced it was seeking a successor to Darby so he could take a managerial role. Darby will remain managing director of competition.

Buck spent last year as vice president of racing operations for the International Motor Sports Association - a job he'll keep through the Rolex 24 at Daytona this month - and managing director of NASCAR's Touring Series.

He worked from 1980 to 2000 as a crew chief, team manager and director of operations with Champ Car teams, and won five Indianapolis 500s as a crew chief - with Rick Mears, Al Unser Sr., Al Unser Jr. and Emerson Fittipaldi.

He worked with teams in all three NASCAR national series before joining NASCAR in 2005.

Darby was named Sprint Cup director in 2002. A no-nonsense official, he oversaw the implementation of the "Car of Tomorrow" in 2007 and the "Gen-6" car last season.

Darby will still lead the competition department and help NASCAR through a transitional phase on the track and at the Research & Development Center in North Carolina.

Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.