Testing is over for the
most part at Daytona, Las Vegas and California.
The pre-season “Thunder” has been fairly quiet and relatively mild as everyone shakes out new sponsors, team changes
and driver moves. The 2008 season is now the full-time Car of Today (COT) season. Though some teams succeeded nicely
with the COT last season, there’s no guarantee they’ll breeze through this season with the same success. More
than one driver has alluded to the lack of an “off-season” as teams have worked hard to meet the COT at full speed
for 2008. It should be a very interesting year to watch unfold if all the teams have diligently applied their research. Still,
there’s an underlying sense of several dark horses looming on the horizon.
The first and most prominent
dark horse is Toyota and primarily anyone in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Not
only has Toyota come out of the gate strong and fast but they basically served
notice on the sports premiere division that they will be in victory lane this year. Actually, Kyle Busch did those honors
for them as he point blank stated he believes that Toyota will be in victory lane
this year, just because he can’t imagine himself, Denny Hamlin or Tony Stewart not being there. I sure hope he didn’t
jinx Joe Gibbs Racing with that statement of confidence! There was a 59 race loss streak prior to the ‘98 Daytona 500
that Dale Earnhardt experienced, in which he would have never believed he’d have not seen victory lane in so long. Happens
to the best and can happen for any reason. Confidence is a wonderful thing, but another critical factor for that stable is
Joe Gibbs himself. Retiring from football now, Joe is back alongside son, JD and will be keeping the raw and powerful talent
of his stable in line. With the likes of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch for drivers, Joe will have his hands full
of sheer attitude and determination. Talk about “chafing at the bit” and you’ll probably be describing the
JGR drivers if they aren’t in victory lane by mid-season. The season is long. Thankfully, the Gibbs’ patience
is longer! If this stable is reined in and kept under control, look for all three of these drivers in the Chase.
While other teams were
busy testing, Chip Ganassi’s drivers’ Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti were winning the 24hr Rolex race
and bonding like teammates already. For Montoya, this was another repeat performance. For Franchitti, it was a warm up to
the season. When the road courses come around this season, these two will be formidable. As was recently pointed out, there’s
a great deal of talent in Montoya, and combined now with having achieved Rookie of the Year, Montoya’s riding pretty
high. Montoya can only hope the sophomore slump bypasses him and the addition of more open wheel talent in the same stable
doesn’t have any affect on his performances or sideline his resources. For Franchitti and Montoya, coming from open-wheel
racing just means adjusting their driving skills. Hopefully, Franchitti will be a faster learner than Montoya this past season
but nonetheless, I expect both to fierce competitors on the track. While the focus is on the superstars of the Hendrick Motorsports
stable, the dark horses of Ganassi’s stable of Dodges could steal the season right out from under everyone.
During testing at Daytona,
the Richard Childress Racing stable, all tested well and stayed close to each other. Whether this was intentional or not is
hard to tell. Kevin Harvick pointed out, that they came with several cars and many different test agendas to learn from. Richard
Childress Racing has proven his stable can make the Chase as it did last year. And, despite the media attention because Harvick
was last year’s Daytona 500 winner, the RCR driver’s stayed fairly quiet and kept to the business of testing.
Great focus getting the job done. With such calm and calculated testing, it’s hard to tell if everything was poured
out on the track or not. Recently, Jeff Burton discussed his envy of his brother’s Daytona 500 trophy and how special
it would be for him to win Daytona. If there was a single lone dark horse for the Daytona 500, Jeff Burton would be that horse.
All the same, no one can count out the RCR stable. Childress never quits and neither do his drivers. 2007 was a return to
the hunt for the championship for Richard Childress Racing. These dark horses can be expected to continue their race all the
way to the final ten!
The darkest horses of
all looming on the horizon belong to the Penske Racing and Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. While Dodge has enjoyed victory
lane with Montoya and Ganassi, some serious talent in these stables spent last season very frustrated with one mishap or another
keeping them out of contention. Sophomore slumps, crew chief changes, team changes, and now sponsor changes have all made
things very different for Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler but every one of these drivers are winners,
and even Busch is a former champion. Hopefully their off-season will prove fruitful for this season and they’ll shine
as they have in the past. With Robby Gordon jumping from Ford to Dodge, expect Robby to mix it up a lot more too, because
if possible, he’ll find victory lane!
Advertise on StockCar Review, SCR
has advertising rates starting as low as $12.00 per month. Email us at scr@stockcarreview.com for more
information.
Ultimately, this season
should prove the sport consists of more than its exalted superstars: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Earnhardt
Jr. has become such a media addiction even he can’t break free from since he’s so “media friendly”.
Tony Eury Jr. has already predicted Dale Jr. will win at least four races and declared how disappointed he’ll be if
he doesn’t. Once again, confidence is a wonderful thing! Roush Racing appears to be in a rebuilding year just like Dale
Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) may be, though to hear anyone at DEI, they claim that was last year, Mark Martin or Martin Truex Jr.
can get the job done and wouldn’t’ that just muddy the field and be glorious all at the same time? Hard to count
Matt Kenseth out though, he’s worse than the energizer bunny – keeps going and going and going. Mr. Consistency
will have to contend with a new crew chief and try to stay consistent too. Definitely a challenge Kenseth will meet with his
usual stoic reserve.
Bottom Line: If NASCAR has
done what they set out to do (level the playing field) then the COT should have everyone on the same footing. On the same
footing, everyone has the same chance, and at that rate, there may be even more dark horses looming on the horizon that we
haven’t seen competitive in many years. How interesting would it be to have a total shift in the usual Chase Drivers?
Bring on the dark horses; I think fans are ready for a change!
2006 StockCar Review.
