NASCAR Teleconference With The King
July 8, 2008
While other sports are slamming Internet writing and trying to draw the lines between print, TV, and Internet writers, NASCAR is jumping out in front of the curve. When NASCAR announced a few weeks ago that they were going to give (some) bloggers access to their media, it was a pleasant change for a sport to be looking at the electronic media as a potential ally, rather than as a potential enemy. It’s nice to see a sport embrace new technology and to realize that it’s better to be proactive rather than reactive. Read more
DEI Sale Rumors Untrue - For Now
July 8, 2008
How ironic is it that, just as I was posting yesterday’s blog about the economic woes catching up to NASCAR teams, rumors were breaking that Theresa Earnhardt may be selling DEI? There has been talk for years that it was just a matter of time before Theresa decided to take off the ownership hat, and now it looks like the time may be imminent. DEI President Max Siegel today denied that the company had enlisted the help of a firm to help sell the team, but his language indicated that selling always remains an option even though the team is not on the block right now. However, there’s one thing I’ve noticed about NASCAR rumors - where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. Read more
Economy Woes Catching Up to NASCAR Teams
July 7, 2008
The first has fallen. Chip Ganassi Racing decided to close its #40 Sprint Cup Dodge team last week. The cut back leaves 71 employees roaming the garage for jobs, not to mention driver Dario Franchitti, who has reportedly not yet decided if he will take the Ganassi Nationwide Series ride he’s been offered. With the way things are looking, Ganassi may not be the only team headed for trouble. Read more
Double Clutchin’-Just Give Me a Race And a Radio And I’ll Be Fine
July 6, 2008
First of all, let me be honest and let you know straight up that this will not be a really in-depth analysis of the race, because I didn’t get the chance to see the race Saturday night. Due to the death of my uncle, I was coming back from Indiana while Read more
Thank You for Not Sharing.
July 5, 2008
Yesterday, Hendrick Motorsports announced that Mark Martin will run the full schedule in the #5 car in 2009, and again part-time in 2010. No surprises there, although Hendrick and Martin say they can’t figure out how the story broke so quickly as most of the deal was done through text messages.
What was uncertain, though, was how and if Brad Keselowski would fit into the new format. It was speculated early on that, since Martin had shared a ride this year at DEI with Aric Almirola, he would consider the same arrangement at Hendrick Motorsports. Read more
Martin is the perfect fit for Hendrick!
July 5, 2008
Mark Martin will run the Hendrick Motorsports #5 full time next season, taking what may be his final shot at winning the Sprint Cup Championship. I don’t expect Martin Read more
Breaking News: Martin to drive in Hendrick’s #5 car
July 4, 2008
Just a week after Hendrick Motorsports announced that Casey Mears will not return as their drive of their #5 Chevy, the super-team revealed today that Mark Martin will replace Mears and run a full schedule in 2009.
The News-Press: Martin to drive for Hendrick
This is an interesting move by Hendrick who has a tendency to hire “young guns”, but clearly Martin has delivered results in his long run in NASCAR. Martin has finished second in the Cup championship several times, but this move to Hendrick gives him another dream shot.
Welcoming Randy Moss To NASCAR
July 3, 2008
Because when I think NASCAR; I think Randy Moss. In what may be the strangest marriage since Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson; New England Patriots’ Wide Receiver Randy Moss, has decided to purchase himself part of a NASCAR truck series. Read more
Open Testing Would Have its Drawbacks
July 3, 2008
NASCAR is evidently considering going “wide open” with its testing policy. As it stands now, NASCAR mandates so many tests per year at their sanctioned tracks, and typically most teams show up for the tests. Teams can test any time they want at tracks that are not NASCAR sanctioned.
While there may be good things about the plan, I think it would completely hinder the process of trying to save the teams money. It would also drive the “haves” and the “have-nots” even farther apart in performance.
If NASCAR allowed teams to test at their own discretion, I can see a scenario like this: Multi-car, multi-million dollar budget teams will start testing weekly to gain a competitive edge. Eventually, all the big-budget teams will follow suit in order to keep up. In order not to burn out the weekend crews, new employees will have to be hired specifically for testing. More transporters will be needed. Teams will likely also have to employ separate drivers and engineers for the sole purpose of testing.
On the good side, this would create a lot more opportunities for people trying to break into NASCAR. On the bad side, the costs would be astronomical, and there is no way a small, single-car operation could keep up. Were a team like the Wood Brothers to try to keep this pace, their employees would all be asleep at the wheel, pardon the pun, by the time the most important part of the week came around.
More testing would also mean additional burning of fuel, a touchy subject right now if there ever was one. Why give any more ammunition to critics who are already calling us wasteful with the fuel supply?
More testing costs would inevitably mean teams asking for more sponsor money, and in this economy, along with asking for more fuel, how feasible is that? Until things start looking up, I think it would be wise for NASCAR to keep testing in-house.
Franchitti Out of the Sprint Cup!
July 2, 2008
Chip Ganassi pulled the plug on the #40 Cup team. He says they ran out of sponsorship. With Dario running 41st in the point standings the decision apparently wasn’t too difficult. It was announced Read more