David Ragan finally notched his first Cup Series win this past weekend at Daytona. It was a long road for the 25-year-old driver after four and half seasons in the sport’s top series.
Ragan’s meteoric rise at Roush Fenway started with the old “Gong Show” (then called Roush Racing: Driver X for Discovery Channel) in 2005, and included in 2006 a 19 race stopover in the Truck Series, and three Nationwide and two Cup starts before being moved to the Mark Martin’s old Cup ride in 2007.
With a lot of pressure behind him to perform in the iconic #6, the then 21-year-old driver notched two top-fives, three top-tens and finished 23rd in the points. The next season he knocked down six top-fives, 14 top-tens and just missed the Chase, finishing 13th in the points.
With all the hope and expectations of the 2008 season, 2009 was nothing short of a disappointment – just two top-tens and a 27th place points finish. Then 2010 saw just three top-tens and a 24th place points finish.
Coming into 2011, Ragan had a relatively new crew chief in Drew Blickensderfer and needed to make something happen.
And so we found ourselves last Sunday. Ragan has been much improved this season (two top-10s, four top-fives before the win) with his highest average finish since 2008. He sits 17th in the points and has a real shot at the Chase with that win.
Everything is looking good, except for the fact that UPS hasn’t re-signed for next season.
“I’m not worried about the program next year. I certainly think about it some. UPS has been a great partner of ours and will continue to be,” Ragan said. “They’ve got some decisions to make in the next couple of months. I think we’re on the right path to bring those guys back; we’re happy we got that win for them – that certainly helped. The Fords are the strongest they have been in a long time. Jack [Roush, owner] and I are on the same page and UPS is happy.“
In a very unusual move for a sponsor, UPS sent a statement out after the race congratulating Ragan on his win and reaffirming their commitment to the driver. Certainly a good signal – I’m still not sure though whether it was simply a congratulatory note or had some other meaning.
Ragan has a couple of years left on his deal with Roush, and though that does mean security, it doesn’t necessarily mean his ride is a guarantee. A lot is going to depend on that all important sponsorship question, and to a larger extent, whether or not that win and the improvement this season is enough to make Jack Roush think Ragan has hit a turning point.
Silly Season continues to intrigue and this is certainly one storyline to follow.
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With the announcement last week that Red Bull was ceasing its NASCAR operations at the end of the season, the 2011 Silly Season went into full overdrive. While the number of available rides just potentially got cut by one, the number of unanswered questions increased. Can Red Bull find investors? What will Brian Vickers do next season?
Along with those unanswered questions about Red Bull are the drivers and teams who find themselves without a solid deal for 2012. Still what are the realistic opportunities for movement before next season.
Carl Edwards is in the final year of his deal with Roush Fenway Racing and easily finds himself as the hottest prospect. He’s the current points leader and a 19-time winner in the Cup Series.
Edwards has been the subject of a rumored move to Joe Gibbs Racing. While a fourth car at Gibbs is the best option available to Edwards, is it really better than his current position with Roush Fenway? I think, at best, it represents a lateral move for the driver.
The rumors of an Edwards to Gibbs move no doubt came from either Gibbs or Edwards – either way it strengthens Edward’s negotiating position at Roush, which, I think, was the purpose of the rumors. We’ll see what happens, but I think the driver will more than likely stay where he is; despite his potential to bring money wherever he goes.
Clint Bowyer is in the final year of his contract with Richard Childress Racing and has been the subject of a rumored move to Red Bull Racing (that is, before Red Bull announced they were leaving the sport). Bowyer has had success at RCR but has played second fiddle to Kevin Harvick. With a move to Red Bull now out of the question, Bowyer is also very likely to stay where he is.
Brian Vickers finds himself in a worse position than the other two drivers mentioned. He has been with Red Bull Racing since the team began in 2006, leaving Hendrick Motorsports for the opportunity. With a severe lack of opportunities, he doesn’t have many better options but to stick it out with Red Bull and hope Jay Frye can put together investors capable of keeping the team alive.
Mark Martin is a man toward the end of his career who is not ready to end his career. With Kasey Kahne moving into Martin’s spot at Hendrick Motorsports when Martin’s contract ends at the end of the year, Martin is a wild card. Excluding unsubstantiated rumors that he would be investing in Red Bull Racing, Martin’s future remains very murky. He and Jay Frye have a relationship from Martin’s time at Ginn Racing and it wouldn’t be surprising, if Frye can put the investors together, that Martin ends up in a Frye car. We’ll see what happens, but that may be the only Cup opportunity available to the 52-year-old driver.
Danica Patrick, while maybe not the most sought after driver, is perhaps the most intriguing driver of this Silly Season. She is in the final year of her deals with Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series and JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series and brings with her big sponsorship and endorsement deals. Her realistic available opportunities include a continued role at JR Motorsports and perhaps a third team at Stewart Haas Motorsports. Both are of course contingent upon the money she brings, but she can no doubt bring the money. We’ll see if she brings her talents to NASCAR.
What are your thoughts on the current Silly Season, these drivers and others? Where do you think these drivers will end up? Talk amongst yourselves.
The Watkins Glen road course provided some great racing this weekend, but while the action on track was interesting, so were some of the rumors floating around the garage. We heard a few different bits this weekend that we wanted to share, and I figured I’d weigh in on them with some of my own thoughts.
First up, we reported on Twitter (follow us @nascarinsider) yesterday that we’d heard NASCAR took a box of lugnuts from Marcos Ambrose’s Nationwide Series team during the race. Word is that they were illegal in some way. Don’t be surprised if the team is penalized this week. I don’t expect NASCAR will take the win away however. Quick Update: Scenedaily.com’s Kenny Bruce reported via his Twitter page that NASCAR did indeed take lugnuts from the #47, but later decided there was no issue.
The most ridiculous rumor that we’ve heard on a few different occasions recently, is that Red Bull Racing is shutting down at the end of the season. I know the team’s performance has been abysmal this season, and question marks surround both of the team’s normal drivers, Brian Vickers and Scott Speed, but this is one I just don’t believe. There was even a report late this evening that Red Bull may be where Kasey Kahne ends up for the 2011 season. Some major changes are probably in order for this team internally, but don’t expect them to close down any time soon.
While Red Bull’s future is probably safe, we have heard that Kevin Conway’s days might be numbered at Front Row Motorsports. It sounds like the team has grown tired of Conway’s poor performance, and this group will struggle mightily to make races if the #34 falls out of the top 35 in owners points. They are currently 35th in the standings, only 182 points ahead of 36th. A few more bad finishes, and Conway will be on the outside looking in. To this point in the season, Conway has had a guaranteed starting position in every race, due to some fancy number wrangling by owner Bob Jenkins. With one team already outside the top 35 however, thanks to the tire debacle at Pocono earlier in the year, Jenkins can’t afford to have another team fall out. Word is that Extenze would continue sponsoring the team, but another yet-to-be-named driver would be brought in.
Richard Petty Motorsports officially announced on Friday that AJ Allmendinger had signed a multi-year agreement to remain the driver of the #43 Ford. With that settled, a number of other questions still plague this organization; namely sponsors and other drivers. With the rumblings that Paul Menard is taking his family sponsor to RCR, Kahne’s known departure for Hendrick, and Elliott Sadler’s apparent dissatisfaction, Allmendinger is short a few teammates for 2011. We are still hearing that Ambrose will probably end up in either the #9 or #19 next season, and a deal may be close between the two parties, pending sponsorship. Another name that has popped up as a potential replacement for RPM next season is Aric Almirola. Almirola has revived what appeared to be a fading career this season with a strong NCWTS campaign to this point that currently includes two wins. The young driver also impressed folks a few weeks ago with a third place finish at ORP driving for JR Motorsports #88 NNS team. If the team can find sponsorship, Almirola would be a decent addition.
Like I wrote on Friday, it’s certainly been a crazy Silly Season, and there are still plenty of dominoes left to fall. It will certainly be fun to see what plays out.
I wonder if we will ever quit referring to driver and sponsor movements as the Silly Season. It was initially called that because it referred to a specific part of the season when all this started happening. Now it seems that it starts in February at Daytona. Sorry, I digress…
Has the 2010 Silly Season not been extremely odd? Looking at what we know and still don’t know about who will be where in the future is really interesting. We’ve had all kinds of crazy things happen already, and it’s only August!
Let’s review. First, it was announced in April that Kasey Kahne would leave Richard Petty Motorsports at the end of 2010, and that he’d signed a deal to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2012. The move certainly raised a ton of questions, namely, where in the heck Kasey would be driving for the 2011 season. In the four months that have followed, we’ve heard everything from Kasey to Stewart Haas, Kasey to stay at RPM, Martin out at HMS early, and so on and so forth. As it sits today, we still don’t have a single answer about where Kahne will be in 2011. With other teams having open seats, and some considering adding teams, was this move the best for Kahne? Should he have waited to make a move? The ball is in Mr. H’s court.
A few weeks after the Kahne announcement, we learned that Shell-Pennzoil would be leaving the Richard Childress #29 and Kevin Harvick to join Penske Racing and Kurt Busch for 2011 and beyond. It was an interesting move at the time, as trouble was brewing and it appeared Harvick was on his way out at RCR. Besides the chance to sponsor a NASCAR Cup champion, a big reason for the move on Shell’s part was the chance for rights to sell their oil in all of Penske’s auto dealerships. Shortly after the initial announcement however, Harvick won at Talladega, and later decided to re-sign with RCR. Even with the business opportunities for Shell at Penske, this move was still an odd one. You don’t often see a sponsor leave a team at or near the top of the points standings. It may be a little awkward at season’s end if Harvick ends up winning the championship.
The strangest driver change of this season though, just might be the most recent one. On July 27th, Marcos Ambrose announced he would leave JTG Daugherty Racing after the 2010 season. The move ended a five year relationship with team owner Tad Geschickter that took Ambrose from the Truck Series to the Cup ranks. JTG wasn’t driver-less for long, as only a few short days later they announced that Bobby Labonte would replace Ambrose for 2011. What’s odd here though, is Ambrose is now without a ride for the future. We’ve seen plenty of lame duck situations with drivers over the years, but how often has the lame duck driver not had a spot for the next year already locked up when he made his announcement to leave? I can’t think of one off the top of my head. The persisting rumor is that Ambrose is headed over to RPM to replace one of their vacating drivers in either the #9 or #19, but no announcement has come and there are indications that RPM doesn’t have a sponsorship deal lined up. Some have floated that Ambrose may be wanting to return to Australia, but I feel if that were the case, he would have already told us that. He may just be caught in the middle right now waiting for a deal to come together. Either way, the whole situation is very odd.
Besides the situations and questions that I mentioned, there are plenty of other holes to fill for 2011. There are strong indications that Paul Menard is bailing from RPM and taking his family sponsor money to help RCR restart their fourth team for next season. The deal may already be done. If that happens, where does that leave RPM? What happens to Elliott Sadler, who by most indications appears to finally be on his way out? With Brian Vickers health still in question, and Scott Speed’s unflattering 2010 performance, who will drive the Red Bull cars next season? Is Sam Hornish going to be out at Penske at season’s end, or does Roger keep him on? Could Justin Allgaier be bumped up to the third or possibly fourth team for Penske next season?
Where’s the Advil, my head is spinning…
With all the discussion surrounding Kasey Kahne, and the 2011 Hendrick plan for him, I’ve begun to wonder whether this was Kasey’s best move. I say this not because Hendrick isn’t a great team – they most certainly are. And not because Kasey can’t succeed at Hendrick – I think he most certainly can. I say this because of the time he will inevitably lose as he makes the transition to the team’s #5 car.
Speculation has been rampant about where Kasey would end up next season since he and the team announced their partnership earlier this season. Hendrick Motorsports is currently at NASCAR’s four-car limit. The list of unsubstantiated candidates now includes Phoenix Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing. Stewart-Haas, for it’s part, says it currently has no plans to expand to three cars for the 2011 season.
Whatever happens it can be assured that Kasey will have a ride next season – top-tier team or not.
Where does this leave Kasey though? He’s in the final year of his deal with Richard Petty Motorsports, and has already announced his intention to leave. I know it’s a little premature, but this year can probably be considered a loss for Kahne (see Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr.). Then what about next year?
Let’s say for example purposes Kahne ends up at Phoenix Racing (I’m not saying he will). He’ll of course have all of his equipment built at Hendrick, full sponsorship and all the backing of Rick Hendrick. What will his crew look like? Who knows who they’re looking at, or want for a crew chief, but it’s Hendrick so for all intents and purposes let’s say they promote from within. From there, the crew will likely be composed of Phoenix Racing guys.
So Kasey does this for 2011 (with Phoenix or someone else). At the end of the season what do they do with this team? Does Alan Gustafson become Kasey’s crew chief for 2012? Do they keep the one he’s got? Whatever they do, Kasey is likely going to have to make yet another transition into the 2012 season.
So in addition to this year, Kahne stands to lose the next two seasons trying to adapt to separate teams.
I know Rick Hendrick and team Hendrick Motorsports have nothing but the best of intentions for Kasey moving forward. And I would imagine they’re working very hard to make sure these transitions the driver is about to face are as painless as possible. The issue at hand though could be very bumpy.
I know it’s really easy to play Monday morning quarterback on this (and on anything), but do you think Kasey should have waited to see if he could put a deal together at Gibbs (team Gibbs was interested, but was unable to commit), or somewhere else that he could have immediately transitioned him into a permanent ride?
In a sport where chemistry and consistency are key, I’m kind of thinking he should have waited. For me, the end payoff (that is getting the #5 car) may not be worth the cost of the next couple of seasons. All that said, Hendrick of course hasn’t done anything and gets the benefit of the doubt here.
So what do you think of Kasey’s move? Was Hendrick the right place for him to go? Would you have liked to see him go somewhere else? Where do you think he’ll end up next season? Discuss away!
Bass Pro Shops and Kasey Kahne don’t seemingly have a lot in common, but with the season now in full swing the two are about to have a very similar decision to make: do they stay where they’re at or look for greener pastures elsewhere.
It’s well known Kahne and Bass Pro are in contract years, and given the tension they’ve had with their respective organizations in the past their futures might seem clear; but with recent success and transition both could make surprise moves.
For Bass Pro the transition from DEI to EGR was less than a happy one. It was quite apparent last year that they weren’t putting much into their long standing deal. Even worse, when Martin Truex Jr. left, EGR had to do a lot of convincing to get the company to sign off on Jamie McMurray.
In just a matter of a couple of months though Bass Pro went from skepticism of their new driver, to celebrating with him in victory lane at the Daytona 500. As a sponsor do you stick with the current iteration of a team you’ve been with for years or go elsewhere? Arguably McMurray isn’t the best representative of the company, but if he continues to perform is there any reason for them to move on?
For Kasey Kahne the decision to leave Richard Petty Motorsports is equally murky. He joined Evernham Motorsports in 2004 and in that time racked up 11 wins, including two last year. Since 2004 though, the organization has gone through two mergers and all but lost Ray Evernham’s guidance.
In September, Kahne was among those publicly and privately questioning who was in charge at RPM.
“There are not a lot of answers out there right now. I don’t know if it’s because we’re in the middle of a lot of things, we just don’t have a person in that position. I think Robbie Loomis is supposedly going to be that guy, but I don’t think that he is yet. Is it Foster? You can’t get anything out of Foster. So it’s hard to say who that is, and I think that’s because we’re in a lot of different things right now. But when you’re in things, you still need to keep your team and your guys, your company behind you knowing what’s going on, and we don’t have that. Hopefully, we’ll get it soon. The sooner we get that, the better everybody will be.”
Since that time though Kahne seems like a guy much happier with and much more sure of his situation. That said as one of the sport’s most popular and talented drivers, does he stick with a team that needs him more than he needs them? If Kahne enters free agency he’s sure to be the hottest driver on the market. He’ll likely be able to write his own ticket.
Certainly continued success is going to be important for all parties involved to consider staying where they’re at, but if that does happen is there a reason to move on? And how much success do Kahne and McMurray need to have?
No matter what happens from here on out, I think both have to consider the options available to them. Either one may choose to stay where they’re at, but with plenty of teams looking for sponsors and the likelihood of any number of available seats, Kahne and Bass Pro would be crazy to not see who’s interested.
So what do you think? Will Kahne and Bass Pro stay put? What will it take for their respective teams to keep them? If they do move on where do you think they’ll they go?
After the 2008 season, we decided to look back over the season and see how we did in terms of reporting on rumors and breaking some news. In the end, we got eight correct, had two pushes, screwed one up, and had three rumors outstanding. With 2009 behind us, I thought it would be fun to again do the same thing. I’m going to start with the three bits we had outstanding, and then we’ll move into 2009.
Fastenal to RCR: After the info we heard, we thought this one was in the books. Even Jayski reported at one point that this was going to happen, even mentioning a driver lineup. But in the end, Fastenal ended up at JR Motorsports for the ‘09 season. Scratch this one.
Rule Changes Coming to the Truck Series: NASCAR did indeed make changes to the Truck Series rules for 2009, and we were close. We first reported they were only going to allow only four crew members over the wall and that they would initiate a hard card limit. They did indeed limit both, but we missed the crew limit by one. It was five members over the wall and not four. I’m still giving us the point here. Plus one for the Insiders.
BDR Employees Laid Off: This indeed was true, and what was left of BDR was turned into Triad Racing Technologies. TRT supplies teams with Toyota engines, chassis, and some other services. Plus one for the Insiders.
First Crew Member Tests Positive: In my post following the Daytona 500, I let you know that I’d heard NASCAR had caught it’s first offender of the new substance abuse policy. We found out a short time later that it was a Mayfield Motorsports employee, and he was suspended indefinitely from NASCAR. It was strange foreshadowing for the summer to come and drug testing. Plus one for the Insiders.
RMM Cuts Salaries: Early in the season, we heard that Randy Moss Motorsports had cut it’s employees salaries by as much as 35%. While no official announcement was ever put out, this was indeed true. The budget for the #5 Tundra for Mike Skinner was limited at best, which led to the cuts. Plus one for the Insiders.
Trouble At Trail: 2009 was supposed to be the first season for minority owned Trail Motorsport. But what started off with much fan fare and press, fizzled before it ever got started. We first told you in April about the problems internally at Trail. On it’s own, the team never fielded a race car at a Truck Series, Nationwide Series, or Cup Series event. Plus one for the Insiders.
Kyle Busch, Team Owner in 2010: We were the first to tell you about Kyle Busch’s plans to start his own NASCAR team for the 2010 season. In July, we reported that construction was ongoing on a new race shop for Kyle and that he, Johnny Benson, and Brian Ickler may drive for the new team. Busch will indeed have a team in 2010, with two full time trucks. One for himself and Brian Ickler, and another for Tayler Malsam. If sponsorship can be found, Benson may run a third truck. Plus one for the Insiders.
Parker Kligerman, Wyler Racing, & Michael McDowell: In September we told you that ARCA driver Parker Kligerman would run some NNS races for Penske, that Wyler Racing may be closing up shop, and that Michael McDowell would run at New Hampshire for Thorsport Racing. Kligerman ended up running at Kansas and Homestead for Penske Racing. Wyler did make it to the end of the season, but from what we know just barely. As of today, there is no word on Wyler Racing’s 2010 plans. And finally, McDowell did run at NHMS for Thorsport. He ran the #98 truck, that was painted up like a police car. We will call that plus two and minus one for the Insiders.
Your Favorite Team and a Funded Driver: While we did write a post mentioning a rumor, we wrote the post more as commentary then actually reporting the rumor. The post itself was about John Wes Townley and his impending move to Richard Childress Racing. Townley will indeed race for RCR in 2010, and will compete full time in the NNS in the #21 Zaxbys Chevrolet. Since we didn’t call the driver out, nor did we get anything wrong, I’ll give us a push.
Rick Ren Gone from KHI: We told you before Homestead that Kevin Harvick Inc. crew chief Rick Ren was leaving at the end of the season, possibly to take a managerial role at Kyle Busch’s new team. This rumor was actually denied publicly by Kevin Harvick, but in the end turned out to be true. Ren will serve as the Director of Operations for KBM this season. Plus one for the Insiders.
Eric Phillips to KBM: To add to this stout lineup for 2010, we were the first to tell you about Eric Phillips leaving Randy Moss Motorsports for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Phillips will serve as crew chief for the #18 truck piloted by Busch and Brian Ickler for this season. We were certainly all over the KBM stuff in ‘09. Plus one for the Insiders.
Biffle and Baker Curb: And last but not least, after it was reported by SceneDaily.com that Baker Curb was working on a deal with a Cup driver for the 2010 NNS season, we told you that Cup driver was Greg Biffle. Biffle will pilot the #27 Red Man Ford Fusion for Baker Curb this season in an undetermined number of races. Plus one for the Insiders.
Looking back over all the rumors, I think we had another pretty good year. We got eleven right, missed two calls, and had one push. So over the last two years, that makes us 19-3-3 on the scoreboard. We certainly don’t know it all or hear it all, and we also won’t report every rumor we hear. But I think this shows that when you hear a rumor from TNI, odds are pretty good it’s true. What do you think?
After a nice (but brief) vacation, both myself and Journo are returning to action this week. As Journo said last week, we are going to cut down our posting frequency during the off-season to a post for Monday, Ask The Insiders on Wednesday, a post for Friday, and the Saturday links post. If something interesting pops up along the way, you might certainly see us add to this schedule. But those will be the standard days moving forward. Once we get closer to the start of the season, we will go back to our normal schedule.
I want to take a quick second to thank everyone that stopped by the site, dropped us an email, or hit us up on Twitter over the last week or so. We got a ton of messages from people, and I just want to say that it’s been a pleasure running this website and we are glad people are enjoying it. It’s always great to hear that we are doing a good job! On top of that, I hope everyone enjoyed their Turkey Day.
By the time most of you read this post, it will already be Monday. This will be the first full week of the off-season, and many guys will be back to work after some vacation time (like us!). For many team employees, tomorrow could be an anxious day, as many don’t know what their own future holds within their respective organizations. It will certainly be an interesting and pivotal week for many teams and the sport in general.
With 2009 in the rearview, teams now shift towards preparing for 2010. Many questions still exist for some teams with sponsorships, drivers, and crew members in limbo. Even for teams that have solid sponsor and driver plans, changes will take place.
I think at this point, most race fans have heard about the situation regarding the Richard Petty Motorsports/Yates Racing merger. With the teams combining, as many as 200 employees are either gone, or will be gone very shortly. Going from six teams down to four will require cuts anyway, but the newly formed organization will be looking for ways to streamline, and cutting salaries is one way to do it.
While more cuts and layoffs are certainly on their way, probably this week, one team didn’t wait to start making changes. I heard last week that Roush Fenway Racing had already begun shedding employees, particularly at their Nationwide/Truck Series shop. Since RFR will end their Truck Series program before the 2010 season, cuts were in order. I don’t know an exact number, but I do know a few of the guys who lost their jobs. I just want to say good luck to them, I hope they land on their feet somewhere else.
The Silly Season this year was more subdued than it has been in the past, partly because of the down economy, and partly because of the lack of free agent drivers. But even so, there are still many pieces of the 2010 NASCAR puzzle that are yet to be put into place. Expect teams to continue making announcements regarding sponsorship and driver plans for the future. This will especially be true for smaller teams. Those in the Nationwide and Truck Series still have much to figure out.
I encourage you to stay tuned to your favorite racing news organization over the next several weeks to see what develops. While I don’t think it will be as bad as last off-season, this could again be a very tough winter. And as the 2010 picture becomes more clear, The NASCAR Insiders will be right here to answer your questions and break it all down. Only 76 days remain until the Daytona 500!