Penske Racing is an organization on the move. As they transitioned this season into their role as the sole Dodge team in NASCAR, Penske has found success and wins. Despite their move up in the world, they are in familiar territory for race teams these days – light on sponsorship and heavy on drivers.
Sirius Speedway reported last week that Verizon Wireless was out as sponsor on Penske’s NASCAR programs and would likely transition strictly to the IndyCar Series – obviously the company is running into exclusivity issues with Cup Series title sponsor Sprint. On top of Verizon, the company is searching for a replacement to Mobil 1, which is leaving Penske at the end of the year because of a conflict with new sponsor Shell. While this leaves Sam Hornish Jr. in a bad spot, it’s Justin Allgaier who’s the real loser.
Allgaier burst onto the scene in 2008 after winning the ARCA championship for his family owned team. If you’ll remember, that was the season Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Scott Speed each ended the others shot at the Championship in the final race.
Allgaier joined Penske in the Nationwide Series full time last season. And by all accounts it’s been a good deal for ‘The Captain’ and his team. Allgaier has shown consistently why he is one of NASCAR’s future stars.
In 2008 he had three top-five finishes, 12 top-10 finishes, averaged a 16.5 and ended the season sixth in points. This season he’s been improved, scoring his first win, and raking up six top-fives and 14 top-tens. He’s fourth in the points – the highest running Nationwide only driver, and one of only five in the top-10.
With eight races to go in the season, Allgaier probably won’t win the championship, but he is well positioned for more solid finishes – maybe even another win.
Despite all that, Allgaier’s future is uncertain. If Verizon does indeed move on, and Penske doesn’t find another sponsor to fill the void, he could be out of a ride. Or if FoxSports has the story, he could lose his ride to none other than Penske teammate Sam Hornish Jr.
According to Sirius Speedway:
[Team VP of Marketing and Communications Jonathan] Gibson said the team is talking with other companies about potentially replacing Verizon next season, adding, “Our intent to continue with two Nationwide Series entries next season.” He declined to comment on reports that Algaier [sic] has been given permission to look elsewhere, but called him, “A great young driver who we would like to keep in our organization.”
That doesn’t sound to me like a team committed to keeping Allgaier in a ride. It’s frankly hard to comprehend a driver like Allgaier being in this position at all. He’s done absolutely everything he could do in the car – he’s run well, he’s won, and he hasn’t torn up much equipment. And he has great future potential.
We’ll see what happens over at Penske in the coming weeks and months, but I feel bad for this kid. He deserves to have a top-notch ride with a team that is fully committed to him (from the sound of it Penske is not). The good news is, if Penske does let him go, I have a feeling he’d land on his feet. Penske’s loss could be someone else’s gain.
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Roger Penske may have yet another star in the making in the person of young Parker Kligerman. While everyone focuses on the continued presence of Cup drivers in Nationwide, and other prospects like Trevor Bayne, Kligerman has been quietly racing and finishing well.
So far this season, Kligerman has only seven starts in the Nationwide Series although he has attempted ten races. He’s driven for underfunded Smith Ganassi Racing and gotten a few starts in Penske equipment masked as K-Automotive #26 Dodges. While the three early season DNQs certainly don’t look good on his resume, his last four starts (Daytona, Chicago, Bristol, Montreal) all turned into very impressive runs. After finishing 13th at both Daytona and Chicago, Kligerman has cracked the top ten in his last two races with a ninth at Bristol and an eighth at Montreal. Not bad considering he was up against Cup regulars at Bristol and a slew of road course aces at Montreal.
Kligerman signed on as a Penske development driver for the 2009 season, and then spent the rest of the year dominating the ARCA RE/MAX Series. He brought home nine wins and lost the championship battle to Justin Lofton by only five points. His very good ARCA season earned him the opportunity to run two races for Penske in the Nationwide Series towards the end of ’09, and Kligerman again didn’t disappoint. In his first ever NNS attempt, he sat on the pole, led laps, and brought his car home with a top 20 finish.
For 2010, Kligerman has been running a limited NNS schedule on very little support, but he is starting to make a very solid case for why Roger Penske & Co. should find a more permanent home for his future. The young driver from Connecticut has been overshadowed this season by his Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Justin Allgaier, who currently sit first and fourth in the NNS championship standings, but his future appears to be no less bright.
Let’s hope a full slate of Nationwide races in a fully supported Penske car await Kligerman for 2011.
As we approach the final stretch run of the 2010 Nationwide Series schedule, expect there to be more driver shuffling within Roush Fenway Racing’s NNS program. We’re hearing that both Matt Kenseth and Erik Darnell will get starts in the team’s #16 Fords in the upcoming races. Kenseth ran two NNS races for this team early in the season, and Darnell hasn’t made any starts in 2010.
We’ve talked quite a bit about the RFR Nationwide teams this season (here and here), because of the team’s commitment to developing drivers and because of the team’s turmoil. What were supposed to be full seasons for both Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Colin Braun, have since turned into partial seasons. A rash of bad luck, torn up equipment, and opportunities to run other drivers were the reasons why. We’ve seen no less then five drivers make starts in the #6 and #16 (Stenhouse, Braun, Kenseth, Brian Ickler, and Billy Johnson), and Darnell will make it six.
If you’ll remember, Erik Darnell has been with the Roush organization since the 2004 season. He was the winner of Roush’s famous “Gong Show” in 2005, which was televised that year and put on the Discovery Channel as “Driver X.” Darnell then ran full seasons in the Truck Series for Roush from 2006 to 2008. For the 2009 season he moved up to the Nationwide Series and split the #6 ride with driver David Ragan. In 16 starts he earned two top five and five top ten finishes and had one pole. He was also given the opportunity to run seven Cup Series races for Yates/Hall of Fame Racing in the #96 in place of Bobby Labonte, getting a best finish of 29th at Kansas. A lack of sponsorship dollars has forced him to sit out much of the 2010 season.
Going forward, many questions still plague the RFR Nationwide program for the 2011 season. We’ve heard that as of right now, the team may only run two cars next season, with Carl Edwards comitting to another full schedule. The team will suffer with the loss of Paul Menard and his money to RCR/KHI for next season, and the struggles for both Braun and Stenhouse will probably mean the second car may be driven by a round robin of Cup and development drivers.
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.
A few months ago I wrote a post lauding Roush’s developmental commitment even through sponsorship adversity. I said Roush’s commitment to Colin Braun and to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was evident in its continued support of two underfunded teams. And I applauded the man (Jack Roush) and the team (Roush Fenway) for giving chances to those who couldn’t necessarily fund their own rides.
About a month later though Roush booted Colin Braun from the ride full-time in favor of a split schedule with other drivers. This wasn’t good for my argument – that is that Roush was a bastion for the development driver. As the picture became clear and the weeks have progressed though, Jack Roush has, in my mind (for what that’s worth), continued to demonstrate the importance of young and developmental drivers to his organization.
Roush, for his part, gave Colin Braun two full seasons in the Truck Series and some random Nationwide starts. Despite being one of the best funded teams led by a very good crew chief (Mike Beam) Braun was only able to score one win and finish 13th and fifth in the points in his two Truck campaigns. This season Braun wrecked (or was involved in wrecks) in five of nine races he competed in. Jack Roush, rightfully so, had seen enough.
While Braun’s days with the team appear to be numbered, he was given a reprieve by his sponsor Conway Freight, despite its discontent with the situation.
Where one driver appears to have run his course though, another has gotten an opportunity. Roush Fenway signed Brian Ickler to run at Charlotte – and from what we’re hearing beyond. The young driver has been able to put together limited deals throughout his career and is getting his opportunity to excel in top-notch equipment.
With Braun in just 14 more races this season that leaves plenty of opportunities for Ickler to get seat time. And we’re hearing in addition to this weekend’s race at Charlotte, Ickler will also run at Daytona and Kentucky in the coming weeks.
Adding Ickler to a stable that includes Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and young Chris Buescher (check out TC’s post from yesterday) further adds to a portfolio of great potential talent. While certainly driver development isn’t an exact science (Roush has proven that), committing to building the stars of tomorrow continues to be a priority for this organization – and for that I continue to commend them.
Even though the top three NASCAR series were off on Sunday, there was no shortage of racing going on. At Iowa Speedway, the annual East/West showdown between the two K&N Pro Series took place, and the ARCA cars descended on Toledo Speedway for the first of two events this season. At Iowa, Joe Gibbs Racing development driver Max Gresham won his second straight race, beating Richard Childress’ grandson Ty Dillon to the line by .039 seconds. In Toledo, Roush Fenway Racing development driver Chris Buescher outlasted Joey Coulter, and veterans Frank Kimmel, Ken Schrader and Matt Crafton to win his first ever ARCA race.
By winning at Iowa, Gresham added his name to a pretty impressive list of past winners of the dual series event. Kyle Busch, Brian Ickler, and Joey Logano are all past winners. Gresham is a rookie running for the championship this season in the K&N Pro Series East and he is also scheduled to make select starts in the ARCA Series.
Gresham, a 17 year old from Griffin, GA, was running Legends cars at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway only 4 years ago, and is already a decorated racer. After graduating to latemodels in 2007 , he finished fifth in the Georgia Asphalt Series points in 2008, and won two races last year in the ASA Southeast Tour. With two K&N wins already this season, the future looks very bright.
Buescher took no time this weekend showing his competition that he was at Toledo to win. His #17 Ford was fastest in practice on Saturday, and he followed that up by sitting on the pole before he led 126 of 200 laps in route to his first ARCA win. The 17 year old driver from Prosper, TX won in just his ninth ARCA start, and had help from Cup Series driver David Ragan. After running the Sprint Showdown on Saturday night in Charlotte, Ragan boarded a plane and flew to Toledo to spot for Buescher.
Also a graduate of Legends cars, Buescher ran a part time ARCA schedule last season for the Roulo Bros. Racing team. In seven starts, he had one pole, three top five, and six top ten finishes. He is running another partial ARCA schedule this season. And if his last name looks familiar, it should. Buescher is the cousin of current Truck Series driver James Buescher.
From time to time here at TNI we like to point out a few young drivers to keep your eye on. Driver development is certainly in inexact science, but Buescher and Gresham might be two names you will be hearing for many years to come. They are both showing right now that they have the talent to compete with the best.
The Dayonta test for the new Nationwide Series COT is complete. Teams took to the 2.5 mile track on Tuesday and Wednesday to get familiar with the new car and to help NASCAR gather data ahead of it’s debut on July 2nd at the Subway Jalapeno 250. Most of the drivers who participated said the car must be driven differently then the old car, but that it would lead to more exciting racing. Those battles at the front of the NNS fields however, will probably feature more Cup drivers then ever before.
The redesigned car features many of the safety measures that were first implemented with the Cup Series COT. The Nationwide versions also have bodies that more closely resemble their stock brethren. The new Mustang, Challenger, Impala, and Camry bodies have been lauded by the drivers and the fans. With the exception of the sheet metal though, much is the same between the Cup and Nationwide cars now. The two COTs are so similar in fact, that they share the same chassis, wheelbase, and other components. And it’s those similarities that will widen the gap between the Nationwide only guys and the Cup “Busch-Whackers.” (I will never let it die!)
Think about it. While younger drivers have been coming up and learning on cars that are not too different then the current Nationwide car, Cup drivers have had the last few years to learn what it takes to drive and setup a COT car. They will now be able to use that COT knowledge on Saturdays as well. The younger, Nationwide only guys who don’t have that experience will suffer.
Having the cars be so markedly different at least gave some of the younger drivers a fighting chance. And by fighting chance, I mean Cup drivers who still dominate the series and win every race. Before, information couldn’t really be shared between the two series, and having to constantly be transitioning from car to car at least made things interesting. Now we don’t even have that.
Don’t get me wrong though, I certainly don’t think NASCAR should scrap the new COT. In fact, I’m a big proponent of the introduction. The safety innovations are certainly needed, and transitioning back to cars that appear more stock will do wonders with the fans. I just wish we could find a way to fairly limit participation among the Cup crowd.
It isn’t all bad news though.
Among my doom and gloom there is a silver lining. While these younger drivers might struggle now, their transition to Cup rides in the future will be much smoother and much shorter. The skill-set necessary to make an NNS COT go fast won’t be too different then what they will need on Sundays. And that will be good for the future of the sport and everyone involved.
Let’s just hope the Nationwide Series owners have enough patience to let these kids learn.
Lost amid the Talladega chaos was the story of JR Motorsports newest driver, Steve Arpin. On Friday, Arpin went out and promptly put his Chevy in the second row during qualifying. Not bad for a kid who’d never driven an NNS car before. Once the race got started, the young Canadian ran as high as second, but was caught up in the last lap “big one” and finished 26th. He will again pilot the #7 Chevy for Dale Jr. on Friday night in the BUBBA Burger 250 at Richmond, a race that will put his skills to the test.
A racer from a young age, Arpin excelled in go carts and dirt late models. In 2008, he also won Rookie of the Year in the USAC Silver Crown Series driving for Carl Edwards. For 2009, Arpin moved into stock car racing, where he competed full time in the ARCA RE/MAX Series for owners Eddie Sharp and Bill Venturini. In 21 starts, he had four top five and eleven top ten finishes in route to finishing seventh in the final points standings.
A successful rookie campaign afforded Arpin the chance to again run for the full ARCA season with Venturini Motorsports. Through five races this season, Arpin already has two wins, Salem and Texas, and is second in the points standings.
Arpin’s success this season and last attracted the attention of JR Motorsports, and after Kelly Bires was released earlier in the year, JRM brought Arpin aboard. JRM is looking for a driver to fill open slots in both its #7 and #88 cars for later in the season, and if all goes well, Arpin might get more races.
While he proved at Talladega that he isn’t afraid to get up on the wheel and drive, his real test will be this weekend at Richmond. Anymore, doing well at ‘Dega is more about luck (see Johnny Borneman) and having a good car than it is about real driving skill. Richmond will test even the best drivers’ abilities.
Different at both ends, success at Richmond is determined by how well a team and their driver can get their car handling. In this week’s Chevrolet pre-race notes, Jeff Burton said:
“Richmond is one of the places where handling means everything. The key factors in running well is getting through the center of the corners and throttling up without losing rear grip. It sounds simple to do, but the one that wins did it the best.”
Besides having a good handling car, a driver must avoid the carnage that comes with short track racing at Richmond, and get to the finish.
If Arpin is able to communicate what he needs to crew chief Tony Eury Jr., and make it to the finish on Friday night, we just might be witnessing a star in the making. A solid top 20 finish would go a long way in getting him more races in 2010.
On Friday in Phoenix, the biggest buzz before the Nationwide Series race seemed to be about whether or not John Wes Townley had been fired from Richard Childress Racing. Following a practice crash that destroyed the team’s primary car, Townley was yanked from the seat and Clint Bowyer took over for the remainder of the day. Internet rumors swirled that Townley had gotten the boot, but Lee Spencer of FoxSports.com reported this afternoon that Townley is still at RCR, but his future will be decided on Tuesday. My only question about all of this, is what was RCR expecting?
Last season, Townley jumped from ARCA competition to the Nationwide Series with RAB Racing. Of the 32 races he attempted, he DNQ’d for six of them. In the 26 races he did run, Townley had 10 DNFs and only managed to complete 73% of the laps. He had an average start of 24.2 and an average finish of 27.6. Not exactly a stellar rookie campaign.
Entering the 2010 season, Townley and his family sponsor Zaxby’s decided to leave RAB and take their money to Richard Childress Racing. Through the first five races of this season, Townley has actually improved fairly markedly over his first year. He has an average start of 10.0, an average finish of 22.4, has completed 96% of the laps, and only has one DNF. While he is still tearing up equipment, progress has been made.
From the various reports online, it appears Townley will be out of the #21 through Texas, and may return at Talladega. But all of this still leaves me wondering what RCR thought they were getting in bringing Townley over.
The obvious answer in this situation is money. RCR’s Nationwide program lost sponsor Holiday Inn after the 2009 season, and Townley and the Zaxby’s money enabled RCR to keep the program going. The difficulty for RCR in this deal though, is the fact that Zaxby’s was partially founded by Townley’s family and his father still serves as the company’s CFO. Knowing this, there is no way that I see where the contract would allow John Wes to be replaced all together if the performance wasn’t there.
So now, apparently we’ve reached the point where RCR can’t stomach Townley destroying any more of their equipment (despite JWT’s improvement).
It will be interesting to watch this situation going forward, because I’m not sure the Townleys will continue footing the bill for a race team that John Wes isn’t apart of. Which really leaves RCR with only two options: let Zaxby’s and Townley walk; or continue dealing with a young driver who will probably never figure it out.
And therein lies the dilemma when a team makes the decision to bring in a funded driver. Is the money really worth it? The ball’s in your court RCR.
We are hearing that 19 year old driver Marc Davis will return to the Nationwide Series next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Sam’s Town 300. He will be behind the wheel of the #58 Macys.com Cavi Chevrolet for XXXtreme Motorsport.
Davis, fresh off a third place run in the ASA’s Freestate 500 in South Africa, last appeared in the Truck Series at Homestead at the end of 2009, and his most recent Nationwide Series start was at Nashville in June of ‘09.
It’s been a tough off-season for the young driver from Maryland with the devastating loss of his father and team owner Harry in January. Harry was Marc’s biggest supporter, and an advocate for diversity in NASCAR. But even with the hardship, our source tells us the team is hoping to put more support together to run additional races in 2010.
Expect an announcement from the team very soon.