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There was a great piece done recently by Scene Daily’s Bob Pockrass about the Nationwide Series’ newest owner, Steve Turner.  (We’ve also written previously about Turner.)  Towards the end of 2010, Turner became the largest independent owner when he expanded his Truck Series operation to include four NNS teams that he acquired when he purchased Braun Racing.  The SD piece and Turner’s recent dealings have me wondering if Turner Motorsports could be on track to being the next major NASCAR team.

Think about what Turner now has in place with his organization.  He’s got several solid sponsorship deals (Great Clips, Dollar General, Monster Energy, ABF Freight, Brandt, and others), a stable of young and talented drivers (James Buescher, Brad Sweet, Justin Allgaier, Jason Leffler, Ricky Carmichael, Reed Sorenson), and plenty of good equipment.  With the base Turner has built (and bought), it’s not hard to see the team possibly making the jump to Cup competition in the near future.

Of the drivers he has now, two already have Cup experience (Leffler and Sorenson), and if Allgaier continues to improve, there is no doubt that he could be a solid driver to build a Cup program with.  Obviously funding would need to be secured, but remember that the new NNS COT isn’t much different then a Cup COT.  And with their new relationships with equipment suppliers, a Cup team wouldn’t be a big leap.

I also want to point out the difference between Turner and some of the other new owners we’ve seen come into NASCAR recently.  Remember that Turner has been doing this for a while.  He didn’t come in with big pockets and immediately buy into a Cup operation.  He started small and has owned teams in many lower racing series before moving into the NASCAR big leagues.  He has a better idea than most what it takes to survive.  And it appears he has the acumen and the resources to make it all work.

At this point, I’m sure Turner and his management team are focused on making the teams they have now successful.  It will certainly be a challenge meshing his CWTS operation with what was Braun’s NNS operation and making it work.  But if they are able, I don’t think it’s crazy to think that Turner could be on pace to be the next Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress, or Jack Roush.

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Filed under: NASCAR Crashes, Nationwide Series

As the latest driver to test NASCAR's much-publicized "Have at it, boys" policy, Nationwide driver Jason Leffler found out Tuesday what the sanctioning body's follow-up punishment is: a three-race probation period.

Staying consistent, NASCAR levied the same mild rebuke to Leffler for wrecking James Buescher in Saturday's Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway that it did to Carl Edwards for intentionally wrecking Brad Keselowski in what turned out to be a far more serious incident at in the Sprint Cup race at Atlanta in March.

Assuming he doesn't get into more trouble, Leffler's probation will run until April 28 and will cover this weekend's race at Phoenix as well as the events at Texas and Talladega.

In the Nashville race, won by Kevin Harvick, Leffler came back out bent on revenge against Buescher after an earlier encounter between the two put him in the wall. In the first incident, on lap 43, Buescher's No. 1 slipped up the race track in turns one and two, making contact with Leffler's black No. 38. Leffler spun and backed hard into the outside wall, effectively ending his day. But the repairs made by his crew got him back in the race -- albeit many laps down.

 

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Two incidents, two very similar stories. Two drivers enter a turn, two wide. The one on the bottom slips up and wrecks the one on top. The one who was wrecked has his car repaired and returns to track. He goes out and wrecks the one who wrecked him. One incident ends with a car on its top, the other ends with a car in flames.

Less than two months into the season and driver payback is quickly becoming the story of the year. This weekend at Nashville, we got our second taste of on-track payback in an incident between Jason Leffler and James Buescher.

These incidents have got you guys talking. Following the race a reader sent us a question. He asked:

“Do you think the time will come when some of the drivers get the message that “It was just a racing incident” won’t work and if you get loose it is your fault?”

Is that a message that needs to be sent?

The fact is the impetus for the payback on both occasions occurred because of accidental contact. No one means for these things to happen, and more often than not drivers are more than willing to take responsibility. Unfortunately we seem to be coming to a point where this type of incident is grounds for payback.

In the case of Carl Edwards I’ll give him a bit more credit because of the history between he and Brad K. That said, the contact in that case and the most recent one is not excusable.

I don’t think payback is deserved or OK when the contact occurs accidentally (I think it should be used sparingly in any case). These things happen during the course of a race; there are 43 cars moving at high speeds on a tightly packed racetrack. It happens. Jason Leffler’s and Carl Edwards’ careers are not free of contact that was unintended. I can’t recall their cars being destroyed by an angry competitor though.

At the end of the day all of these guys are adults and they need to start acting like it. It sucks to get wrecked. It sucks when you’re the victim of an inexperienced or over-eager fellow competitor’s mistake. But as I’ve already said, this is racing, it happens. The sooner these guys grow-up the safer everyone will be.

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