Ever since we learned that Hendrick Motorsports scheduled a press conference this weekend at Daytona, most people believed that they would announce Mark Martin as the driver for their no. 5 car next season, and they were right. What was unclear, however, was whether it would be on a full-time basis, or if Mark would engage in another driver / mentor program to bring the young Brad Keselowski up through the ranks of the Sprint Cup Series … it turns out it may have been both.
With Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. both on-hand for Friday’s announcement, team owner Rick Hendrick announced that the team had signed Martin to a two-year deal to drive for the team. Mark will run a full schedule in 2009 in his last-ditch effort to win his elusive first Sprint Cup championship, and then he will run a 26-race schedule in 2010. Mark has finished in the top-five in points a record 12 times, and has finished runner-up on 4 occassions. Even though he will turn the ripe age of 50 years old in January, a run with Hendrick Motorsports may just give him his best shot yet to win the title.
With many moves in NASCAR’s Silly Season still up in the air, the second and third order effects of this announcement could be astronomical. Had Hendrick signed Mark Martin to just a 1-year deal, then the prospect of Tony Stewart taking over the car in 2010 after his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing expires would still be in play. However, as it now looks as though Hendrick will be grooming that seat for the future of Brad Keselowski, the only other GM team out there that could satisfy Stewart solely as a driver would be Richard Childress Racing, but heading there would be a very unlikely scenario for the two-time champ. That means that the potential deal to take over partial ownership of Haas CNC Racing could be back in play as early as next year
While it’s easy for some of us to say that Tony should just ride out the rest of his contract with Gibbs and take another look at the deal with Haas CNC sometime closer to the 2010 season, the fact of the matter is that this could be a “now or never” situation. With both Haas CNC cars currently outside of the top-35 in owner points and the sudden crisis in NASCAR sponsorship, there’s a good chance that without Tony Stewart or a name like Ryan Newman driving their cars, this team might not make it to 2010.
Joe Gibbs has stated that the talks between the team and Stewart are still focused on 2010 - not next year - and, that despite popular belief, GM has not made an offer to buyout the remainder of Tony’s contract. Yet, reports still indicate that Tony has reached an agreement that would make Office Depot the primary sponsor of his car should he make the move over to Haas CNC next season.
Another possibility that we could see play out if Tony is unable to get out of his contract with JGR early would involve either Ryan Newman or Martin Truex Jr. Newman is in his contract year with Penske Racing and has told the team that he will not re-sign unless the team’s performance improves over the next couple of months. Truex, on the other hand, had his 2009 option picked up by DEI, but Martin has since disputed the legality of the contract, which means he, too, could be available in the offseason. Both drivers have been rumored to be involved in the potential Haas CNC deal, so what we could see happen is one of those two drivers head over to Haas in 2009 to keep the team afloat until Stewart arrives in 2010.
Stewart is rumored to possibly be ready to make an announcement a few weeks from now when the series heads to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the running of the Allstate 400. That reace is scheduled for July 27th.
NASCAR officials confiscated and impounded the no. 1 DEI Chevy driven by Martin Truex Jr. on Thursday afternoon when the car failed multiple attempts during the opening day inspections, as the roof failed to meet the inspection templates. The incident forced Truex to miss out on the first practice session after the team was unable to beat the roof into submission and NASCAR mandated that the team unload their backup car. Crew Chief, Kevin Manion, then decided to change the engine on the backup car, costing Martin valuable time on the track. Now, with rainy skies hovering over the Daytona infield, practice will be at a premium for this weekend’s Coke Zero 400, and there’s a very good chance that Truex will not have the opportunity to touch the track until the field is ready to qualify for the race.
“Somebody made a big mistake,” said Truex. “Shouldn’t happen in this level of auto racing, but people make mistakes. We’ll go on.”
Vice President of DEI, Johny Story, was less diplomatic about the situation. When asked about the situation, he replied, “The car fit our templates when they left the shop. Then they got down here, and apparently the greenhouse was too narrow for NASCAR’s liking. We worked on it as much as possible, but the more you work on it - well, basically we weren’t able to get it fixed.”
NASCAR is expected to examine the car at their R&D Center in Concord, NC sometime next week, and a decision as to whether or not any fines and penalties will be assessed are likely to be made at that time. This is the fourth time that NASCAR has impounded cars during opening day inspections since the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were each penalized 100 points, fined $100,000, and the Crew Chiefs were suspended for six weeks at Infineon Raceway last year for altered front fenders. Robby Gordon was then caught with an illegal nose cover prior to the Daytona 500 this year, but he appealed the penalty, and lost no points as a result. The Haas CNC Racing cars of Scott Riggs and Johnny Sauter were impounded by NASCAR at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May for wing-mount violations, and each of those drivers were penalized 150 driver points.
Truex is currently 14th in the points standings and sits only 71 points behind 12th place, Kevin Harvick. A penalty of 100 or 150 points would drop him to 18th in the standings as they sit now, not to mention that the points he accrues in the Coke Zero 400 will likely suffer as well as a result of a lack of track time.
Happy 4th of July, everyone! Along with celebrating America’s independence, since it just so happens to have fallen on a Friday this year, that means you’re also treated to a “special” edition of “Loose in Turn Three”. Along with me as always are Bruce Simmons from “Bruce’s Bits & Pieces”, and, of course, Charlie Turner from “On Pit Row”.
Earlier this week, Chip Ganassi announced that due to sponsorship woes, he was being forced to cease operations on his no. 40 operation, laying off 71 employees in the process and also putting NASCAR rookie, Dario Franchitti, out of a ride for the remainder of the season.
Ganassi has been fortunate to maintain sponsorship on all of his cars to this point in 2008, but there have been several other teams that have struggled with similar situations all season long. Yates Racing is perhaps the most publicized of these stories, running the no. 28 car of Travis Kvapil without a primary sponsor for most of the year, and the no. 38 of David Gilliland’s contract with freecreditreport.com is only for a limited number of races. BAM Racing also had to shut down operations earlier in the year, Bill Davis Racing shoved Jacques Villeneuve out of the series before he ever even got started, and Michael Waltrip Racing is known to have troubles on the horizon.
Q: With the recent folding of Chip Ganassi’s #40 operation due to lack of sponsorship, is this a trend we can continue to expect in NASCAR with other teams that have struggled with sponsorship … teams like Yates Racing?
TZ: I think it is. The economy’s really turned everything upside down, even in NASCAR. Many of NASCAR’s long-term sponsors are starting to see a substantial decrease in profits, which means that they’ve got to start cutting down on their budget in areas like professional sports. Then, on top of that, you’ve got some of the top-tier teams such as Childress and Gibbs with plans on expanding their organizations with an additional car, and before ya know it, there’s just not enough water in the kiddie pool anymore.
Bruce: If the team isn’t performing, the hood sponsor isn’t getting it’s $10 mil of advertising exposure, so yea, we just may see other teams lose sponsors. BAM was trying something interesting with their sponsor packages but then they jumped manufacturers and then suddenly took a break. I guess the sponsor program wasn’t the hit they were hoping it to be.
Charlie: Every indication is that other teams are on the brink of closing shop. Ganassi is one of the organizations that you would think to be stable. Chip may have just missed on a hunch that in Dario he could catch the Montoya lightning again. Regardless they failed with that car. I have a feeling that Yates will survive, but Waltrip could shrink by a car.
Franchitti has stated that he’d like to remain in NASCAR, and Chip Ganassi has since offered Dario the full-time seat in his Nationwide Series entry. No decisions have been made as to what they’ll do from here, but sources indicate that the two plan to meet and discuss Dario’s future going forward.
This week, NASCAR returns to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400, one of the biggest races of the year on the Sprint Cup schedule. With Daytona being one of NASCAR’s two restrictor plate courses, the track has fallen under quite a bit of scrutiny over the years. While it’s still loved by many, there are still those that feel as though things tend to get a bit overhyped whenever the series heads down to Florida. But, whether you love it or you hate it, one thing cannot be denied, and that is that the 50th running of the Daytona 500 held here this past February was one that brought plenty of excitement. In fact, some believe that race was actually one of the Car of Tomorrow’s shining moments to date.
Recent Winners:
2008 - Ryan Newman
2007 - Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick
2006 - Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson
2005 - Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon
Recent Pole Winners:
2008 - Jimmie Johnson
2007 - “Cancelled Qualifying”, David Gilliland
2006 - Boris Said, Jeff Burton
2005 - Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett
the Usual Suspects:
Despite the fact that he hasn’t won a Cup race all season long and that he’s been under the microscope this season in regards to his contract situation, Tony Stewart remains one of the favorites to win this Saturday. Along with boasting the highest driver rating over the last 7 races at the track, Tony has also won this race twice before (’05 & ‘06), and also holds the track record for most laps led in a 400-mile race when he led 151 circuits back in 2005. Additionally, Smoke leads all active drivers in the series with wins between June through August since 2003 with 12 of them to his credit. He also led the most laps at this year’s 500, only to lose the lead on the final lap of the race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is certainly considered the fan favorite to win the race this weekend, and rightfully so. Dale owns two Cup victories at Daytona himself, and has recorded 10 top-ten finishes over 17 starts. He ran very well during the Daytona 500 in February and at times appeared as though he might grab a victory in his very first start with Hendrick Motorsports, but eventually faded away near the end. Now that he’s finally broken his winless streak by taking the checkered flag at Michigan, perhaps the no. 88 team’s been able to relieve themselves of enough pressure to regain Jr’s status as the master of restrictor plate racing.
Both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have seen their share of dominant days at Daytona. Gordon leads all active drivers with 6 wins here, and Johnson had a stretch of five consecutive Daytona races with a finish of 6th or better, which also included a win at the 2006 Daytona 500. Since that win, however, Johnson has recorded only one top-ten finish in the four races since, and he finished 27th here in February. Gordon’s last Daytona victory came at the 500 the year before.
Amongst the other favorites to win this weekend is Kevin Harvick, winner of the 2007 Daytona 500. Harvick has struggled at the track since then, finishing 34th last July and 14th earlier this year. He’s also had his struggles over the last few weeks of the season, but also known as one of the best night racers in the series, a return to Daytona could be just what the doctor ordered … Kyle Busch’s over all numbers at Daytona seem to be about middle of the road, but you can pretty much chalk that up to a few bad runs earlier on in his career. He’s finished inside the top-five in 3 of the last 4 trips to Daytona, to include a pair of runner-up finishes, and he finally picked up his first restrictor plate win earlier this year at Talladega … Kurt Busch may have gotten the monkey off his back with his win last weekend at New Hampshire, and it could’ve come at just the right time. With the number 2 time finding themselves in a much deeper hole than they could’ve ever expected to have to climb out of this late in the season, there might not be a track they’d rather visit more than Daytona. He has still yet to add a Daytona victory to his championship resume’, but he’s always considered a favorite here with 7 top-five finishes over 15 races. He has finished as the runner-up here on three occassions.
the Unusual Suspects:
When you start to think about sleeper picks at Daytona, probably the first name that jumps out to you is the guy that beat Kyle Busch to the line in this race last year, Jamie McMurray. The 2007 victory was only Jamie’s second top-five finish at the track in his career, but don’t let the numbers fool you. McMurray’s been a solid performer here ever since he started running full-time in the Cup Series, but as has been the case so many times throughout his career, he has been the unfortunate victim of bad luck more often than not.
Elliott Sadler has run well here at times, especially as of late. He has finished 6th in three of the last four Daytona races, and also scored a pair of top-five’s here back in 2001 … Brian Vickers has had a great run for his Red Bull Racing team over the past couple of months, and Vickers is especially known for his restrictor plate prowess. Though he typically runs stronger at Talladega, he does have a pair of top-ten’s at Daytona, and finished 12th here in February … Robby Gordon typically isn’t associated with many tracks other than road course races, but you may be surprised to learn that he is currently working on a string of five consecutive top-15 finishes at Daytona.
the Unusual Slackers:
It’s not very often that folks will make it a point to drop Denny Hamlin from there fantasy rosters for an upcoming race, but a trip to Daytona could call for such action. Not only has Denny failed to record a single top-15 finish in his five trips to Daytona, but his average finish of 27.0 actually matches that of JJ Yeley … Carl Edwards has been one of the top performers of the season, and is heavily considered to be amongst the true championship contenders this year. That does not mean, however, that he’s necessarily solid at every track on the schedule. Carl has only one top-ten finish in 7 Daytona races, which was a 4th place run here last July. He was unable to use that for any kind of momentum, however, as he then finished 19th here in February … Carl’s teammate, Matt Kenseth, hasn’t had much better luck taming Daytona, either. With only one top-five to his credit and an average finish here of 22.9 over 17 races, Daytona ranks amongst Matt’s worst tracks … Martin Truex Jr. is in dire need of a good run if he wants to return to the Chase for the Cup field this year, but if you ask him, Daytona’s not the best place to be given the current situation. Martin’s 13th place run here last July ranks as his best finish over six races at Daytona.
Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Tony Stewart - 108.1
2. Ryan Newman - 98.6
3. Jimmie Johnson - 95.5
4. Kyle Busch - 95.3
5. Kurt Busch - 93.0
Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Clint Bowyer - 13.0
2. Jimmie Johnson - 13.2
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - 13.8
4. Sam Hornish Jr. - 15.0
5. David Gilliland - 15.7
Daytona Facts:
- A Cup race at Daytona has gone without any lead changes on two different occassions, the last of which came back in 1963.
- The race has gone caution-free 12 times, most recently the Daytona 500 in 1971.
- The most drivers to ever finish on the lead lap at Daytona is 33. Eight races have seen only one driver finish on the lead lap, most recently in 1976.
- In 122 Cup Series races at Daytona, only 10 times has the winner come from outside of a top-15 starting position. 55% of the races have been won from the top-five, and 23 winners have started from the pole.
- Only four drivers have ever won both the Daytona 500 and the July race at Daytona in the same year: Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarbrough, LeRoy Yarbrough, and most recently, Bobby Allison in 1982. Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500 this year, giving Penske Racing their first-ever restrictor plate victory.
Storylines for the Weekend:
Hendrick Motorsports has recently announced the release of Casey Mears from the no. 5 car next season. They’re expected to make an announcement on Friday in regards to whom will fill the seat in 2009, and heavy speculation at this point is that the announcement will involve the legendary Mark Martin … Though he is not on this weekend’s driver entry list, DEI has named the young Aric Almirola as the full-time driver of their no. 8 car in ‘09 … In a surprise move, Chip Ganassi Racing announced earlier in the week that they would be forced to shut down operations on their no. 40 car, which until then had been driven by 2007 Indy 500 winner, Dario Franchitti, due to a lack of sponsorship opportunities … This weekend’s Cup entry list includes Boris Said (making his 2nd start of the season) and Sterling Marlin (making his 6th start). Marlin leads all drivers on the entry list with 589 laps led at Daytona - 57 more laps than Tony Stewart, and 78 more than Jeff Gordon … Kerry Earnhardt will run the no. 8 entry in the Nationwide Series this weekend, marking his first official start in a DEI car in a NASCAR event.
Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner - Tony Stewart
2nd Place - Jimmie Johnson
3rd Place - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4th Place - Kurt Busch
5th Place - Kyle Busch
6th Place - Greg Biffle
Lock of the Week - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sleeper Pick - Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of - Martin Truex Jr.
Dave Rogers has done absolutely nothing short of a spectacular job since taking over the helm as the Crew Chief for Joe Gibbs Racing’s no. 20 entry in the Nationwide Series in 2006. In his 2 1/2 seasons with the team, Rogers has helped coach five different drivers to a total of 14 Nationwide wins, to include: Denny Hamlin (6), Tony Stewart (5), Kyle Busch (1), Joey Logano (1), and Aric Almirola (1). More impressively, 8 of those wins have come this season with four different drivers behind the helm (five by Stewart). After putting Tony Stewart into Victory Lane last weekend at New Hampshire, Rogers will now have the task of getting Denny Hamlin back to Winner’s Circle Friday night at Daytona.
Rogers has previous experience at the Sprint Cup level, having served as the Crew Chief for Jason Leffler in the series back in 2005. The tandem was unable to produce satisfactory results, and Gibbs aptly found a place for Dave down at the Nationwide Series. Since then, however, Rogers has been compiling a very impressive resume’ that could land him back into Cup competition by 2010.
Why 2010, you ask? Because Joe Gibbs Racing has two very lucrative scenarios that could play out in Rogers favor between now and then, the first being that of Tony Stewart’s contract situation. Forget about all the hooplah that’s governed our Stewart talks in concerns of where he’ll be driving in 2009, the fact is that even if he stays, his contract expires next year, and he’ll most likely be driving for GM in 2010. And, with Smoke most likely goes his longime companion, Greg Zipadelli, as the two form the longest driver / chief combination currently active in all of NASCAR.
The second scenario, and truly the most likely one regardless of the Stewart situation, revolves around the young phenom, Joey Logano - or, “Sliced Bread” as you may know him better by now. Logano has all of the tools to be a great competitor in the sport, and Dave Rogers has been given the task of molding and fine-tuning his talents behind the wheel of the no. 20 car in the Nationwide Series. The team has already made it known that they plan to run Logano in a fourth team car in the Cup Series on a partial schedule next season, and possibly even get him a few races this year. Don’t be surprised - as it completely makes sense - if JD and ‘the Coach’ find it appropriate to keep the tandem of Logano and Rogers together as Joey goes about his Cup Series endeavours.
Some might chalk it up to simply being Gibbs’ superior equipment, but I don’t care who’s funding the goods … to switch over to a completely new manufacturer and have to work with a different driver every week and still find the level of success that this team has is truly special. Dave Rogers deserves all the credit in the world for what the no. 20 team has accomplished this year, and he adequately deserves a promotion back to the big leagues in the not-so-distant future.
After the caution on lap 279 of Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Juan Pablo Montoya was mixed up in a back-and-forth battle of “love taps” with the Sprint Cup Series points leader, Kyle Busch, which ultimately led to Montoya taking a dive at the no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing machine with every intent of spinning him. The end result? Both cars wound up wrecked on the frontstretch and the race was called for rain just moments later.
Video footage of the wreck between Montoya and Busch:
Following the race, reporters caught up with Montoya to discuss the incident. The Colombian native insinuated that the feud between the two drivers had been brewing for fifty laps when Kyle was pinching him up against the wall as he tried to make the pass, and then that Busch was beating and banging on his car.
“He runs good? Yeah. He has great cars? Yeah. I thought we had a decent car today, and I don’t appreciate when people race me like that,” Montoya said. Marty Snyder then asked Montoya if he intentionally spun Busch, to which the driver responded, “Well, yeah. The same way he did to me.”
Despite the fact that Montoya may have won some fan votes for his brutal honesty, Kyle Busch was none too pleased with the outcome of the altercation.
“We came to that caution flag, and he thought he beat me to the flag. I was just trying to get around who was in front of us, touched him on the door, and he turned left and spun me out. I don’t know what his beef is, but NASCAR should probably fix it,” Busch said.
Montoya later responded, “I think they are giving me a penalty, and it’s okay for what I did. He hit me under caution, he hit me under green, and I retaliated. Did I go too far in retaliating? Yeah. The only reason I did that was that I was just defending myself.”
While it was refreshing to hear a driver actually speak honestly about his intentions on the track, perhaps Montoya would have been a bit better off to stay quiet on the situation. NASCAR wound up penalizing Juan two laps, taking him from what would’ve been a 26th place finish and dropping him to 32nd.
With Aric Almirola now slated to drive the no. 8 car full-time for DEI next season, it appears as though the driver / mentor program that the organization set out to accomplish with veteran driver, Mark Martin, is now coming to a close. With Silly Season already in full effect, rumors are now circulating that Mark could announce his plans for the 2009 Sprint Cup season this weekend at Daytona, as reported by SPEED’s Wendy Venturini.
With the Silly Season talks turning into a chess match - or, even a poker game if you will - do not underestimate the importance of what the perennial Hall of Famer could have to say this weekend. Despite the fact that most people feel that Tony Stewart and Hendrick Motorsports are holding all the face cards in the deck, Mark Martin could very well have a lot to say in who winds up where by the start of the 2009 season.
After all of the early speculation that Stewart could be looking for an early release from his current contract with Joe Gibbs Racing to move to Haas CNC Racing in a deal that would involve Tony gaining partial ownership of the team, many sources have since refuted those rumors, stating that Stewart is now pushing back plans for ownership of a Cup team until after he officially retires. If these latest reports hold true, then that makes Hendrick Motorsports’ no. 5 car - recently made available with the release of Casey Mears - more than likely the only seat with enough drawing power to lure Stewart away from Gibbs prior the conclusion of 2009. Likewise, this could very well take Haas CNC right out of the Silly Season game as a major player, as without Stewart on their immediate lineup, the likelihood of landing a name like Ryan Newman or Martin Truex Jr. in this upcoming offseason is slim to none.
That said, Mark Martin should be looking at one of three possible options for next season: A) Running a part-time schedule on another driver / mentor program; B) Running a full season in an effort to finally win his elusive first Cup championship; or C) Retire altogether. Whichever of those options Martin chooses to pursue, his decision could be directly linked to what the other big names for this off-season decide to do as well. Here’s how each of the three scenarios could play out:
A) Part-Time Schedule:
Should Mark decide that he’s found his beckoning as a mentor to rookie drivers at this stage in his career, then there’s two viable options that immediately stick out - splitting time in the no. 5 car with Brad Keselowski to help bring him through the ranks at Hendrick, or hooking up with Red Bull Racing in an effort to get Scott Speed ready for a career in the Sprint Cup Series. If he does in fact hook up with Hendrick, then what that does is keep Tony Stewart at Gibbs for another year, and also probably keeps Newman with Penske on a short-term deal. Additionally, this would likely give Roush-Fenway Racing a reason to hold onto Jamie McMurray through the ‘09 season because they have a different agenda than the other major players involved. In 2010 they’ll lose one of their five team cars, and they’ve already locked up Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, and Greg Biffle to long-term deals and are working on one with David Ragan. Essentially, even if they were to release McMurray, they still don’t have a long-term ride to offer.
If Martin were to take the path towards Red Bull Racing, however, this would then open the doors for a potential move of Tony Stewart or Ryan Newman to Hendrick, which in turn, would then open a seat at either Penske or Gibbs - possibly both if Stewart went to Hendrick, and Newman took the no. 20 seat at JGR. In this scenario, Casey Mears could then wind up driving the no. 12 car for Roger Penske.
B) Full-Time Schedule:
There’s been talk of Mark possibly coming back next season to run full-time, and again, the early speculation was that he would run for Hendrick. This scenario would pretty much play out in the same manner as if he went there on a driver / mentor program, with the exception being that with the team not investing any time or money into the development of Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart could still wind up with the team in 2010 after Mark retires for good.
But, if Mark’s goal is to run a full-season next year, then I don’t think Hendrick is where he’ll wind up. The possibility that nobody’s talking about, and is actually possibly my favorite, is that Jack Roush releases McMurray at the conclusion of the season, and with the no. 26 car’s final season being 2009 anyway, Mark returns to Roush for one final hoorah. This would give Roush-Fenway an additional bonafide championship contender for ‘09 without forsaking any of their long-term commitments, and would also give Mark the opportunity to retire ‘at home’. This scenario also solves very little in the rest of the Silly Season mele’, as that leaves the slot at Hendrick unresolved, which in turn leaves the decisions for the rest of the teams and drivers unresolved … and, adds McMurray’s name to the list of drivers looking for a ride.
C) Retirement:
Most feel that this is the least likely of the three options for Mark, but it remains an option nonetheless. This scenario wouldn’t play out much differently than if Mark were to run full-time outside of Hendrick, with the exception that McMurray would stay with Roush for one more season, making it one less name in the driver pool to add to the headache.
Regardless which of the three paths Mark Martin should choose to head down, it most directly effects what happens to both Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman. That will then sort out which of the top-tier teams in the sport have rides available for next season, which will then lead to determining who Casey Mears and possibly Martin Truex and Jamie McMurray will drive for … thus, where the “domino theory” stems from.
Even with Mark addressing the media this weekend at Daytona, I wouldn’t expect an outright answer as to where he will be next season, but it should shed some light on which of the three paths he aims to follow. As is always the case, it’s pure speculation at this point, but my gut tells me that we should be looking for a reunion with Jack Roush and I fully expect this to happen, which means we’re likely to spend yet another couple of months playing the guessing game with Hendrick, Stewart, and Newman.
First off, I would like to thank all of the readers of this site for their continued support. To me, it’s amazing just how many pageviews and comments I continue to get each and every month in the short time since I’ve taken over writing for this site (October, 2007). Each of the past two months has brought more than 250 comments to DoYouNascar, with as many as 277 two months ago in May. As a small token of my appreciation, I will be offering a small, nominal prize via a random contest once a month. The prizes typically won’t be much to get too excited about, but should be fun nonetheless.
This month’s prize, and the first from this site, is a paperback copy of Rick Barry’s Super Sports Trivia Game (Buzztime Trivia). I have not actually viewed the book myself, but I am told it features sports trivia from all genres, and is not limited to just basketball, as the name Rick Barry might suggest.
I thought it fitting that the winner be determined by … well, answering a little sports trivia. And, just to make it a little more tasking for you all, the questions will not be NASCAR-related. Just be the first one to respond here with the correct answer to both of the questions below, and we will ship you the book free of charge courtesty of b5 Media. Enjoy!
Q: Who was the first Major League Baseball player to reach the upper-deck twice in one game in what it now known as Cinergy Field?
Q: Who was credited as holder of the NFL’s single-season reception record when training camp began for the 1990 season?
After Super Bowl runner-up, Randy Moss, announced last April that his latest endeavours would include the creation of a full-time NASCAR Craftsmant Truck Series team, the star WR for the New England Patriots has indeed made good on his promise. Moss has announced that he will debut the #81 Moss Motorsports truck on July 19th at Kentucky Speedway for the Built Ford Tough 225, though the team’s manufacturer, sponsors, and even their driver have yet to be announced.
We do know that Moss has recently purchased a major portion of Morgan-Dollar Motorsports, a team that currently fields Willie Allen in the no. 46 Chevy in the series. There has been some speculation that the team could simply rename their existing operations as Moss Motorsports, but that has yet to be determined. Either way, this more than likely means that Moss has established a relationship with GM, and odds are that when the green drops at Kentucky, we’re probably going to be looking at a no. 81 Chevy somewhere on the track.
There are also rumors that the driver of the truck in the team’s debut race could very well be a “prominent” Sprint Cup standout. My first inclination would be that if this is in fact true, then it would probably be someone with some past experience in the Truck Series. But, as I skim through the current Cup roster, there’s no Chevy drivers that fit both bills, so really, I don’t even know where to speculate in terms of who that driver will be. If the GM thing doesn’t hold true, though, then I’d look for someone out of the Gibbs camp, probably Denny Hamlin. But, again, that’s all speculation.
Moss is expected to make an official announcement concerning the team’s plans in a press conference this Thursday at Daytona.
With the Sprint Cup Series now just one week away from reaching the official halfway marker of 2008, DYN is going to take a look at the 5 most disappointing teams and drivers in the series so far this year:
5. Ryan Newman - no. 12 car - Penske Racing - After missing out on the Chase for the Cup playoffs in each of the past two seasons, Newman came into 2008 - his contract year with Penske - with high hopes of finding some of the magic that he and the no. 12 team had a little earlier in his career. Things got off to a great start when Ryan gave Roger Penske his first-ever restrictor plate win when he won the season-opening Daytona 500, but the season’s been downhill ever since. Newman’s finished inside the top-five only once more since then, and has slipped down to 15th in the standings.
4. Dario Franchitti - no. 40 car - Chip Ganassi Racing - Nobody should have been expecting this team to tally any marks in the win column in Dario’s rookie campaign in the Sprint Cup Series, but sharing a team with Juan Pablo Montoya, many believed that he would be able to use a lot of the second-hand information from JPM’s transition into stock cars last year to his advantage. That has not been the case thus far, however, as Dario has failed to finish inside of the top-20 in any of the ten races he’s competed in this year. Even more disappointing is the fact that he failed to qualify for the road course race in Sonoma, the place where Montoya picked up his first NASCAR win and many felt that Dario would get his best finish to-date.
3. Elliott Sadler - no. 19 car - Gillette-Evernham Motorsports - Once considered a perrenial Chase contender while racing for Yates Racing, Sadler came to Evernham Motorsports with high hopes when he relieved Jeremy Mayfield of his driving duties in the no. 19 car. Things haven’t really panned out so far, though, as Elliott just recently picked up his first top-five of the season last weekend at Loudon. They have also been unable to improve on their points position from last year. In 2007 he finished 25th in the standings, which is also where he currently sits 17 races into 2008.
2. Jamie McMurray - no. 26 car - Roush-Fenway Racing: In a NASCAR season that’s been dominated with Silly Season headlines, McMurray is one of the remaining drivers that still finds his name on the potential chopping block. Even if he survives 2008 with a job in-hand, he can pretty count on ‘09 being his last year with the organization unless he performs anything short of a miracle. 17 races into the season, McMurray finds himself with only 3 top-ten finishes, and no top-five efforts to show. 2006 - McMurray’s first season with Roush - marked the worst points season of Jamie’s career when he finished 25th. After climbing up to 17th last season, many people felt that he and the no. 26 team were finally beginning to develop some chemistry, but that has not been the case. He dropped as low as 36th in the standings earlier in the year following Bristol. They’ve been able to find a level of consistency since then, but they still find themselves down in 24th in the points, with very little hope of making the Chase.
1. Kurt Busch - no. 2 car - Penske Racing: After the addition of Pat Tryson as the Crew Chief, the team made a late-summer charge in 2007 to get Kurt into the Chase for the Cup, and the they came into 2008 with high expectations across the board. Kurt just recently picked up his first victory of the season last weekend at New Hampshire, but the car still tremendously lacked the desired performance. Furthermore, the win gave Kurt only his third top-ten finish of the season. The team finished 8th in points in 2007, but currently sit 18th overall and find themselves 222 points behind 12th place, Kevin Harvick.
Interested in sports? Then our sports editors have you covered. All the news, gossip, rivalries, scandals, and enjoyment of the sporting world - at your fingertips - all the time.
Recent Comments