Silly Silly Season!!!
Written by Rich Hemstreet · August 28, 2008
This year I think is going to set a record for a Sprint Cup Silly Season. It just gets worse as it goes on. Drivers are being hired without knowing which car, or sponsor they will run in 2009. There apparently are only four teams left in the sport. Toyota, Ford, Chevy and Dodge. The individual teams don’t seem to be as important as the game goes on.
Joey Logano will apparently drive a JGR Toyota Cup car part of this season. And he will drive the Hall of Fame Toyota for several more races during the close of the season. Casey Mears has been tagged to run the #07 McDaniel’s Childress Chevy while Clint Boyer will be switched to the #33 car.
Reed Sorenson will drive a Dodge for Evernham, but it’s unknown witch one. With Scott Riggs and Tony Raines each losing jobs at Haas and the possibility of Dario Franchitti being available, there are a lot of mediocre drivers on the market. Add in all the aging drivers, such as Ken Schrader, Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte and perhaps Darrell Jarrett will throw his helmet in the ring this next season, and the supply of drivers far outstrips the number of seats currently available.
Will Marcos Ambrose continue to drive the Wood’s Brothers #21? And what about the #45, will Kyle stay in the seat, or will a new driver be introduced in the Petty car?
At least one of the new teams is talking about buying out the points from another team, thus guaranteeing a starting spot in the first five races next season. My question is, if you are going to hire a driver and put him in a car with a major sponsor, why are you afraid of him not making the first five races by his own perfomance? And if you don’t have enough faith in him to make the first five races, how will he ever stay above the bubble the rest of the season? For that matter, if you don’t trust him to make the top 35, why are you even hiring him to drive for you. Doesn’t it make sense that those drivers currently below the line would be the same ones that struggle to qualify next season as well?
I personally think there are some drivers that are currently outside of the Sprint Cup pool of talent that should get a shot, before the teams turn to the tried and true retreads. And I’m not talking about taking every IRL driver that can fill out an application. Look for guys with some experience racing with fenders. Tracks across America are full of them. And if Marcos Ambrose is any indication, the teams don’t have to limit themselves to the United States. Some of these drivers may need a little Nationwide seasoning, but there is a bumper crop of drivers available if the teams just looked for them.
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