When Mark Martin praises your driving ability before your old enough to drive a street car, people are going to take notice.
Such was the case for youngster Joey Logano at the start of the 2009 season. After finishing sixth in his first Nationwide Series start and winning in his just his third start at Kentucky, management at Joe Gibbs Racing felt the Middleton, Conn. teen was ready to fill some of the biggest shoes in the sport: Replacing Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot car he won two titles and thirty-three races in.
Even with the driving talent that earned him the moniker "Sliced Bread," (as in, the greatest thing since), Logano only managed one win in his first season. The team won a rain shortened race at Loudon after blowing a tire, spinning out and staying out when the thirty or so cars ahead of them made pit stops. It was one of the ugliest wins in the sport as of late, but a win is still a win.
This is Logano's only Sprint Cup Series win to date, as he appears to be going the way of New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Both have been in their respective positions long enough that they should be getting better, not worse.
It's time for the folks at JGR to face the facts. Logano was called up to Cup much to early and it's time to send him back to Nationwide while an experienced driver wheels the No. 20 car.
Home Depot has been more than patient, and this year they have relinquished a few of their races to Dollar General after backing the full season for Logano since his rookie year. Seeing Lowe's win five straight titles from 2006 to 2010 and the guy who used to drive for them win it last year while their car has only managed twenty-nine top-tens in those same Logano's 111 races has to be bothering the home improvement giant to no end.
With that in mind, this season is going to prove pivotal for Logano. He needs to win with the fastest car and not the best luck. If he doesn't do that and contend for the Chase, Home Depot may do some renovating of their own, either with another driver or another team altogether.
Such was the case for youngster Joey Logano at the start of the 2009 season. After finishing sixth in his first Nationwide Series start and winning in his just his third start at Kentucky, management at Joe Gibbs Racing felt the Middleton, Conn. teen was ready to fill some of the biggest shoes in the sport: Replacing Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot car he won two titles and thirty-three races in.
Even with the driving talent that earned him the moniker "Sliced Bread," (as in, the greatest thing since), Logano only managed one win in his first season. The team won a rain shortened race at Loudon after blowing a tire, spinning out and staying out when the thirty or so cars ahead of them made pit stops. It was one of the ugliest wins in the sport as of late, but a win is still a win.
This is Logano's only Sprint Cup Series win to date, as he appears to be going the way of New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez. Both have been in their respective positions long enough that they should be getting better, not worse.
It's time for the folks at JGR to face the facts. Logano was called up to Cup much to early and it's time to send him back to Nationwide while an experienced driver wheels the No. 20 car.
Home Depot has been more than patient, and this year they have relinquished a few of their races to Dollar General after backing the full season for Logano since his rookie year. Seeing Lowe's win five straight titles from 2006 to 2010 and the guy who used to drive for them win it last year while their car has only managed twenty-nine top-tens in those same Logano's 111 races has to be bothering the home improvement giant to no end.
With that in mind, this season is going to prove pivotal for Logano. He needs to win with the fastest car and not the best luck. If he doesn't do that and contend for the Chase, Home Depot may do some renovating of their own, either with another driver or another team altogether.
When move to a new team with a lucrative sponsorship after three years of being a "lame duck" driver, people expect you to win.
This was the situation for Martin Truex, Jr. After driving the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. No. 1 car to a win and a Chase berth in 2007, he never reached the same level of success in the years that followed. This was also the season the team merged with the struggling Ginn Racing. In 2008, DEI merged again with Chip Ganassi Racing, forming Earnhardt-Ganasi Racing, and leaving the future of the team even more unstable.
After years of change and racing as the proverbial "lame duck," Truex left for greener pastures and was tabbed at the beginning of the 2010 season to replace Michael Waltrip as driver of the Napa Auto Parts car. This was done so Waltrip could focus on running his race team and less on driving. Truex has had some success in his tenure at Michael Waltrip Racing, contending for a Chase spot in each of the last two seasons, only to fade late in the year.
2012 is a contract year, not only for Truex, but also for longtime Waltrip sponsor Napa. Truex, really is the only reason Napa didn't leave MWR after 2009. They signed with the two-time Busch Series champ after MWR promised he would win races for the auto parts distributor. But while Truex has come very close to netting that first victory in his No. 56 car, his lone Cup victory remains the spring race at Dover way back in 2007.
If Truex can't deliver this season, this may be his final year in an MWR car. We have already seen the class and professionalism with which Waltrip handles things when his sponsors want another driver. Aaron's wanted Mark Martin in their car this season, so Waltrip sent a text to then-driver David Reutimann to notify him he had been terminated with just three races left in the season. If Napa wants another driver, they will get just that (and Truex can probably expect to be notified just as promptly as Reutimann was).
But the bigger problem for Waltrip and his organization may just be that Napa will want a new team entirely, giving the fledgling team an unsponsored car and two with just partial sponsorship. Their departure would be a big blow to an already financially strapped operation.
This was the situation for Martin Truex, Jr. After driving the Dale Earnhardt, Inc. No. 1 car to a win and a Chase berth in 2007, he never reached the same level of success in the years that followed. This was also the season the team merged with the struggling Ginn Racing. In 2008, DEI merged again with Chip Ganassi Racing, forming Earnhardt-Ganasi Racing, and leaving the future of the team even more unstable.
After years of change and racing as the proverbial "lame duck," Truex left for greener pastures and was tabbed at the beginning of the 2010 season to replace Michael Waltrip as driver of the Napa Auto Parts car. This was done so Waltrip could focus on running his race team and less on driving. Truex has had some success in his tenure at Michael Waltrip Racing, contending for a Chase spot in each of the last two seasons, only to fade late in the year.
2012 is a contract year, not only for Truex, but also for longtime Waltrip sponsor Napa. Truex, really is the only reason Napa didn't leave MWR after 2009. They signed with the two-time Busch Series champ after MWR promised he would win races for the auto parts distributor. But while Truex has come very close to netting that first victory in his No. 56 car, his lone Cup victory remains the spring race at Dover way back in 2007.
If Truex can't deliver this season, this may be his final year in an MWR car. We have already seen the class and professionalism with which Waltrip handles things when his sponsors want another driver. Aaron's wanted Mark Martin in their car this season, so Waltrip sent a text to then-driver David Reutimann to notify him he had been terminated with just three races left in the season. If Napa wants another driver, they will get just that (and Truex can probably expect to be notified just as promptly as Reutimann was).
But the bigger problem for Waltrip and his organization may just be that Napa will want a new team entirely, giving the fledgling team an unsponsored car and two with just partial sponsorship. Their departure would be a big blow to an already financially strapped operation.
When you are two of the most polarizing, opinionated and volatile personalities in the garage area, but you can win on any given Sunday, people are going to scrutinize everything you do.
Kurt and Kyle Busch are definitely the villains of the Nascar garage. They're arrogant, opinionated, polarizing and each has a fuse as short as Jason Lefler. Fans either love them or love to hate them. We have seen their tempers flare in the past, but this season, their weekly tantrums almost ended their careers.
During the fall truck race at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle intentionally dumped championship contender Ron Hornaday under caution after the two scraped fenders during what a driver would term "one of them racin' deals." This proved to be the last straw for Nascar, which parked him for the rest of the weekend, forcing Joe Gibbs Racing to replace him for the Cup and Nationwide events. This lead to rumors that his family-friendly sponsor M&M's/Mars would bolt following the end of the year.
Despite this, Kyle will return to Cup for JGR with the snack food giant as his backer this year. Under the advice from JGR management, Busch has significantly trimmed back his schedules in Nascar's other touring series. But while he may not race a truck at all this year, he will race a Nationwide car.
After being unable to land a sponsor for his JGR No. 18 Nationwide ride, Busch, essentially, went behind Gibbs' back and decided to split the series schedule with his brother Kurt in a car backed by Monster Energy. Gibbs knew nothing of the deal and, as he put it, "now we're racing against him."
After all Joe Gibbs did for Busch in the wake of his Texas controversy, never wavering in his support of the hot-headed driver, you can be sure that if Busch slips up one more time, he won't have the support of Coach Gibbs to fall back on.
Kurt, on the other hand, had a much more public meltdown. Well, actually it wasn't, but it sure ended up that way. After falling out of the race in Homestead with transmission issues, Busch was approached by ESPN pit reporter, Dr. Jerry Punch, for an interview. After being forced to wait to do the interview live, Busch went off on a profanity-laced tirade that would've made John McEnroe blush.
Nobody would've even heard about this run-in if it hadn't been for a fan with a cell phone and a YouTube account. The video of Busch unloading on Punch and his crew went viral almost immediately. After the Sprint Cup awards banquet, Roger Penske canned... I mean... "mutually agreed" to part ways with Busch and replaced him with A.J. Allmendiner (who will also be looking to prove he belongs in the Sprint Cup Series this year).
This year, Kurt will run the No. 51 Chevy for Phoenix Racing. This team does get its cars and engines from Hendrick Motorsports, but without corporate backing, success has long eluded the Spartanburg, South Carolina single car team.
If Busch's ability can't bring this team to the next level (and if he still can't control his temper) Busch may be resigned to running for second-tier teams trying to prove to the big teams he can still get it done.
2012 will be an interesting year, filled with new drivers in new places trying to prove what they can do and why they deserve to race at the Sprint Cup level. But there will be several drivers who are with the same teams they ran for last year trying to do that exact same thing. The free agent market looked pretty good after last season. Following 2012, it may get even more interesting.
Kurt and Kyle Busch are definitely the villains of the Nascar garage. They're arrogant, opinionated, polarizing and each has a fuse as short as Jason Lefler. Fans either love them or love to hate them. We have seen their tempers flare in the past, but this season, their weekly tantrums almost ended their careers.
During the fall truck race at Texas Motor Speedway, Kyle intentionally dumped championship contender Ron Hornaday under caution after the two scraped fenders during what a driver would term "one of them racin' deals." This proved to be the last straw for Nascar, which parked him for the rest of the weekend, forcing Joe Gibbs Racing to replace him for the Cup and Nationwide events. This lead to rumors that his family-friendly sponsor M&M's/Mars would bolt following the end of the year.
Despite this, Kyle will return to Cup for JGR with the snack food giant as his backer this year. Under the advice from JGR management, Busch has significantly trimmed back his schedules in Nascar's other touring series. But while he may not race a truck at all this year, he will race a Nationwide car.
After being unable to land a sponsor for his JGR No. 18 Nationwide ride, Busch, essentially, went behind Gibbs' back and decided to split the series schedule with his brother Kurt in a car backed by Monster Energy. Gibbs knew nothing of the deal and, as he put it, "now we're racing against him."
After all Joe Gibbs did for Busch in the wake of his Texas controversy, never wavering in his support of the hot-headed driver, you can be sure that if Busch slips up one more time, he won't have the support of Coach Gibbs to fall back on.
Kurt, on the other hand, had a much more public meltdown. Well, actually it wasn't, but it sure ended up that way. After falling out of the race in Homestead with transmission issues, Busch was approached by ESPN pit reporter, Dr. Jerry Punch, for an interview. After being forced to wait to do the interview live, Busch went off on a profanity-laced tirade that would've made John McEnroe blush.
Nobody would've even heard about this run-in if it hadn't been for a fan with a cell phone and a YouTube account. The video of Busch unloading on Punch and his crew went viral almost immediately. After the Sprint Cup awards banquet, Roger Penske canned... I mean... "mutually agreed" to part ways with Busch and replaced him with A.J. Allmendiner (who will also be looking to prove he belongs in the Sprint Cup Series this year).
This year, Kurt will run the No. 51 Chevy for Phoenix Racing. This team does get its cars and engines from Hendrick Motorsports, but without corporate backing, success has long eluded the Spartanburg, South Carolina single car team.
If Busch's ability can't bring this team to the next level (and if he still can't control his temper) Busch may be resigned to running for second-tier teams trying to prove to the big teams he can still get it done.
2012 will be an interesting year, filled with new drivers in new places trying to prove what they can do and why they deserve to race at the Sprint Cup level. But there will be several drivers who are with the same teams they ran for last year trying to do that exact same thing. The free agent market looked pretty good after last season. Following 2012, it may get even more interesting.
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