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He Said/She Said: 2008 The Year of the Toyota, Mears Out, JR Motorsports
Closing?
July 2, 2008
Everett Mugg and Debbi Willis
Toyota Championship?:
He Said: While everyone
knew that Joe Gibbs Racing's (JGR) switch to Toyota would lead to an overall improvement in the Toyota NASCAR racing program,
no one knew the results would be this good. Last year the question was which Toyota would even make the field for any given
race while this year the question is which Toyota will win. The 2007 season ended with only one Toyota in the  top 35 in owner's points giving a guaranteed starting spot at the start of 2008 and zero wins. This year all but two of
the Toyota's are firmly in the top 35 and a Toyota has won 6 of 16 races. There is little doubt that this is a direct
result from the addition of JGR to the Toyota racing family. Chevrolet spurned JGR while Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) spurned
Kyle Busch. While I am not yet ready to crown Busch, JGR or Toyota the Champions quite yet, momentum is definitely on their
side.
She Said: While momentum is
a good thing at any point in the season, this early on in the season it doesn't really mean anything except that they
can get the job done. With Busch's devil-may-care, "I'm-the-best-thing-since-sliced-bread" attitude, he
may be his own undoing regardless of the equipment or teams behind him. Which of course still leaves Tony Stewart or Denny
Hamlin to pick up the trophy for JGR, but Lady Luck hasn't been smiling on either one of them very much either.
Nonetheless, until the Chase arrives, talking about championships is just speculation and shameless promotion. Toyota did
their homework AND their politicking in the off-season and it shows. Most of what's been happening to the field this season
so far appears to be adjusting to the COT and getting used to its quirks. When checking the actual facts, the parity really
is there now. All the manufacturers are represented in victory lane so far and the top 12 are not the usual suspects dominating
week in and week out. Looking at all the performances, one can usually catch a mistake or a misjudgment that might have caused
a poorer finish than they hoped for. Toyota's on track and everyone knows it, now there competition just needs to do the
same.
Hendrick's Gives Mears the Boot:
He Said: Hendrick Motorsports and Casey Mears will be parting ways
at the end of this season. I am still scratching my head over this one. Why did Hendrick keep him and let Kyle Busch, (the
hottest driver on the circuit), go last year if he was going to turn around and give him the boot this year at the mid-point
of the season? Keeping Mears and not resigning Busch has to be the most stupid decision in the history of NASCAR, regardless
if one is looking at it from the "business numbers" or the potential to win races and championships. Mears is a
good, competent driver. Busch is an outstanding, almost super human driver with a hunger to win that is unmatched by anyone
on the track today. A young Jeff Gordon had some of that quality, but not since Dale Earnhardt, have we seen a driver who
would not think twice about running over his grandmother if she got between him and victory lane. In a business (sport) where
there are literally thousands of equally talented drivers for each and every one of the 43 seats that start each NASCAR race,
that hunger, and the veracity of it, makes the difference between the winner and the 42 losers each week. We saw some of that
fire Sunday at New Hampshire when Juan Pablo Montoya decided to try to spin Busch under caution. With lightning fast reflexes
Busch spun his car back down the track and took out Montoya.
The
current rumor is that Mark Martin and Brad Keselowski will share seat time in the 5 car next year. I guess Martin found out
what Dale Earnhardt Jr. already knew, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) currently exists for the sole purpose of pimping Dale Earnhardt's
name for cash in Teresa Earnhardt's pocket (ala Yoko Ono/John Lennon), not for trying to win races or a championship.
She Said: So what's new about this? At
the time of the Earnhardt Jr.'s availability, Busch was uncontrollable loose cannon that Hendrick wanted to be rid of,
and yes, he's still an uncontrollable loose cannon but obviously JGR likes his drivers like that. He certainly has a stable
full of them. Kyle Busch is without a doubt talented, but for as much talent as he has, he totally lacks common sense and
the ability to think before he acts. The precise reaction you point out is a perfect example. Why would a driver in a championship
position purposely throw his car around on the track with another (equally temperamental) driver causing himself and that
driver to wreck? Why would any "championship" material driver risk his position, bring down the wrath of NASCAR
and risk points and fines with a driver not even a threat to his championship quest? That's where Kyle fails himself,
his owner, his sponsors, and his fans. He doesn't think about anyone but himself in the heat of the moment and in that
heat, he's egotistical about whatever it is HE is ticked off about. When, and if ever, Kyle Busch gets himself under control,
he will be a force to reckon with but right now all he's doing is teaching all his fellow racers how to undo him. He's
like one giant hot button, just push him and step back to watch the fireworks! I guess he could always be entertaining.
I really feel for Mears. Did he really think he was "valuable"
to HMS? Most likely now, he realizes he was just a seat warmer keeping the car and the sponsor on the track. When Martin announced
he wasn't re-signing with DEI, his foundation with HMS suddenly shifts. Is it any surprise that Hendrick saw an opportunity
to get his 5 car some R & D driver time with a seriously talented veteran and an equally seriously talented up and coming
youngster? Thus Mears became expendable. Ironically, he knows now how Busch felt last year when he got his news just about
this same time that he was not returning to HMS the next year. He'll drive his heart out trying to prove he really is
a winner. Ultimately, it's all just good business and Hendrick is a master at that, look at the merchandising prowess
he's achieved by gaining Dale Earnhardt Jr. in his stable.
By the way,
is that a broken record I keep hearing? I find it somewhat hilarious that Teresa Earnhardt can invoke such strong opinions
and ludicrous comparisons especially in a season that her cars have been seen to be fairly competitive on several occasions.
Mid-Season Rumor Mill, JR. Motorsports (JRM):
He Said: While most people would probably start a rumor topic with
speculation on what Tony Stewart is going to do at the end of the season I am not most people. I would rather start with a
subject that is important to the future of stock car racing, the possibility that JR. Motorsports will close down. JRM is
one of the very few outfits actually DEVELOPING young drivers and giving them quality, full-time rides in the Nationwide Series.
JRM has two late model cars and a car in the Hooters Pro Cup Series as well. Other teams have "development drivers"
but those "development drivers" rarely see the racetrack through the racecar windshield on race day, Cup drivers
run the cars more than they do. What sets JRM apart from the other teams is that he recruits drivers for their talent, not
for their daddy's money or for the sponsor money a driver brings. Brad Keselowski is a perfect example. A talented driver,
from a family of talented drivers, Brad brings driving talent to his team, not money. If his family had the money to be competitive
on their own, he would be racing for his family. So would his brother Brian. Both are drivers possessing exceptional talent,
inherited from their former ARCA Champion father Bob Keselowski. Racing is literally in their blood.
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JRM, with Keselowski driving, is currently second in the Nationwide Series, second to
Clint Bowyer, a Cup driver who was third last year in the final Cup standings and is currently 10th in the Cup standings this
year. He is ahead of Carl Edwards, (4th in the Cup standings), and David Regan, who joins Bowyer as the only fulltime Cup
drivers in Nationwide this year. If JRM shuts its doors, who is left to give young drivers a shot? Rusty Wallace is developing
his son, Steven, and David Stremme, while Baker Curb Racing is developing Brad Coleman. The Woods Brothers have been developing
Australian V8 champion, Marcos Ambrose. Stremme is a former Cup driver and Ambrose is not exactly a spring chicken. Wallace
is developing his son. Other than Coleman and Keselowski, there is not a single young driver being given the time of day (or
seat time as it were) by any team with a chance to win a race. I fail to see how driving 4-8 times a year "develops"
a driver.
If JRM closes down, that leaves Baker Curb as the only team developing
a young driver by giving him or her a full-time ride. To me that is more important than whatever the heck Tony Stewart decides
to do. Stay with Gibbs Tony, leave Gibbs Tony. Stay in NASCAR Tony, leave NASCAR Tony. Whether he stays or leaves both NASCAR
and JGR will continue on, he really does not make that much impact on the sport or his team, but one of the two last teams
developing young drivers based solely upon talent, not money, DOES impact the sport. When the best drivers no longer have
a chance at getting to the top tier of stock car racing where does that leave NASCAR? Simple answer, with a bunch of
spoiled little rich kids whining incessantly at each other for a meaningless championship because the GOOD drivers have been
financially eliminated. Oh the joy.
She Said:
To say that JR Motorsports is the ONLY Nationwide team to develop drivers (save Baker Curb) is a little overboard, however,
I will credit JRM for a great focus on young talent. Roush Fenway Racing has Colin Braun, Chip Ganassi has Bryan Clauson,
and Fitz Motorsports has Josh Wise. Technically, besides Keselowski with JR Motorsports, that's the cream of the upcoming
crop with Nationwide. Even Steven Wallace is a multi-year veteran in the Nationwide Series now. To gain ticket sales and fill
seats, NASCAR encouraged Cup drivers to participate in the (former Busch) Nationwide Series so that now, essentially, the
series is imploding. Driver development is eking by barely able to produce a crop of rookies to graduate up to Cup each season
because the Nationwide series is overrun by Cup drivers taking the victories, the sponsor money and limelight from the young
talent trying to breakthrough.
But isn't JR Motorsports just
being absorbed into the big happy family of Hendrick Motorsports? Isn't Rick Hendrick going to take care of "driver
development" as well as Dale Earnhardt Jr. has done because Dale's visionary quest for good drivers was critical
to the growth of the sport? Isn't that part of Earnhardt Jr.'s big plans with Rick Hendrick? Why would he want to
shut his own Nationwide Series team down? JRM employs his sister, his mother and his uncle on a regular basis keeping his
close-knit family all together all the time. I really think it won't be a matter of closing up the shop but just giving
it a new name and design under the big umbrella of Hendrick Motorsports. So fear not, driver development will continue, it'll
just come from HMS and not JRM.
The Nationwide Series is in dire need of
a serious overhaul but NASCAR has gone too far and doesn't know how to back out gracefully now. At the price of tickets
these days, most folks could probably afford Nationwide before Cup... maybe NASCAR needs to evaluate that and separate their
tracks so they can get their driver pool rebuilt to the talent it should be. The natural order of progression in any sport
requires that there be resources. NASCAR isn't allowing for growth of our natural resources. It's time they begin
to think about it and really start protecting the Nationwide Series for its own collection of drivers and fans.
Questions, Comments:
or
Email DebbiThe views and opinions in this article are that of the
writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR
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2006 StockCar Review.
