How To Fix NASCAR: 3. Three-Car Limit by the End of 2010

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

December 31, 2008 10:57 pm CST 2 Comments

Happy New Year folks, and it’s time for another installment of How To Fix NASCAR. Having already trimmed schedules and fixed NASCAR’s top tier development series, it’s time to ensure that the top levels of American motorsport move away from the elitism of Formula One, by ironically implementing something that that series has had in place for years: a hard cap of three cars per team (per series, seeing as NASCAR has multiple levels and F1 has… well… one).

The issue with a team cap lies in owners’ willingness to undo some of the expansion they have done over the past few years, expansion that many of them (like Jack Roush) can surely sustain. However, the sport is heading more and more in an elitist direction, where the top four or five teams are lightyears ahead of everybody else (like McLaren and Ferrari in F1). That only hurts the sport in the end, by stealing sponsors away from the have-nots: either they’ll sign for fewer races and less money with the haves, or put their money elsewhere.

Roush is already dealing with the elimination of his fifth car, probably Jamie McMurray’s No. 26, by the end of 2009. However, almost all of the other major players in the sport (Hendrick, Childress, Gillett after the merger with Petty, EGR) will still have four cars as well. Joe Gibbs has three, Roger Penske has three, and even Doug Yates is planning on three cars for next season. That’s a total of 30 cars among eight teams. That gives the newcomer a snowball’s chance in hell at signing a good driver, crew, or sponsor.

To limit teams to two cars would be a disaster, and probably turn out just like F1, with Hendrick like the Ferrari team and Roush akin to McLaren. The superteams would be able to shift five cars’ worth of resources and money to the remaining two teams, and we’d see races where only four cars had a reasonable shot at winning. But to limit teams to three cars would provide a fair balance: sure, the rich would shift their incredible resources to make their few teams stronger, but the drivers and crewmembers they released would go to smaller teams and, in turn, make them more competitive.

Let’s use Roush as an example, and assume that they would keep David Ragan, Greg Biffle, and Carl Edwards. McMurray has been rumored to go to Yates in 2010 for a while anyway, but assumedly they would also send over Matt Kenseth in this situation. A Yates team with Kenseth, McMurray, and the steadily improving Paul Menard would have a much better shot at reclaiming the team’s past glory than Menard, Travis Kvapil, and David Gilliland. And with three fully sponsored cars, Roush could concentrate on building up the other struggling Ford team, the Wood Brothers‘ No. 21.

How about the other superpower of the sport, Hendrick Motorsports? Sure, you could say they wouldn’t suffer much, if only Mark Martin ended up leaving the team after 2009. But some other team could certainly use his leadership and skill, and you know he wouldn’t be unemployed for long. Neither would crew chief Alan Gustafson. I’m thinking they’d end up at Stewart Haas, personally - it’s already going to become Hendrick 2.

At RCR, I suppose getting rid of Casey Mears wouldn’t provide too much help to a smaller team, but at least it’d potentially reunite Clint Bowyer with Jack Daniel’s. (I’m sorry, General Mills, but I don’t think anyone sees Clint as a cereal guy.) The only question is, would Mears be any more than damaged goods? Assuming this were to happen, it would be his sixth team in seven years (Ganassi’s No. 41 in ‘05, the No. 42 in ‘06, Hendrick’s No. 25 in ‘07, the No. 5 in ‘08, RCR’s No. 07 in ‘09 and ‘10…). I suppose that at least it proves he’s a commodity, but the guy already has more firesuits in his closet than some teams have won races.

While this wouldn’t have much of an effect on the Camping World Truck Series, it would limit Nationwide Series owners to only running one car for the owners’ championship (see the last installment). Because running a car for the owners’ title would require a minimum of one unshared car to go alongside it, and no less, the three-car teams would have to run two cars for the drivers’ championship, opening up even more spots for development drivers to hone their skills.

So on and so forth down the line, very good (but not spectacular) drivers would be cut from the sport’s most prominent teams, landing on their feet with second-tier teams with much less talent behind the wheel. Those guys would then get bumped down to the third-tier teams, and so on and so forth. Not only would the guys who really don’t deserve their rides disappear, the driving talent, skilled crewmen, and the sponsors would disperse to level out the playing field.

Before anyone says anything: We all know that the only reason the sponsors all flock to the superteams is because current NASCAR rules don’t really limit where they can go. Roush can just create another team in Nationwide or CWTS if a new sponsor wants to join his operation, or sign them for a handful of races with Edwards or Kenseth. Under this system, those spots would vanish pretty quickly. Since many of the companies who want to get involved in racing do so because they feel that NASCAR fans are an important target market, those sponsors will stay in the sport. They’ll just find other teams to work with.

Of course, some of you are still probably asking, “How does this change anything if the top drivers would just go to their old teams’ satellite operations?” By adding a truckload of extra talent and sponsorship dollars to these satellite teams, they find themselves in a situation where they may no longer be so far behind their providers. With a little luck and some decent results, these teams will have the resources to break off and race on their own again.

That’s all for this installment. I’m going to go watch the New Year’s Eve TV specials. See you in two weeks!

Will NASCAR Really Be Any Different in 2009

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

November 24, 2008 7:28 am CST 9 Comments

There has been a huge amount written since the end of the season about how much NASCAR will be different in 2009.

I have to wonder if NASCAR will indeed be substantially different than in the recent past.  Will the competition between the haves and the have-nots equal out?  Most likely, if anything it will broaden, forcing teams like Furniture Row Motorsports to greatly reduce their participation.  The resources that Roush-Fenway, Hendricks and Richard Childress have in comparison to the Pettys, Yates or Stewart-Haas is will keep the disparity wide.  The elimination of testing for teams on any track that NASCAR goes to in its five touring stock car series will result in the teams with sponsorship dollars, reallocating those dollars to other forms of testing.

Wind tunnels, seven post shakers and video game analysis will replace on track testing for the teams that are looking to spend money.  Teams that don’t have that money will fall further and further behind.  And if that happens, then NASCAR 2009, will look for all the world like NASCAR 2008, where two-thirds of the races were won by three drivers.

NASCAR likes to boast that there are more cars capable of winning each week than ever before.  Maybe that is correct–but they don’t win.  2008 saw Kyle, Jimmie and Carl win the vast majority of the races and that won’t likely change in 2009.  The names might change to Jeffy or Junior, The Biff and Happy; but the sport will be dominated by the big three car owners because they have the wherewithal to ride out “these tough economic times”.

And that leads us to this weeks BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

What team will be most affected by the loss of their driver; Stewart from JGR, Newman from Penske or Menard from DEI/Ganassi?

Let us know what you think and we just might use your comment on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show.  Listen live from 5-7pm ET, Tuesdays year round at www.onpitrow.com.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

Tight in Turn Two and Headin’ for the Flag

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by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

November 14, 2008 10:03 am CST No Comments

It’s late in the race. The last round of pit stops is done. As always, regardless of where you are in the standings actually, you need every possible place. The car is far from perfect. In fact it’s real tight in turn two. Now what?

The best of the best will make it work. Winning drivers, championship capable winners find the lines that others don’t try. They get the most out of it, and keep the thing off the wall, and other cars. Top crew chiefs will have a tactic to suggest, part of an overall strategy that merely mortal box-toppers fail to find. Elite team owners are like master painters in that they find the perfect mix of disparate hues and blend them into a work of mechanical-performance art. But which part of the masterpiece is the key?

That question is the theme of the Bench Racing blog’s Tight in Turn Two post this week.

Looking at all three major series and picking one individual from all of the drivers, owners, sponsors or crew chiefs, who is your NASCAR Most Valuable Player?

Charlie: Pick one and just one of the above to start your 2009 NASCAR team. How’s that for tough? I’ll take Rick Hendrick. It’s about leadership. He brings the best of the best together, makes sure that they have whatever it takes to be at the top of the NASCAR game. He keeps his teams relatively happy all the while never settling for mediocrity from any of them. And then he’ll gamble to make it all better. Dumping Kyle Busch for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Changing Jeff Gordon’s crew chief. Bringing in Mark Martin and convincing him to return to full-time driving. The best owner in NASCAR is the MVP.

Bruce: I hate second round draft picks. All the good players get snatched up! But let’s play it in your court and I am going to stick with a car owner.. they do make the calls, put the teams together, pull the money in, and support the processes they’ve developed.

So who would I go with? Man, that’s tough. I’ve looked at the top 10 in owners points across the three series, Trucks, Nationwide and Cup. I came up with the inevitable 2nd stable for my choice of the Cat in the Hat, Jack Roush. It’s a pure numbers game, but across all three series, he’s got the breadth of performance. Across all three series his shop has 117 top 10’s, 73 top 5’s, 17 wins. I thought maybe these numbers were skewed because of the number of starts his teams had across all three series, but it broke down to a win every 12 starts, a top 5 every 3 starts and a top 10 every 2 starts. He’s got the edge and focus to see a broader picture and he’s almost got a Cup under his belt this year - but that’s OK if it doesn’t happen this year… I think as they actually come up to speed in the COT, next year will be their year… if Johnson or Ky Busch don’t break out next year and have a better year!!

That’s what we think. What do you think? Let us know in the comment section of this post.

Then head over to - if you haven’t already been there - to Bruce’s NASCAR Bits for Bruce’s topic of the week, which is more of a rant this time. All the better. Bruce isn’t happy about ABC’s decision to preempt  the Phoenix Cup race and move the end to cable. That just get’s him started though. Check it out.

With that said, just what informational outlets do we have that don’t inundate us with online ads, or focus on what we really want in the world of NASCAR? Are we being diluted to the point of over-saturation?

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Quick Hits: Phoenix International Raceway

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

November 5, 2008 10:39 pm CST 1 Comment

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series enters the second-to-last race of the season at Phoenix with many teams still unsure about their 2009 plans. In recent years, most teams have already set their lineups for the following season by this point. However, plenty of drivers are still searching for employment, and plenty of teams are still attempting to put together the right packages to allow them to go racing next year.

A good amount of the field still lacks sponsorship for 2009 and beyond, and even top-tier teams are feeling the crunch. Longtime stalwarts such as Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing are having problems inking long-term deals in a crumbling economy. Four cars between them next season is a possibility, despite the teams running seven this year. Even Hendrick Motorsports recently had a modest round of layoffs that sent Stevie Reeves, Jimmie Johnson’s spotter, packing.

At last count, 35 full-time Sprint Cup seats have been filled by drivers for next season (not including Max Papis’ limited schedule with Germain Racing). Of those 35, cars for David Reutimann, Aric Almirola, Reed Sorenson, Ryan Newman, Juan Montoya, Bobby Labonte, and Chad McCumbee have either partial sponsorship or none altogether. Assuming that two open seats with full sponsorship (the No. 21 at Wood Brothers Racing and the No. 41 at Chip Ganassi Racing) are filled, and assuming the worst in regards to all other unsettled teams, we could only see 36 full-time cars attempting the race at Daytona.

This week’s Quick Hits is, in effect, a premature analysis of cause of death for some cars that may not be around come February. Be prepared to say farewell to any of the following next year:

5. No. 28 or 38 Yates Racing Fords: Yates has full-time sponsorship for Paul Menard from his family’s hardware store chain for one car next season. While team owners Doug Yates and Max Jones have suggested that they will add a third car for Menard, rather than replace either Travis Kvapil or David Gilliland, the team cannot afford to patch together limited sponsorships as they have this year.

The two current drivers have combined to run eight races with blank cars, and the majority of the rest with very limited sponsorship. Had Ford not filled in some holes earlier this year, the team would have run 15 of 72 races unsponsored. With many of those companies probably not returning in 2009, the team may only have enough sponsorship for one of its current drivers next year.

4. No. 22 Bill Davis Racing Toyota: With rumors of a buyout by Gillett Evernham Motorsports at a standstill, not much is known of the fate of this team. Bill Davis has entered this car in NASCAR competition since 1993, and whether Maxwell House, MBNA, or Caterpillar was on the car, it has never been unsponsored. Davis has had these issues with other cars before, but never with its mainstay Cup team.

Right now, the team’s best hope is that Toyota decides to move up its sponsorship from the Truck Series to this car, but that’s iffy at best. If the team puts Michael Annett in the car, they may attract sponsors based on his raw talent and potential, but the deals might be similar in nature to what Yates has been doing this year. Those life-support deals won’t be enough to sustain a team for too long.

3. No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Toyota: This is a team in disarray under a relatively new owner partnership. The team has no alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota past this season, no bona fide driver (with Brad Coleman getting the shaft in most of the team’s recent deals), and less than a full season’s sponsorship from DLP HDTV.

Recent reports have had the team switching to Ford and partnering up with the Wood Brothers for 2009, reuniting the Woods with Ken Schrader, who currently drives the No. 96. The Woods claim that their sponsorship for 2009 is all set, meaning the two could collaborate on finding deals for the No. 96. Regardless, rest assured that without some sort of alliance, this team will not be around in 2009.

2. No. 77 Penske Racing Dodge: Rumors keep swirling that Sam Hornish Jr. is going to return to the IndyCar Series with Penske for 2009, possibly to replace Helio Castroneves, who is currently facing tax issues. Regardless of Penske’s potential need for its IRL team, however, the results haven’t been there. The best American open-wheel driver of this decade hasn’t been able to translate his skills to the heavier stock cars.

If Hornish stays, look for Mobil 1 to stay with him. Mobil has been a longtime Penske sponsor and had been looking to expand to a full-time primary for a couple years before Hornish’s arrival. If Hornish departs, however, they may replace Kodak on David Stremme’s No. 12 Dodge.

1. No. 01 and 15 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolets: No one can say they didn’t see this coming. The No. 01 has had minor partners at best all year, and the No. 15 has neither driver nor sponsor for 2009 with Menard’s departure. Regan Smith’s win (cough) at Talladega has drawn some interest, but most agree that Aric Almirola has more promise than Smith, and any sponsorship attracted would probably go there.

The team may be merging with Chip Ganassi Racing, which would afford Smith a shot at the No. 41, Almirola’s needs permitting. J.J. Yeley has also stated that $12 million in sponsorship would land him in one of those cars for next season, but given his underwhelming performance this year, it might be a longshot.

On a more positive note, however, congratulations to last week’s winners at Texas: Ron Hornaday, Kyle Busch, and Carl Edwards in the Truck, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup races, respectively.

Pondering the Failure of NASCAR’s CoT

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by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

October 24, 2008 11:32 am CDT 2 Comments

Has NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow failed? I’m sure that Brian France and Mike Helton  would say no, but the jury may be hung.

There are many definitions of failure that the CoT fits.  Rather than saving teams money, by limiting the inventory of cars required to compete, the CoT,  to quote Mike Mulhern

“has become a major financial drain on teams, because of the extreme technology needed to try to master what is widely seen as a misguided physics project.”

failure: noun  - The act or fact of failing to pass a course, test, or assignment.

There is fear that some manufacturers may curtail their support for NASCAR. We already see that in the - soon to be - Camping World Truck Series. You can’t blame the CoT for that. But the new car continued a trend toward look-a-like, generic bodies that make NASCAR less viable as a brand builder than it once was.

failure: noun - The condition or fact of not achieving the desired end or ends: the failure of an experiment.

Hendrick Motorsports drivers have  been about as successful as any racing the new car. But two-time defending champion and current Sprint Cup points leader Jimmy Johnson and the sport’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr ….

criticized NASCAR for not being more willing to consider changes to that design to make the racing and passing better …more

failure: noun  - The condition or fact of being insufficient or falling short: a crop failure.

The one stated goal that seems to have been achieved is that of building a safer race car. That’s a good thing. But not enough of one.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Quick Hits: Martinsville Speedway

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

October 15, 2008 12:20 pm CDT 1 Comment

The Sprint Cup Series enters the second half of the 2008 Chase for the Sprint Cup this week, making its second visit of the year to the Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. Virginia is the home of many current and former Sprint Cup drivers, and currently boasts two drivers in the Chase, the second most of any state. Those drivers, Jeff Burton and Denny Hamlin, currently sit 2nd and 12th in points, respectively.

Interestingly enough, until his win last week at Charlotte, nobody in the Sprint Cup garage considered Burton a title threat. Ever since the Chase started, it’s been considered a three horse race, and Burton only found his way into that triumvirate by his stellar drive last weekend.

Originally, Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Kyle Busch composed the top three contenders. After Loudon, Busch was replaced by Greg Biffle as the third horse, in most pundits’ eyes. Now, after Edwards’ second consecutive bad race, Burton finds himself in the top three, 69 points behind Johnson.

The question is, why did it take so long for pundits to recognize Burton as a legitimate title threat? His worst finish in the Chase so far is 9th, the same as Johnson’s. Each driver has one win in the Chase. Neither driver has sunk below their original seed in the standings since the Chase started (Johnson’s been above 3rd since Loudon, Burton started in 7th and hasn’t been there since Loudon either).

Of course, this week, everybody’s all over Burton’s chances to win his first career title. NASCAR.com’s headlines today say that Burton and Johnson have the same momentum going into the second half of the Chase. For the record, please note that Burton started the Chase 11th in NASCAR.com‘s power rankings, and didn’t rank higher than 6th until the Charlotte edition.

It’s as if he hasn’t been under the radar the entire Chase - although, if you check out the archives, it’s pretty obvious he has been.

But wait a second. Maybe it’s not the fault of racing pundits for missing Burton. Maybe it’s just the system.

Every time a driver has won a race, except for Biffle’s win at Dover, he’s improved his position in the points greatly. Biffle went from 9th to 3rd after winning Loudon. Johnson went from 2nd to 1st after winning at Kansas. Tony Stewart went from 11th to 7th after winning Talladega. And now, Burton went from 4th to 2nd after winning last week at Charlotte.

If this pattern continues, then it’s only going to matter who wins at Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead. Even though the standings are far more spread out than they were before Loudon, the Chase standings always reward the guy who won most recently.

If that’s the case, why bother trying to win the first seven races? As long as a driver survives all seven of them, he can go into the last three and go for wins and pull off an “upset.” Hey, Clint Bowyer sounds like he could fit that category - he hasn’t won in the Chase yet, but his worst finish is 12th, and he’s 5th in points.

It could happen. And if it does, we’ll know that the pundits aren’t the problem.

Here are this week’s Quick Hits:

5. Burney Lamar and former sponsor Dollar General will reunite at Braun Racing for 2009. Lamar will drive the No. 32 Toyota in the Nationwide Series for 18 races next year. Brian Vickers will drive the car for the other 17 races. This will be Dollar General’s first full-time sponsorship deal in Nationwide since 2007 at Kevin Harvick Inc.

4. Ray Evernham is currently considering leaving Gillett Evernham Motorsports for a full-time gig with ESPN. Evernham has emphasized his role as a minority partner in the team, no longer acting as a decision-maker, according to Dustin Long at the Roanoke Times. Evernham also says that he was not involved in the decision to release Patrick Carpentier from the No. 10 Dodge.

3. Michael McDowell is now a free agent, after Michael Waltrip Racing failed to exercise its contract option on him for 2009. McDowell’s car has no sponsorship for next season, and the owners’ points from his car will likely go to Marcos Ambrose’s No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota next season.

2. Add J.J. Yeley’s name to the mix for the No. 41 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge next year. “Chip hasn’t said no,” Yeley told Tim Tuttle of Sports Illustrated. “My name is still on the list. It would be a great opportunity.” A.J. Allmendinger is the other rumored candidate for the ride, which will be vacated by Reed Sorenson after this season.

1. Just as I reported before the Kansas race, Unilever has left Gillett Evernham Motorsports to partner with Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Nationwide Series team. The car will feature Hellmann’s sponsorship for the Daytona race. Although I originally reported that Klondike would be the dominant brand, they will be featured on the car for later events. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, and Landon Cassill will share the car.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners at Charlotte: Kyle Busch in Nationwide, and Burton in Sprint Cup.

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