By winning at Michigan Denny Hamlin became the 10th different winner of the season. His hard fought victory over Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards and his own teammate, Kyle Busch, added to what’s been a thrilling season marked by a diverse cast of characters.
Adding to that cast Sunday were Paul Menard and Landon Cassill.
In his fifth full Cup Series season and first at Richard Childress Racing, Menard has been an aberration. Through 15 races he’s scored three top-fives, four top-10s and he sits 16th in the points. Compare that to two top-fives and seven top-tens in the four full seasons prior. The cherry on top, so far this season, is a fourth place finish on Sunday- a solid weekend bookend to his fourth place finish in the Nationwide race on Saturday.
Menard, who struggled through the end at DEI and went through the turmoil of Yates and RPM last season, is in the first truly stable ride of his career and so far it looks like he’s making the most of it.
For Cassill, who has yet to have a full season ride somewhere, Sunday was a bright spot. In the last couple of years he has fought to just have a seat – often times that’s meant starting and parking for some of the sport’s bottom of the barrel teams.
This season, James Finch has let Cassill actually finish races and while there hasn’t been a ton to write home about, it hasn’t been all bad. Sunday, for instance, Cassill out drove teams much better funded than his for an impressive 12th place finish.
For Cassill, these opportunities provide him a stage to showcase his talent and hopefully get noticed by a better funded organization.
With good finishes from Menard and Cassill, our 10th different winner of the season and possible penalties on the horizon for Joe Gibbs Racing, feel free to use this as your Michigan sound off post.
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Following the 2008 season, Journo and myself wrote a series of posts that covered all the major teams in the Cup Series. We looked at where they had been in 2008 and where they were going in 2009. The posts contained some predictions for the 2009 season, with some being more specific then others. I thought, since 2009 is in the books, that it would be fun to go back over the posts and see how we fared with our predictions. Listed below you will find all the teams we covered, our predictions, and what actually happened. Enjoy!
Hendrick Motorsports Prediction: All four drivers will be contenders for the 2009 title. Actual:We were right, with one notable exception. Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, and Jeff Gordon finished 1-2-3 in the standings for HMS. But, Dale Earnhardt Jr. struggled all season and finished a disappointing 25th.
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Prediction:Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya should win a few races each and both could make the Chase. The jury is still out though on Aric Almirola. Actual: He never won a race, but Montoya did make the Chase and was a factor until late; we missed on Truex though. The Bass Pro Shops team only had one top five finish all season and they finished way down in 23rd in the standings. Almirola did struggle, and ended up only running eight races before the sponsorship money dried up.
Team Red Bull Prediction:Expect Scott Speed to struggle in his rookie season, and a top 30 in points would be a victory. Brian Vickers will finish in the top 15 in points, but the Chase will still be out of reach for this team. Actual: Speed did indeed struggle, and did not qualify for three races. He ended up 35th in driver standings and 36th in owner standings. He will be on the outside looking in for 2010. Vickers did a little better then we expected, with one win and a Chase appearance.
Joe Gibbs Racing Prediction:Denny Hamlin will make the Chase, but isn’t good enough to really contend yet. Kyle Busch will continue being a force and will contend for the Cup. In his rookie season Joey Logano will finish top 25 in the points and show flashes of brilliance. Actual: We were right about Hamlin and Logano, but we missed the call on Busch’s season. Hamlin finished fifth in the final standings, but too many DNFs in the Chase killed his chances at the Cup. Logano won at Loudon and finished 20th in the standings. Busch won four races, but struggled for much of the season and missed the Chase.
Richard Childress Racing Prediction: Jeff Burton will win 1-3 races and make the Chase, but will not be a contender. Clint Bowyer will win 3-5 races and challenge for the Cup. Casey Mears will finish top 20 in points at best. Kevin Harvick will win a couple races, make the Chase, and have an outside shot at the Cup. Actual: RCR was probably our biggest missed prediction. Bowyer, Burton, Harvick and Mears finished 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st respectively. The whole organization struggled all season and didn’t win a single race.
Stewart-Haas Racing Prediction: Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman will finish top 20 in points, we might see a couple wins between the two teams, but a Chase appearance and title contention are a few years away. Actual:SHR was definitely a pleasant surprise this season. Stewart won four races and finished sixth in the standings. He led the points going into the Chase, but lost his momentum and slipped down the stretch. Newman never found victory lane, but did make the Chase on his consistency and finished ninth.
Penske Racing Prediction: The whole organization will struggle with the exception of maybe Kurt Busch. Actual: Kurt Busch won two races and finished fourth in the Chase. Sam Hornish showed a little promise, but could only manage a 28th place points finish. David Stremme continued his history of lackluster performance and finished 32nd in the standings.
Gillett Evernham Motorsports/Richard Petty Motorsports Prediction: The team won’t improve much over 2008, Kahne and Allmendinger are their greatest hopes. Actual:Kahne won two races and did make the Chase, finishing 10th, but that was the bulk of their success. Allmendinger, Reed Sorenson, and Elliott Sadler all failed to finish inside the top 20 in points.
Roush Fenway Racing Prediction: Carl Edwards will be dominant and could be the leading contender for the championship. Matt Kenseth will win 1-2 races and make the Chase. Greg Biffle will also win a race or two and make the Chase, but will not be a serious contender for the title. David Ragan and Jamie McMurray should improve over 2008 but neither will contend or make the Chase. Actual: Edwards was a miss, as he failed to win a race and was never really a factor in the Chase. Kenseth did win two races, but just missed making the Chase. Biffle also went winless, but did make the Chase, finishing seventh. Ragan and McMurray had disappointing seasons, but McMurray did find victory lane at Talladega.
Yates Racing Prediction: Travis Kvapil and Paul Menard will continue to struggle. Bobby Labonte could surprise, but past history doesn’t bode well for him. Actual: Kvapil ended up only running the first five races before his team was shut down due to lack of funding. Menard didn’t earn a top five or top ten all season and finished 31st in the points. Labonte did manage one top five finish, but ended up 30th in the driver standings and was replaced in the #96 late in the season by Erik Darnell.
Michael Waltrip Racing Prediction: David Reutimann should continue to improve, but expect Michael Waltrip to hang up his driving gloves after 2009. Actual: Reutimann did indeed improve in 2009, and collected a win, five top five, and ten top ten finishes. His team nearly made the Chase, but they faded late in the season and finished 16th in the standings. Waltrip’s struggles continued and a 33rd place points finish will see him run only a part time schedule in 2010.
Robby Gordon Motorsports Prediction: Expect more of the same from Robby Gordon, a good finish here and there is the best he’ll do. Actual: Gordon struggled most of the season, and only mustered a 34th place points finish. He did finish third in the rain shortened Coke 600 though.
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!