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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Nothing surprises me anymore. Add ‘Travis Pastrana to NASCAR’ to that list.
While we don’t have an official announcement, signs are pointing to his making the leap to stock car racing, in one series or another, in the not too distant future.
Pastrana, if you’re not familiar, is a former motocross and now rally star, X Games medalist, and all around mad man. He holds the record for longest ramp-to-ramp jump in a car and he was the host (or head hooligan) of the stunt show Nitro Circus on MTV.
Pastrana has been pretty successful in everything he’s tried. He has two motocross championships to his credit and 14 X-Games medals in various events. And he’s about as fearless as they come. Still, does he have the skills to be successful in NASCAR?
That is something I’m not so sure about. We’ve seen multiple, very successful race car drivers try to transition to NASCAR. It’s either taken them years to find even minimal success, or they haven’t lasted.
Take Ricky Carmichael – a guy who is often referred to as the ‘Greatest of All Time’ for his unrivaled success in motocross. He started running late model races in 2007 under the tutelage of Mark Martin and other very talented drivers. He ran a full K&N Pro Series East season in 2008 and then scattered ARCA and Truck Series races in 2009 before going full time in the Truck Series this season.
Despite his success elsewhere, Carmichael is still a driver very much in development in NASCAR – even after three years. The good news is he’s running better and better every week.
With Pastrana, my hope is that Michael Waltrip Racing (or Diamond Waltrip Racing) doesn’t try to throw him directly into a Nationwide car. We’ve seen how drivers attempting the transition from another racing series have struggled in the cars and the series. As has been apparent with Danica Patrick, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve and many others just because you can drive one thing with four wheels well, doesn’t mean you can drive all things with four wheels well.
The above said, I think if anyone is going to barrel into this successfully I think Travis Pastrana could reasonably be the guy to do it. He’s only 27 and has a lot of time to build the necessary skills and still be young. And, I said it once already, but I’ll say it again, the guy is fearless. If you ever watched his show on MTV, you probably saw him do some pretty ridiculous stuff.
I’ll admit this is a bit gimmicky, but it’s so crazy (or maybe Pastrana’s so crazy) it just might work. And as Marty Smith pointed out a few days ago, Pastrana would bring some very welcome personality and energy to the sport. I don’t think we should be pinning the sport’s hope on this however.
At the very least it’ll be interesting to watch. On a side note, I’m glad I’m not paying for the race cars.
Even though the NASCAR Silly Season has quieted down some, there are still plenty of rumors floating around. Here are a few of the bits we’ve heard over the last week or so.
Catch Can Man Back in April we told you that NASCAR was considering eliminating the catch can man for both the Nationwide and Cup Series just like they did for the Truck Series for the 2010 season. For the CWTS, NASCAR implemented a new style gas can that self vented and didn’t require the use of a catch can. We are hearing now that NASCAR has scrapped the idea for the Cup Series, but that they will implement this rule for the NNS for the 2011 season. We are not yet clear on whether this means NASCAR will also allow less than seven crew members over the wall, because we have heard that may not change. What it does do is scrap the catch can position and will probably slow down pit stop times.
More on the new Turner Motorsports We reported a little over a week ago via Twitter that we’d heard the Braun Racing sale to Steve Turner was a done deal. Journo even included that info in his recent post about Mr. Turner. More details are emerging about the deal and what this new Turner Motorsports will most likely be. First, we’ve heard that the team will still probably run 3-4 Nationwide cars next season, and that they may expand their Truck Series program to three teams. We’ve also heard that the team will utilize Chevrolet equipment, and that the current fleet of Braun Toyotas will be switched over. Look for James Buescher, Ricky Carmichael, Reed Sorenson, and Brian Scott to all continue driving for the team, with the rest of the seats still up in the air.
Marc Davis returns at Dover After a failed attempt to get back on track earlier in the season at Las Vegas, we are hearing that R3 Motorsports has reached a deal to run Marc Davis in their #23 Nationwide car at Dover. It will be Davis’ first NASCAR start since Homestead at the end of 2009 and his first NNS start since June of ’09. Davis will be the fifth different driver for R3 this season, with Robert Richardson Jr, Alex Kennedy, Coleman Pressley, and Johnny Sauter having shared the ride. Expect an announcement from the team this week.
Like we always do here at TNI, we will keep you posted if we hear more as these stories develop.
In all fairness to Steve Turner, he’s been here for a while. But as an owner he’s relatively new to the game – and it sounds like he could soon be one of the biggest independents in the sport.
FoxSports first reported on Saturday about the possible sale of Braun Racing to Turner. We are hearing, barring any last minute issues, it’s a done deal. It’s been common knowledge around the sport for some time that Todd Braun is/was willing to entertain offers.
So far this season Turner has been linked to at least two other teams – Phoenix Racing and Randy Moss Motorsports – in his quest to expand from his existing two truck operation.
What Turner would get in the acquisition of Braun is equipment, and perhaps most importantly, several lucrative sponsorship deals – add those to his existing deal with Ricky Carmichael and Monster Energy Drink.
Turner, if you’re not familiar, is the president and COO of Texas-based RedHawk Energy, an oilfield services company. He joined that organization after the sale of his own Xxtreme Group (another oilfield services company) to RedHawk late last year.
Throughout racing circles, Turner has been a familiar name for some time as the benefactor of young NASCAR driver James Buescher (Buescher dates Turner’s daughter Kris).
He formed Turner Motorsports last season, running select Truck Series races with Ricky Carmichael and Scott Wimmer. Carmichael has run the full truck schedule this year, and Buescher has been in all but a few races in a second truck. As an owner, Turner has already collected six top-fives and 11 top-10s.
Though many around NASCAR are once bitten, twice shy with new team owners (see Alex Meshkin and Bobby Ginn), I think Turner could prove formidable. While he may be moving a little fast (I’m personally a fan of the Kevin Harvick, KHI model) he appears to have some wealth and a solid business background, and he understands the cost of racing (only 1 of 2 Turner Motorsports Trucks is funded – Wolfpack Rentals is a RedHawk company) – something Meshkin and Ginn had absolutely no conception of.
We’ll see how everything turns out, but Steve Turner is definitely someone to keep an eye on. He’s shown over the past several months a strong desire to become a player in NASCAR – with the right resources and right moves he could be there very soon.