The 2011 Truck Series season started on a high note in Daytona with 46 trucks on the entry list and an emotional win by Michael Waltrip on the 10th anniversary of his Daytona 500 win. In the weeks and months that followed, the field began to thin.
First, Randy Moss Motorsports shut down it’s second team with Tayler Malsam before the trucks reached Martinsville in April. Then Vision Aviation Racing dropped from two teams to one before completely closing down in mid-May.
Germain Racing followed up in June by shutting down Justin Lofton’s team. Lofton left for Eddie Sharp Racing, where Craig Goess had recently departed.
Randy Moss Motorsports pulled the plug in July, forming an “alliance” with Germain Racing and handing over sponsor Navistar for the remainder of the year.
Since that time Kevin Harvick Inc. has announced it will be shutting down its truck teams at the end of the season and Germain Racing has said it will scale back.
To say the least there has been a lot of change in the series this season. It’s incredible to see some of the mainstays, including RMM/David Dollar (in the sport since 1997) and KHI either unable or unwilling to continue. It has to provide some pause for those in charge.
Well paying sponsorships are few and far between, purses are pitiful and the series is comparatively expensive to run. To be fair, I think NASCAR recognizes that. One notable place they’ve been making visible changes is in the schedule.
The series has shifted away from the West Coast swings, ending it’s run at California and only going to Phoenix once a year, while adding stops closer to home at Rockingham and Iowa. We’ve also seen them incorporating or considering shorter tracks. Of course, smaller tracks means fewer trucks are necessary, which means, generally speaking, less needs to be spent on equipment.
The Truck Series has walked away from its roots in recent years – see stops at Daytona, Talladega and Pocono – and for the sake of growth has begun to push out those who supported it for so long. That said, the exit of KHI or any of these other teams is by no means a death knell to the series – great teams like Thorsport, Richard Childress Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports, among others, continue to support it. But we all need to be thoroughly considering the reasons those who exited did so.
The Truck Series continues to be popular with fans, and TV viewership is growing. Still, NASCAR needs to be making tough decisions and rectifying the problems at hand if they want the series to be anything more than a place for start-and-park teams, funded drivers and has-beens/never-weres looking for a cheaper barrier to entry. I think it’s better than that.
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I started to think about this post a few weeks ago. At the time, Germain Racing, for the second season in a row, was threatening to shut down Todd Bodine’s #30 team for a lack of sponsorship. It was stunning to think the reigning series championship was about to be parked for a lack of sponsorship. The troubles at Germain though are nothing new for Series champions. Consider the following cases.
NASCAR veteran Ted Musgrave won the 2005 Truck Series championship driving for Jim Smith and Ultra Motorsports. The two had a long and fruitful run together including 16 wins, 12 poles and that one championship. Not long after winning in ’05 though the team closed the doors after losing support from Mopar and failing to get support from Ford.
Musgrave was lucky enough to find another ride with Germain for the following two seasons, but never matched his success with Ultra. He had a short stint with HT Motorsports before exiting the sport mid way through the 2008 season.
Ron Hornaday, Jr. won championships in 2007 and 2009 and has undoubtedly had a very successful run with Kevin Harvick Inc. and Dale Earnhardt Inc. before that. It was after Hornaday’s 2009 championship that his long time crew chief Rick Ren left KHI for the newly created Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Since then Hornaday has won just three races (compare that to six each in 2008 and 2009) and has just 17 top-fives (compare to 15 in 2009 and 14 in 2008) and 20 top-tens (compare to 20 in 2009 and 18 in 2008).
Certainly winning the championship hasn’t been devastating to Hornaday’s career, but the once dominant team is no more. Losing Rick Ren was nothing short of very bad luck.
The saddest case of all is Johnny Benson who won the 2008 Truck Series championship with Bill Davis Racing. Benson joined the team in 2004 and together they scored 14 wins, 50 top-fives and 72 top-tens. Benson though faced a fate similar to his contemporary Ted Musgrave when the team shut down shortly after the end of the season.
Tom Deloach and Red Horse Racing brought Benson on in 2009 but he made it just eight races before the team was shut down due to a lack of sponsorship. Just a week after that Benson was seriously injured in a SuperModified race.
It looked like Benson may have a chance to return in 2010 with Kyle Busch Motorsports, but sponsorship never materialized and Benson raced just a few times for various organizations.
That brings us back to Todd Bodine. He received a reversal of fortune after Randy Moss Motorsports, on its last legs but with a very lucrative sponsorship deal, agreed to a “partnership” with Germain to keep Bodine in a ride through the end of the season.
Is there a curse? Maybe not. But in the last six seasons at least, it’s undeniable that there are some strange instances of bad luck for the series’ championship winner.
Can we not all recognize that the Raikkonen to NASCAR story with Frat Boy Gillett is an April Fool’s joke?
Welcome back to NASCAR Foster … if you couldn’t tell, we didn’t miss you.
This marriage wasn’t completely surprising – in the midst of his team going up in flames at the end of last season Gillett was seen at Homestead parading Raikkonen around the RPM haulers and the garage. The ego and lack of self-awareness that apparently accompany Gillett is galling.
Remember this is the guy who, with his father, almost cost hundreds of people their job and almost forced Richard Petty out of the sport – all just a few short months ago. Turns out it’s not such a good idea to leverage a less than profitable sports team to the hilt (let us not forget Gillett did this same thing with Liverpool FC). In the annals of NASCAR history, the Gillett’s are just below Bobby Ginn. Needless to say their reputation is less than spectacular.
Disgruntled former Gillett partner Ray Evernham agrees. He told Sirius Speedway’s Dave Moody:
“I honestly can’t believe it will happen… I can’t see how (the team) will be able to get parts and pieces. I can’t imagine anyone doing business with (Gillett), considering the past history… That’s just my opinion, but the facts are there. There are a lot of people out there who are still owed a lot of money. It’s a joke.”
Money up front perhaps? I figure if Kevin Conway can keep finding rides, someone will sell Foster Gillett equipment. As unfortunate as it is, I suspect we’ll see a Kimi Raikkonen driven, Foster Gillett owned truck in the not too distant future.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no beef with Kimi Raikkonen coming to NASCAR – the more the merrier. Unfortunately, with the memory of last season all too fresh, it’s a different story with Foster Gillett. As the old adage goes, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
All I can say is, truly, absolutely, stunningly, unbelievable. An April Fools joke indeed.
Did you notice the short field in the Nationwide Series this weekend? Certainly not a great indicator of health of the sport. But then did you notice the fields in the Cup and especially the Truck Series? Those should make us all feel a little better.
Consider this: there were 40 cars on the Nationwide entry list, the first short field since 2008, 44 on the Cup Series entry list and 41 on the Truck Series entry list. In the Truck Series that’s five more cars than make up a full field.
Unfortunately that meant some great young talent like James Buescher and, for the second week in a row, Tayler Malsam didn’t make the race. Still there wasn’t a single team that start-and-parked. That in itself is quite an achievement.
With the lesser cost of entry and the investment by teams like RCR, KHI and KBM, the Truck Series this season is a whole new place. Competition is improved (or perhaps expanded) and the fields are full. To see reduced and or eliminated start-and-park teams is wonderful.
This season is shaping up to be really interesting. Let’s hope these full fields continue.
Tommy Baldwin Racing Announces Their Start-And-Park Run
File this under the strange moment of the weekend, Tommy Baldwin Racing actually announced they would be start-and-parking. The team had planned to run the full race, but a wreck in practice meant they would have to go to a backup – which turned out to be their Las Vegas primary.
Apparently they decided they’d have better luck in Las Vegas and they wanted to tell everyone – from a PR perspective, I’m not sure I see what the benefit of this was though. And NASCAR didn’t either. NASCAR’s VP of Competition Robin Pemberton said before the race Sunday:
“I can’t speak for Tommy and why he did it, but I just thought that it totally took us by surprise… We know that if anybody tries to run all the races it’s Tommy Baldwin. When he can he does. Quite honestly, just taken back by it, and I thought it was just poor timing on his part and that’s all I’ve got to say about it.”
Telling everyone you’re about to take part in a frowned upon practice is not advisable – though it’s admirable they apparently felt bad enough about doing it that they decided they would tell everyone. With the response they got, I doubt they do this again.
An interesting tidbit none the less. What do you think? Would you prefer for a team to announce their intention, or would you rather they just did it?
UPDATED: Link to TBR’s full statement here.
In recent years, layoffs at the end of the NASCAR season have become the norm. And this season hasn’t been any different (though the extent of the layoffs has been less severe than in recent years). Joining the rank-and-file employees on the unemployment line in 2010 are two drivers from prominent programs. I doubt either of them though were surprised.
Enter Scott Speed and Colin Braun.
During his three seasons at the various levels of NASCAR, Scott Speed found some success and quite a bit of struggle.
2008 was a banner year for the flamboyant former F1 driver. He scored four ARCA Series wins, one Truck Series win, and he nearly won the ARCA championship. He was a promising prospect for Red Bull Racing that, at the time, had Brian Vickers and a struggling AJ Allmendinger.
And so began the trouble for Speed, who was thrown into the Cup Series in 2009 with little stock car experience under his belt. Like so many before, Speed wasn’t given much time to develop and was never able to do much in a Cup car. Add on top of his lack of development time, the fact that Red Bull is, at best, a mid-tier team, Scott never really had much of a chance.
Braun got his first full NASCAR season in 2008, running for a Roush Truck team that had a lot of success behind it. In two seasons in the Truck Series though Braun scored one win, and didn’t do much else. It’s of note that in those two seasons (a total of 50 races) Braun had 10 DNFs as a result of wrecks.
Despite a less than successful run in the Truck Series, Roush moved Braun to the Nationwide Series this season with plans to run the full schedule. Eight races into the season though Braun was yanked from the ride after five wreck related DNFs and a severe drop in the points. He was allowed to run 16 more races this season – his highest finish was seventh.
For these two guys, their individual releases were a long time coming. Neither lived up to expectations. For Speed the lack of development time is likely what hurt him the most. With Red Bull’s questionable performance however, more development time may or may not have made a difference.
With Braun, development time wasn’t an issue. In fact, he was given far more opportunity to showcase his skills and talent than most drivers in similar situations. After 82 NASCAR starts, and little to show for it, Jack Roush probably made the right decision cutting him loose.
What stinks for both of these guys at this point is the lack of time they now have to find another ride. Something tells me neither will find much opportunity in NASCAR for 2011.
In a world where perception is everything, ratings and attendance have become big topics of discussion among NASCAR fans and insiders. Ratings in particular have been of interest to those in control of the sport. But the picture on that front is less than clear. With fluctuating numbers and ratings looking better from the top-down who knows what’s going on in NASCAR’s national series.
As has been talked about this week and last, the ratings for the last two Cup races have been down – way down. According to Nielsen, ratings at New Hampshire were down 28 percent and at Dover 22 percent year-over-year. It’s the apocalypse, right? Well maybe not.
Something no one has really been talking about is that the races in previous years were on ABC (a network channel where one would assume there is a larger audience), not ESPN. TC talked with our friend John Daly over at the Daly Planet and he thinks this isn’t an issue – he thinks the product is the problem. To some extent I think he’s probably right. It’s hard to reconcile though why ratings have suddenly been down quite so much in the Cup Series.
Consider this: before New Hampshire there were slight declines for the races at Richmond (on ABC this year and last) and Atlanta (on ESPN this year and last). At Bristol though the race was shown on ABC this year, a change from ESPN in years prior. The race actually saw a ratings increase year-over-year. Is that because it was on network TV instead of cable? I tend to think that’s possible, if not likely.
Even though these last two weeks look to me like anomalies, it is true ratings as a whole have been down again this season in the Cup Series. Why exactly that is, is hard to say. This isn’t the case across the board though.
With fan discontent churning, you’d expect to see declines everywhere. It’s not happening though. The ratings in the Nationwide Series have been flat year-over-year – this despite it being a series dominated by Cup regulars.
Even more interesting though is the case of the Truck Series which has actually seen an overall ratings increase over the summer after taking hits early on because of rain delays. This is occurring despite the fact there are only five to 10 competitive trucks on a weekly basis.
Now obviously there are overall audience disparities between the three series, but I still have to wonder why the two lower series are growing, or at the very least maintaining their audiences when their larger counterpart is not. Is it the politics? Is it the personalities? Are races too long? Has the Cup Series just become overexposed? Is there an increasing number of ‘avid fans’ looking for more racing? Is the racing better? Is the coverage better? I unfortunately have far more questions than answers.
Even with the pre-race show, watching a Truck race on Speed really has the feel of Cup Series broadcast 15+ years ago. It’s simple, refreshing, and light hearted – plus the races are usually done in a couple of hours. Even the Nationwide Series broadcasts aren’t quite as overdone as the Cup races. I have no idea if this explains the ratings though.
I’ve been watching this top-down trend for a while and I find it fascinating, but don’t have any idea why it’s happening. Maybe you all do?
When the Camping World Truck Series heads to Las Vegas this weekend, look for the entry list to be a little stronger. We are hearing that both rookie Johanna Long and Tayler Malsam will return to CWTS competition in the desert.
First, expect an announcement on Monday that Long will be driving a truck prepared by her family’s race team, Panhandle Motorsports. We’ve heard that her effort will be led by veteran crew chief Kevin “Cowboy” Starland, and that more races might be upcoming for Long and Panhandle for the 2010 season. If she qualifies, the Vegas race will mark Long’s fourth start of the season. In her previous three truck starts (for Billy Ballew Motorsports) coming at O’Reilly Raceway Park, Nashville Superspeedway, and Chicagoland Speedway, Long has scored two top 20 finishes. Besides racing trucks, Long has spent the season making various latemodel starts at tracks in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama, and has two USAR ProCup starts.
Malsam, who has been racing in the Nationwide Series since being released by Kyle Busch Motorsports early in the season, will return to the Truck Series in an entry fielded by Randy Moss Motorsports. Malsam competed for RMM for the entire 2009 season before moving on to KBM for 2010. Expect veteran crew chief Doug Wolcott to call the shots for Malsam’s team at LVMS. Malsam ran the first seven truck races of the season for KBM before his team was shut down due to lack of funding. The young driver from Washington was then given an opportunity to run for Braun Racing in the Nationwide Series and has since made 11 starts with a best finish of 11th. No word on if any more truck races are planned for Malsam.
Moving forward, it’s always good to see new teams and young drivers getting a chance to make their mark in the sport. Both of these drivers have a ton of potential, and adding competitive teams to entry lists is always a good thing.
As always, keep it locked to TheNASCARInsiders.com for rumors, insight, and inside information from the world of NASCAR that you won’t find anywhere else.
NASCAR moves quickly. If the last decade isn’t a lesson of that, I’m not sure what is. And I think for the most part we’ve seen some good changes come out of the sport (you may disagree). Not everything they’ve suggested though has been great. And I think the latest idea to come out of the folks at NASCAR is a little out of left field.
Our friend John Daly over at The Daly Planet reported last week about a question that was leaked from the weekly NASCAR Fan Council Survey. Here is an excerpt of that question:
NASCAR is exploring the idea of running some NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races throughout the season using a new “heat race” format in which approximately half of the trucks run a preliminary “heat race” followed by the other half of the trucks running in a separate preliminary “heat race.” These “heat races” would then be followed by “The Main Event” which would feature a slightly longer race than the two “heat races” and would consist of only a certain number of the best finishing trucks from the first and second “heat races” competing in “The Main Event.”
NASCAR is exploring the idea of running some NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races throughout the season using a new “heat race” format in which approximately half of the trucks run a preliminary “heat race” followed by the other half of the trucks running in a separate preliminary “heat race.”
These “heat races” would then be followed by “The Main Event” which would feature a slightly longer race than the two “heat races” and would consist of only a certain number of the best finishing trucks from the first and second “heat races” competing in “The Main Event.”
After the queasy feeling left my stomach, I had to wonder why? What’s the point of doing this? I think in theory it could probably eliminate some of the start-and-park teams and perhaps lower some costs, but is that worth the chance that NASCAR could drive away some fans? And just when things are looking good for the trucks?
Have you seen the ratings for the series? SpeedTV put out a press release this week touting year-to-year ratings increases since July – including increases in the last four races. What this tells me is that people are watching and interested. That also leads me to believe that there probably isn’t anything too wrong – certainly not bad enough to consider changing the entire format of the series.
While the Truck Series has long been NASCAR’s proving ground, I think the sanctioning body is inching ever closer to damaging it. I realize they’re attempting to be proactive to keep the racing interesting, but when does the series get a consistent format?
Obviously this is just an idea, these surveys are one way for NASCAR to gauge interest in a potential change, but that they’re asking about this makes me think they’re serious about it. Now I’m not saying this idea can’t work, or that it wouldn’t be interesting. What I am saying though is NASCAR needs to seriously consider the ramifications of the rolling changes – people get sick of it (I’m getting sick of it). Why fix something that really isn’t broken?
We are hearing today that Randy Moss Motorsports has shut down its #81 Camping World Truck Series team effective immediately due to lack of funding. The team, which has been running with David Starr this season, had only partial sponsorship to begin the season. We are also hearing that several employees have been laid off, including crew chief Doug Wolcott.
There have been a ton of rumors floating around about RMM in the last several weeks, many of them mentioning a possible merger or sale of the team. Mike Skinner’s #5 truck has full sponsorship for the season from International Trucks, Monaco Coaches, Exide, and PC Miler but Starr only had a partial deal with Zachry.
Through 16 races this season, Starr is ninth in CWTS points with 6 top tens and has an average finish of 13.2. We’ll keep you posted if we hear any more.
In the current climate of funded drivers and retreating sponsorship dollars, it’s very uncommon for a young driver without his own money to get a second chance. What we are seeing with Aric Almirola though, goes against all of that. JR Motorsports announced on Wednesday that Almirola had signed a multi-year agreement to drive the team’s #88 car in the Nationwide Series.
After getting high profile gigs at Joe Gibbs Racing, Ginn Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and finally Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, it appeared Almirola had washed out. Once at EGR, his #8 team was shut down only seven races into the 2009 season due to lack of funding. Through those seven races however, Almirola hadn’t exactly set the world on fire. His average finish was 32.8 and his best finish was a 21st at Atlanta. Before that, Almirola was best known for his Nationwide Series “win” at Milwaukee in which he started the race, but was pulled part way through and replaced by Denny Hamlin who went on to score the victory.
After leaving EGR in 2009, Almirola spent the rest of the season making sporadic starts for Phoenix Racing, Key Motorsports, Smith Ganassi Racing, and Billy Ballew Motorsports across all three major NASCAR series. He was one of a small group of drivers who turned to some of the lower seriesto advance his career and get more experience. And as it turned out, the 16 starts Almirola made for Billy Ballew in which he led 98 laps and had six top five finishes, would turn into a full time Truck Series ride for the 2010 season.
Fast forward to this season, Almirola has two Truck Series wins and sits second in the Truck Series points. His strong CWTS runs led to him being the backup driver for both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon while they were on baby watch, plus he was given the chance to run JRM’s #88 at ORP. Almirola didn’t disappoint there either, finishing third behind Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards. All of this led up to JRM signing Almirola for the 2011 season and beyond.
Before this deal came about, we’d heard (along with others) that Almirola was a candidate for some Cup organizations, including Richard Petty Motorsports. Almirola even admitted to ESPN that he’d been offered Cup deals (see the link above). With that said, I think it’s interesting that he decided to take the Nationwide deal with JRM. It would seem that in a situation like Almirola’s, especially with his stock being high, that he would have wanted to capitalize fully and take a Cup deal. Instead, he will continue to have to prove himself and his ability in the NNS with JRM.
If Almirola continues to progress, and has continued success in the future, this should help serve as a lesson to owners about driver development. Instead of rushing these kids along, and giving them a season or two to prove themselves, why not keep them in lower series longer? Let them develop their skills, then bring them along slowly. Almirola is extremely lucky that he’s been given the chances to show that he can improve, and hopefully he will parlay those chances into more success on the track.