FastMachines.com Radio Episode #21
January 28, 2009
We’re back for the 2009 racing season. Chris and Josh are joined by Johnny Hall (formerly?) of LiveFastRacing.com. We talk about the various pre-season goings on in the world of motorsports, try not to be too depressing when talking sponsors and the economy, and briefly talk Rolex 24.
Let us know what you think by commenting on this posting, or shoot Chris and I an email by sending to radio@fastmachines.com.
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The Championship and the Daytona 500
January 28, 2009
The winner of the 2009 Daytona 500 will leave Daytona with the points lead for the Sprint Cup Championship. But I really doubt the 2009 500 winner will be found on top of top of the list following Homestead. So, who’s going to win the 500? I predict the 2009 Daytona 500 winner will be Jimmie Johnson. With all of the momentum he has built up over the past three years I think he will continue to be on top of his game at Daytona. I think Tony Stewart, with his new team, has taken himself out of contention for the 2009 500. I believe Denny Hamlin may also be in the mix for the victory at Daytona. I think a long shot at Daytona will be Dale Earnhardt Junior. None of the Dodge teams will even be in the mix. I doubt any Ford will finish above second place. A dark horse victory would be Jeff Burton in the #31 Chevrolet. Jeff Gordon will not win the 2009 500, unless he laps the entire field.
The Sprint Cup Chamionship is going to settle down to a four car race. Jimmie Johnson, with the odds against him, will be in the mix. The probable favorite, Carl Edwards will also be in the points chase. I think Kyle Busch is going to deliver throughout the Chase this year as well. The fourth driver I expect to be in the final mix is Mark Martin. Mark is now with a team that has the resources to give him a championship ride. I predict Kyle will win, but I really hope Mark wins the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship.
Economics 8,000: NASCAR’s Title Sponsor Announces Cutbacks
January 27, 2009
It appears nobody is safe from the strain on America’s tough economic status, and that holds true for the title sponsor of the NASCAR Cup Series as well.
It was announced today that Sprint-Nextel would cut 8,000 jobs—or 14 percent of its workforce—by the end of March. The effort will reduce the companies costs by more than $1 billion.
Along with the cuts, the company will also take part in a company-wide pay freeze and put a hiatus on employees’ 401(k) match for the year.
According to reports on NASCAR.com the nation’s third largest provider of wireless service provided a net loss of $326 million in the third quarter of 2008 and a $1.2 billion loss for the other three quarters.
“Labor reductions are always the most difficult action to take, but many companies are finding it necessary in this environment,” chief executive officer Dan Hesse said in a press release. “Our commitment to quality will not change.”
Sprint became the title sponsor for NASCAR’s premier series in 2005 when it acquired Nextel. According to NASCAR.com, the company pays around $75 million a year to have their name on the series.
The news was bad across the board for some of the sport’s top advertisers as well.
The same report on NASCAR.com said Caterpillar, Home Depot, and GM will also be experiencing cuts in employees.
Caterpillar (the new sponsor for the No. 31 Richard Childress Chevy driven by Jeff Burton), is expecting to cut 20,000 jobs—about 18 percent of their worforce—through layoffs and buyouts.
“While 2008 was our sixth consecutive year of record sales and revenues, it was an extraordinarily challenging year,” Caterpillar chairman and chief executive officer Jim Owns said on the company’s Web site. “We have initiated actions which will remove about 20,000 workers from our business and every indirect spent dollar will be heavily scrutinized.”
NASCAR’s official home improvement warehouse and sponsor of rookie Joey Logano is also planning cutbacks.
About 7,000 jobs—or two percent of the workforce—will be cut through closures of 34 Expo Design Center Stores and 14 other speciality stores over the next two months, according to NASCAR.com.
The fourth large sponsor—General Motors—also has plans to cut its workforce this spring, and has already seen large cuts throughout its manufacturing plants.
The news is tough for NASCAR, which relies heavily on the funding from top sponsors.
As the businesses that pay the millions of dollars begin to cut back, you have to wonder when that will include pulling funding from NASCAR teams.
With these announcements, it makes Jack Roush’s argument that his team should be allowed to keep all five teams all the more stronger.
Sure, this isn’t the loss of sponsors—yet!
Roush-Fenway currently has five cars that have full sponsors and NASCAR may not want to risk the loss of those precious funds if the team is forced to relocate to another shop.
It should be interesting to see how things progress as more and more announcements continue to surface of lay-offs and cutbacks.
Employees of these companies have got to be wondering why the company can’t afford their $8 an hour, yet can afford to spend millions of dollars to put their logo on a car going 200-mph.
Just another installment of Economics 101 in NASCAR today.
B-Blog
NASCAR Fantasy: Who’s Hot and Who’s Not
January 27, 2009
You can almost smell the fumes and feel the rubber from 43 cars whizzing by you at the Daytona International Speedway.
That’s right, NASCAR fans—it’s time to get out your notes and do your calculations — it’s Fantasy Racing time!
Last year, Jimmie Johnson went on to win his third consecutive championship in the Sprint Cup Series, however, it was “Cousin Carl” Edwards who took home the most Fantasy points.
As the season approaches, here is a look at which drivers were wildly inconsistent last year, which ones might break though, whom you need on your roster, and whom to stay away from.
High-Risk Drivers
Several drivers on the NASCAR circuit are consistent at one thing—being inconsistent week in and week out.
1. Kasey Kahne — Go ahead and call him the most inconsistent driver when it comes to Fantasy points in 
NASCAR. During the 2008 season, Kahne managed 17 top-10 finishes.
The problem—after eight of those races, he finished outside the top-15, with finishes of 28th, 17th, 22nd, 31st, 33rd, 15th, 14th, 19th, and 33rd.
That’s 47 percent of the time that he follows up a top-10 with a 15th or worse showing 47 percent of the time.
After a top-five finish, it’s even worse. Kahne had seven finishes inside the top-five last year, and after three of them, he finished lower than 31st.
For the entire season, Kahne averaged a 16th place finish—the same average held for all of the 2006 campaign. In 2007, Kahne posted an average of 22nd position.
Jury’s Decision: Kahne is simply not a good pick-up for a Fantasy team. He gets good points with a couple of top-fives and top-10s, but he follows it up with a bunch of bad finishes and will drive an owner crazy.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 17th.
2. Jeff Gordon — I’m sorry Gordon fans, but here is another driver who will aggravate owners this season.
Looking back at last season, Gordon had 20 top-10 finishes. However, 12 times he followed that up with a finish lower than 11th—that’s 60 percent of the time.
After a top-10 showing, Gordon had finishes of 39th, 35th, 11th, 43rd, 15th, 14th, 11th, 29th, 15th, 14th, 38th, and 41st.
So as you can see, while six of them were 11th through 15th, six of them were also 29th or higher.
To start the season, Gordon had finishes of 3rd, 39th, 3rd, 35th, 5th, 11th, 2nd, and 43rd.
In the last three seasons, Gordon has averaged a finish of 14th twice (’08 and ‘06) and 8th once (’07).
Jury’s Decision: He may be an inconsistent driver, but he still puts up big numbers in the Fantasy points, so he may be a driver worth keeping around. He may give an owner some headaches throughout the season, but chances are, he will make up for it sometime during the year. Besides, Gordon is due a great season in ‘09.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 5th.
3. Kyle Busch — It may be a surprise to have Busch on the list of inconsistent drivers, but anyone who watched 
his collapse in the 2008 Chase knows why he is here.
Busch was a huge pick-up for any owner early in the season. With 17 top-10 finishes in the first 26 races (65 percent), it seemed like he would coast any owner to a Fantasy League championship.
After those 17 races, he finished outside the top-10 seven times, or 41 percent of the time.
He did, however, give an owner eight wins and brought home a lot of points. Things were looking good for Busch owners, until the Chase started.
A 34th, 43rd, and 28th-place finish to start the 10-race playoff killed most owners’ chances of winning the championship.
Jury’s Decision: Busch will still be a popular pick in drafts for the upcoming season and will likely bring owners a lot of points. However, an owner may also be pulling his/her hair out come September when Busch enters the Chase and falters again.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 3rd.
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. — June Bug—probably the most popular draftee on any Fantasy roster.
Earnhardt is another racer who can drive an owner crazy. In 2008, he started the season with wins in the Budweiser Shootout and his Duel Race. Over the course of the first 19 races (Shootout and Duels included), Earnhardt managed 14 top-10 finishes.
Things were looking good and fans were pleased to have him on their rosters.
During that stretch, he only had five finishes outside the top-10. However, the second half of the season is where Earnhardt owners lost their points—and any shot at a championship.
Optimism was high at the start of almost every race last year—and then, just like a light bulb—the switch would turn dark and Earnhardt would begin to fade farther back in the field and owners had to watch their points drop like a rock.
In the second half of the season, Earnhardt managed just six top-10 finishes. Following those six races, he finished outside the top-10 five times.
Jury’s Decision: As tough as it is to resist the urge, only pick up Earnhardt during the early part of the season. He typically fares well during the first half, and struggles during the second half.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 7th.
5. Martin Truex Jr. — Truex Jr. catapulted to stardom when he took home back-to-back championships 
back in 2004 and 2005 in what was then the Busch Series.
Since his arrival at the Cup level, he hasn’t fared so well.
Truex is another one of the popular draftees for a Fantasy roster. He draws a lot of fans, but is he worth the pick?
Looking back at 2008, Truex had 11 top-10 finishes.
Here is the shocking news: Following 10 of those races, he finished no better than 14th.
No back-to-back top-10s is a scary statistic when you are thinking about drafting a driver for your Fantasy roster. Most of those finishes, however, were not bad: 15th, 37th, 14th, 17th, 17th, 24th, 16th, 20th, 15th, and 43rd.
So statistically, Truex averaged a 22nd-place showing the week after a top-10.
For the season, he averaged an 18th-place finish, down two spots from his 2007 stats, but up from a 21st-place average in 2006.
Jury’s Decision: Sorry, Truex fans, this is one driver you may want to stay away from. Sure, he might get you a couple of top-10s, and his finishes afterwards aren’t horrible, but 100 percent of the time he finishes outside the top-10 the week after? That’s too risky.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 18th.
Breakout Inconsistent Driver: Of the above five drivers, the one who could break out this season has got to be Gordon. Going winless in 2008 was a shot to his pride, and I feel this team will come out with a vengeance to not only win a race, but win multiple races.
It’s amazing that this team comes out of the same stable as Johnson, yet struggles on so many of tracks that Johnson excels at.
High-Reward Drivers: While 41 of the 43 drivers could really be classified as “high-risk,” there are two in particular that I think almost everyone would agree are “high-reward” drivers—in other words, they will finish most races in the top-15 and give an owner plenty of points throughout the season.
1. Carl Edwards — “Cousin Carl,” as he’s known by many. An owner would be crazy to pass up the opportunity 
to put ol’ Flipper on their roster.
Let’s face it, Edwards is the pre-season favorite to win the ‘09 championship and reigning top-ranked Fantasy driver from ‘08.
Last season, Edwards put together 29 top-10 finishes. Out of those 29 races, he only finished outside the top-10 the next week seven times—a measly 24 percent of the time. That in itself is an impressive number.
His streak of top-10 during the year included: two in a row (once), three in a row (twice), five in a row (once), six in a row (once), and eight in a row (once).
If that doesn’t get a drafter’s attention, I don’t know what would.
Edwards averaged a ninth-place finish in 2008, up from a 13th-place average in 2007 and 15th in 2006.
Notice the trend?
Jury’s Decision: You, as an owner of a Fantasy team, would be crazy not to try and get “Cousin Carl” on your team. He collected the most fantasy points in ‘08, and is expected to do the same in ‘09.
Instead of calling him “Cousin Carl,” maybe his nickname should be “Consistent Carl.”
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 1st
2. Jimmie Johnson — Johnson may have nudged Edwards aside en route to his third straight championship, 
but the champ still lagged just a bit behind Edwards in the average finishes.
In 2008, Johnson had 22 top-10 finishes. However, he finished outside the top-10 in the next race nine times.
He also had strings of top-10s such as: three in a row (twice), four in a row (once), and seven in a row (once).
Heading into 2009, Johnson may not be the “favorite” to win the championship, but he certainly doesn’t like the idea of being the underdog either.
And let’s face it, the field doesn’t need Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus to have any additional motivation to win a fourth championship in a row.
Johnson averaged a finish of 11th in 2008, one spot below his average in ‘07, and two places worse than his ninth-place average in ‘06.
Again, notice the trend?
Things could go sour for Johnson in ‘09 with a 12th-place showing.
Jury’s Decision: Johnson will still be a favorite draftee for any owner, and rightfully so. He has proven over the last three years that the No. 48 team can get it done when it matters most, and ‘09 should be no different. Johnson will be a great pick up for any Fantasy roster.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 2nd
Dark Horse Driver: One driver to look out for this season could be David Ragan. Sure, the kid is just entering 
his third season in the Cup Series, but he showed vast improvement in 2008 and could be even better in 2009.
Last season, Ragan managed 16 top-10 finishes. Following those races, he finished 11th or higher eight times.
While that number may be alarming to some potential owners, Ragan is poised to have a great season in ‘09.
It’s the last year that Roush-Fenway is allowed to have five teams, and someone has got to go—thus creating the greatest rivalry between all five teams.
If you want a driver that many may not have, but could still land you some serious points, pick up Ragan in your draft.
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 9th.
Stay Away From Driver: On the flip side, one driver enters into ‘09 season with the nickname “Sliced Bread.” 
Unfortunately, owners should stay away from Joey Logano in his rookie season.
It may be enticing to go with a kid who everyone has declared to be the next great star in NASCAR—he may be, but not in ‘09.
Logano had mediocre showings in his few Cup starts last year.
Before you say it, I know, he was in the No. 96 car and will have some growing pains this year.
Logano may be a good pick up next season, but for ‘09, stay away!
Fantasy Points Prediction for ‘09: 32nd.
So there you go. Let’s go racin’!
B-Blog
(Editor’s Note: Finishes from the Budweiser Shootout and Duel Races were included in the top-fives and top-10s.)
NASCAR Rejects Local TV Blackout
January 23, 2009
NASCAR has rejected the idea of Speedway Motorsports Inc. Chairman Bruton Smith to follow the National Football League’s lead to blackout events on local television when tracks are not sold out.
“That’s exatly what should happen,” Smith said. “It worked for the NFL, so you have a forerunner there who has done it successfully.” (ThatsRacin.com) Read more
Jimmie Johnson: Surprised He’s Not Favorite For Four-Peat
January 22, 2009
Jimmie Johnson may be sporting a new, rougher look this season, but one thing is still the same: He expects to win the Sprint Cup Championship.
Johnson has dominated the Cup Series the past three seasons. Say what you want about the No. 48 Lowe’s team, but when it counts (and by that I obviously mean the Chase), this team gets it done.
Last season it appeared Johnson and Crew Chief Chad Knaus appeared that they had fallen behind the curve a little. Drivers such as Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch were tearing the series up with wins, while Johnson was slowly fading out of the spot light.
Then came the 2008 Chase, and everything changed. In the 10-race playoff, Johnson won three times and averaged a finish of 5.7.
Edwards, on the other hand, won three of the last four races and averaged a finish of 8th. The downfall for him came at Charlotte and Talladega where he finished 33rd and 29th, respectively.
With the season now less than a month away, everyone is making their predictions on who will take home the ‘09 championship. Many, appear to be favored towards Edwards, whose late season surge nearlyde-throned the (then) two-time defending champ.
Johnson, however is a bit surprised that people still aren’t giving him the credit he and the No. 48 team deserve.
“I heard that at [last weekend's NASCAR Preseason Thunder] at Daytona that they ranked him as the favorite to win and I’m like, ‘Uh, really?’” Johnson said during Wednesday’s activities on the Sprint Media Tour hosted by Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “’I just won three of these things. I can’t believe I wouldn’t be.’” (SceneDaily.com)
Johnson knows that Edwards will be a threat to win the championship, but he also knows how dominant his team has been when the Chase rolls around.
“There’s a lot of racing between now and then,” the driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet said. “At the start of the season last year it was easy to forget about us and I think at the end of last year it was easy to forget about the 18 car [of Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch] and we know he’s going to be strong. So I guess my point to that is racing’s a weird deal and it can change in a short period of time. I would expect the 99 [of Edwards] to be one of the favorites but you never know what’s going to happen to a team - runs or slumps. I truthfully see a lot of good cars next year. I saw the 16 [of Roush Fenway’s Greg Biffle] and the 17 [ of Roush Fenway’s Matt Kenseth] showing some strength…
“So I think on paper you can go through the top five and rank them for the first quarter of the season and think those would be the favorites but there’s some other guys that are going to be right there nipping on our heels.” (SceneDaily.com)
Only time will tell this season who will be crowned the new (or old) champion of 2009, but Johnson does feel a bit slighted that he and the No. 48 team aren’t the early favorites.
“It got my attention when I heard it,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Really?’ But I guess I’m used to that in a lot of ways. You know, I’ll just go out and let my actions on the track speak for themselves.” (SceneDaily.com)
Johnson had a point, his actions on the track (and particularly in the Chase) do speak for themselves, and the past three years they have said loud and clearly: Sprint Cup Champion.
B-Blog
Top-10 Drivers with a New Team in 2009
January 21, 2009
As a NASCAR fan for the past six seasons, I must admit one thing: I will need a program for the upcoming season to remember who is driving what car, sponsored by which company, and for which team.
With all the changes in the offseason, I decided to take a look at each team that will feature a new driver and rank how well I think they will do in 2009.
By my count there are 10 drivers who will kick off the season in a new ride. Here is a look at how I think each team will fare in ‘09:
10. Regan Smith — Smith comes from the now barely functioning Dale Earnhardt Inc. (now Earnhardt-Ganassi) to an even more defunct team, Furniture Row Racing. I may catch some heat from Smith fans (I’m sure there are some out there?) for listing his as the driver least likely to succeed with his new team, but lets get realistic here.
Sure, Smith technically won the race at Talladega last year, but he was in a DEI car. DEI cars always perform well at restrictor plate tracks, and he didn’t do so well anywhere else.
In 41 career Cup races, he has a goose egg in both top-fives and top-10 finishes, and averages a finish of 29th. He now moves on to a team that has had it’s share of struggles as well, so I don’t see Smith having an above-average season.
9. David Stremme —Stremme enters 2009 in the defending Daytona 500’s team after a one-year hiatus from the Cup level. Another non-surprise here as we all figured Stremme’s Cup career was over after he was released by Ganassi Racing in 2007.
After a season in the Nationwide Series, however, Stremme has clawed his way back to the sport’s premiere league.
However, he got his ride in a team that has struggled recently, and a manufacture that appears to be on its way out of the sport.
In 75 career Cup starts, Stremme has managed only three top-10 finishes and zero top-fives. Entering 2009, Stremme has a possibility to contend for a few top-10s and maybe even a top-five here and there.
But bottom line, Stremme doesn’t appear to have the talent to compete with the big boys every week, and may only have this season to prove it, before Penske looks elsewhere.
8. Reed Sorenson — Sorenson joins the newly created Richard Petty Motorsports from the newly created Eanhardt-Ganassi team. He brings with him a potential to be a great driver, as he has shown in the Nationwide Series, and at times in the Cup Series.
Sorenson loses my vote here because of the team he transferred to. Like I said above, until Dodge proves they can hang with the other three manufactures, their teams will always be below them. You almost wonder if Sorenson hasn’t gotten the results because of his talent, or the team that he drove for.
Unfortunately, I think Sorenson would have been better at Earnhardt-Ganassi now that the team has decided to run Chevys.
In his 109 career Cup starts, Sorenson has managed 13 top-10 finishes and five top-fives, with an average finish of 27th.
OK, so he should do decent at RPM, but decent for that team is a 20th place showing in the points. Sorenson won’t be above the top-20 in 2009, and therefore falls at No. 8 on my list.
7. AJ Allmendinger — Allmendinger joins RPM from a team that surprisingly booted him out the door to make room for a new driver, Team Red Bull. The move was a bit of a surprise because Allmendinger had actually began performing well near the end of the season.
Notice a trend in these ranking though? All the Dodges are at the bottom of the list. Allmendinger moves from a Toyota team that provided unreal amounts of funding to get the results they wanted, to the sport’s most struggling manufacture.
RPM simply does not have the equipment to compete with the other teams on a consistent basis.
Allmendinger may have a decent year, but he first has to get through the first couple races to see if he will even be running full-time or not.
In 44 career Cup starts, Allmendinger has captured only two top-10 finishes and an average finishing spot of 28th.
If the team can manage to pull out a full-time sponsor for this car, he should finish ahead of teammate Sorenson, but not many others.
6. Casey Mears — Mears was formerly known as the, “Other Hendrick Driver,” and unfortunately will now be referred to as the, “Other Childress Driver.” A bit harsh? Might be, but it’s the truth. Mears simply doesn’t have the same talent that the other drivers at HMS had, nor is he on the same level as the other RCR drivers.
He should finish above the guys on this list, and possibly inside the top-20 in points, but is that really a successful campaign?
Mears’ family has a rich tradition in IRL, but for some reason he has parked himself in NASCAR. He has proven at times that he can run near the top-10, but never seems to have the finishes his teammates produce.
In 216 career Cup starts, Mears has one victory (albeit a fuel mileage win), 42 top-10 finishes and 12 top-fives, with an average finish of 22nd.
So how could he be more successful moving from the sports most dominant team to a sub-par one? I’m not saying he’ll be extremely successful, just that he should fare better than the four above. I’d say he finishes top-20 in points, but nowhere near the Chase cut-off.
5. Ryan Newman — Newman enters unknown waters in 2009 as he joins friend Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. He is the defending Daytona 500 champ and left a team where he received the nickname of “Rocket Man” for all his poles won.
The bad news: 43 poles in his career, but only 13 wins. So obviously he can get the car up there during qualifying, but doesn’t do so well holding those positions once the rest of the field join him on the track.
In 260 career Cup starts, Newman has 13 wins, 106 top-10 finishes, 63 top-fives and an average finish of 20th. But that is his past 260 races, we are interested in the next 36.
Newman will have a good year in his new ride. Things may be rocky at first for these teams as they adjust to new people, but with Hendrick equipment, they will have the speed needed to run up front. Not to mention he has owner and teammate, Stewart next to him to help with adjustments and such.
Newman has the potential to be a top-15 car in 2009, the interesting thing will be whether or not he lives up to that potential.
4. Paul Menard — Menard is another DEI orphan, and brings his family sponsorship to the No. 98 Yates Ford. With that sponsorship, he was also given the points to the No. 28, and a guaranteed spot in the first five races of 2009.
So who’s out there thinking, “Why in the world is Menard No. 4 on this list?” (Settle down you six Menard fans!)
I really feel that Menard has the ability to be a top-15 driver, and with Roush equipment, he may be the driver to bring Yates back to Victory Lane. If not, the man next in the count down could be the one.
Menard has 75 career Cup starts. In those starts, he’s managed just two top-10 finishes and one top-five, with an average finishing spot of 26. I feel, however, that Yates is a much better fit for this young driver and that with the man below as his teammate, he will only improve as a driver.
A top-15 finish in the points is not out of the question for Menard and this team.
3. Bobby Labonte — Labonte leaves behind a struggling Dodge team (now known as Richard Petty Motorsports) to join a struggling Ford team. He does so, however, actually running under the Hall of Fame Racing banner.
Labonte is a past champion, he knows his way around these tracks and could be contending for a Chase birth in 2009. I know that sounds a bit crazy, but it’s really not. The cars that Labonte are driving are—more or less—the same ones that Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are visiting Victory Lane with week in and week out.
Labonte brings this team exactly what it needs: A past champion with experience and know-how to get the job done. He has 546 career Cup starts, 21 wins, 113 top-fives and 197 top-10 finishes. I really think this team has done an amazing job bringing in someone of Labonte’s caliber and will do nothing but get better from here on out.
2. Mark Martin — Martin is yet another former DEI driver entering 2009 with a different team. (That’s three on this list by the way!) He also begins 2009 doing something he said he wasn’t going to do: running a full season.
It’s no surprise that Martin is near the top of this list. He joins the sports most powerful stable in HMS, and with his experience will have no problem adjusting and competing immediately for top-10 finishes each weekend.
Mark it down, Martin will make the 2009 Chase. Will he win? Probably not, but he will make it.
Martin has been in the sport for 26 years! He has 722 career Cup starts and 35 wins. He has finished in the top-five 243 times (that’s 34 percent for those of you who dislike math) and in the top-10 396 times (an amazing 55 percent of the time!)
Martin will hit the pavement in 2009 at full steam and will compete in his first full season since 2006. He proved his capability in barely there DEI cars, and now has all the equipment he needs to qualify and finish well.
1. Tony Stewart — Stewart takes over as owner of his own team, from Gibbs Racing. Some people might think I’m crazy for listing Smoke as the No. 1 driver on this list, but I have no doubt that he will get the job done (and done well) in 2009.
Will he win a championship? No, but he will make the Chase. A bold prediction, I know, but Stewart has everything it takes to be a top NASCAR driver: he is a past champion, which guarantees him a spot in at least six races, he has the experience and now he has HMS equipment.
Stewart has 356 career Cup starts. In those starts he has 33 wins (that’s nine percent of the time he takes the green flag), 129 top-fives (36 percent), and 207 top-10 finishes (58 percent).
Granted, all those starts and finishes were in a Gibbs car, but I have no doubt that Smoke will continue his success at his own team, and therefore I have listed him as my top driver in a new team for 2009.
B-Blog
Poor Economy Hitting NHRA Hard
January 20, 2009
On the day that Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States, hope for change and increased prosperity has never been higher. The folks out in Glendora, Calif., the headquarters of the National Hot Rod Association, are probably some of the many hoping that change at the top will help translate into a healthier outlook for the drag racing community. The increasing cost of professional drag racing combined with decreasing sponsorship dollars in a slumping economy has the NHRA scrambling to offer full 16-car fields for the season’s opening event in Pomona, Calif. To the NHRA’s credit, they will have full 16-car fields coming February’s season opening race but just barely. But will the Winternationals be the exception and not the rule this season?
Read more
GEM Website: AJ Allmendinger To Drive the No. 44
January 19, 2009
Oh how the carousel turns in the world of NASCAR Silly Season.
It’s now being reported that Gillett Evernham Petty Enterprises (or whatever it’s called these days?) will in fact field four teams in 2009.
I know, it’s went back and forth, but on GEM’s Web site, it has AJ Allmendinger listed as the driver of the No. 44.
Yes, you read that right, not the No. 10… the No. 44!
The No.. 44 was used last season by Michael Waltrip Racing, but driver DavidReutimann has since switched to the No. 00 Aarons’ sponsored car.
The site doesn’t list any sponsors and/or a crew chief, or any information about if it will run full-time, part-time or no-time, it just has a little info about Allmendinger.
This team has been the center of the headlines this year when it first was announcedthat driver of the No. 19 Dodge Elliot Sadler, had been booted to make room forAllmendinger.
After it looked like a legal battle could be brewing, Sadler was told he would remain in the No. 19 Charger.
Not sure where this No. 44 thing will go, but it appears GEM isn’t ready to give out information, as no announcements have been made.
Has a sponsor been found? We don’t know yet. That may very well be what determines how many races the team enters.
If the team uses the No. 10 points (which I’m sure it will), then this team is guaranteed a spot in the first five races, as well as a spot in the Budweiser Shootout.
B-Blog
No practice rule a problem for young drivers.
January 17, 2009
NASCAR sought to save Sprint Gup teams money by outlawing practice at not only their tracks, but also at any similar tracks as well. This looked like a great idea, but then NASCAR had to let young drivers earn their right to compete at Daytona during the ARCA Daytona practice. Some young drivers, such as Gibb’s Joey Logano are alreay locked into starting spots, by virtue of the seat they will fill. But without the Cup practice at Daytona Logano will be hard pressed to get enough seat time to hope for a good finish in the 500.
Hopefully NASCAR will give all the teams more access to the track during Speed Weeks. This would help offset the deficit of seat time the youngsters will have. Likewise, with all the new teams and manufacturer alliances several teams will be hurting if they don’t get track time. Particularly the new Stewart/Haas team will have a tough time being competitive. And Bobby Labonte, in the new #96 Hall of Fame/Yates Ford may also miss the field.
Still, the 500 will have a lot of fresh looks and shouldn’t have a problem filling the 43 car field. One name that will probably missing from the starting line-up for the 500 is Petty. The #43 is no longer going to be entered by Petty Eterprises and Kyle Petty’s only ride at Daytona this year appears to be in a Rolex 24 Hour ride. The famed Woods Brothers #21 may also miss the show this year, depending on if they can locate a former champion to get them a provisional start.
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