The Frontstretch Newsletter: November 19th, 2009
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THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
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The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
November 19th, 2009
Volume III, Edition CCXXIV
DON'T FORGET THE FRONTSTRETCH LIVE BLOG THIS SUNDAY!
Jimmie Johnson's victory Sunday at Phoenix has given him a 108-point lead going into the season-ending Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, all but securing him a fourth straight title. But while there may not be much of a race for the championship this weekend, that doesn't mean the action will stop on a 1.5-mile oval whose graduated banking often makes for fantastic finishes.
Can't get to a television to watch the race? Or are you too busy watching the NFL to switch over? Well, join your favorite Frontstretch writers instead for commentary, opinions, polls, and all kinds of other inside information you just can't get anywhere else as you follow the race LIVE from your computer. The action starts at 2:45 PM EST on Sunday, so feel free to drop on by. And remember, viewer posts are always welcome, so don't be shy -- participate!
Today's Top News
by Phil Allaway
Fuel Injection could be in NASCAR by 2011
The Orlando Sentinel's NASCAR Nuts and Bolts Blog is reporting that carburetors will be discontinued on Sprint Cup engines at the end of the 2010 season in favor of some type of fuel injection. However, at this time, it is unclear which type of fuel injection would be adopted.
In addition, there is the ever-present problem of how to curtail speeds at Daytona and Talladega. Fuel-injected engines cannot be slowed down via restrictor plates in the same way that a carbureted engine can. Add in the fact that fuel injection often increases horsepower in an engine, and it just drives the problem home even more.
Such a move by NASCAR would also make the series more attractive to new manufacturers in the face of dwindling support.
It's Official: Jamie McMurray to the No. 1 in 2010
This will be a quasi-return for McMurray, who drove the first three full seasons of his Cup career (and part of a fourth) for Ganassi prior to the merger with DEI. During that time, McMurray racked up three top 15 finishes in the points (11th in 2004 being the best of them, although had there been no Chase, he would have been sixth).
Jamie is happy to able to go back to Ganassi and run in high-caliber equipment.
"I am really excited about this opportunity with Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, as I think Juan Pablo and Martin have shown this season their equipment is as good as anyone’s in the garage," McMurray said. "I am really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of their cars and once again competing for a NASCAR championship. It will also be fun to work with some of the people that I worked with when I was there a few years ago."
Car owner Chip Ganassi is happy to have McMurray back in the fold.
"To be able to sign a veteran driver with the talent and experience of Jamie was important to us. We know Jamie and understand what makes him tick as a driver," Ganassi said. "We had a lot of success with Jamie in the early part of his career, and are looking for more of the same."
Going by this year's point standings, bringing in McMurray to replace Truex is actually a very slight upgrade for EGR. As of Wednesday, McMurray is 22nd in points, with the victory at Talladega to go along with five top 10 finishes. Truex is 130 points behind McMurray in 23rd, with one top 5 finish (the fifth on Sunday in Phoenix) and five top 10s.
53 Entered For Nationwide Series Race at Homestead
The Nationwide Series has a large contingent of teams attempting to qualify for the season-ending Ford 300 this weekend. A solid entry of 53 has been filed for this week.
In addition to the 30 teams that are locked into the race, there are 23 teams who will fight for the remaining ten spots. Highlights amongst the 53 total entries include:
No. 1 - Mike Bliss: Yes, Bliss is back in the Miccosukee Gaming Chevrolet for Phoenix Racing for this last race. Bliss ran for the team up to Iowa before being unceremoniously fired. Bliss claims that he has "unfinished business" in the No. 1.
No. 5 - Kelly Bires: As we reported yesterday, Bires will make his JR Motorsports debut in a Ragu-sponsored Chevrolet as a training exercise for the 2010 season.
No. 22 - Parker Kligerman: Kligerman makes his second career Nationwide attempt in a second Penske Championship Racing Dodge, sponsored by Penske Truck Rental. Look for this team to run well, although Kligerman has never raced in Homestead.
No. 39 - Eddie MacDonald: The Camping World East Series driver makes his second attempt at the Nationwide Series. Hopefully, this works out better than his debut at Memphis, when he didn't make it ten laps before wrecking.
No. 72 - Benny Gordon: The long time ProCup Series veteran is still trying to put together a sponsorship deal for next season with VSI Racing. According to Gordon's Twitter feed, the team still needs one or two more sponsors for 2010.
Also of note, the No. 44 Chevrolet for SK Motorsports and the No. 58 Cavi Clothing Chevrolet for Xxxtreme Motorsports (recently driven by Josh Wise) do not have drivers listed on the entry list as of Wednesday night.
Editor's Note: What's Vexing Vito will not run this week. In its place, we have our weekly Thursday column from Tommy Thompson, usually on the website entitled "Thompson In Turn 5." Be sure to check Tommy out on the web during the 2010 Sprint Cup Season for Frontstretch!
Today's Featured Commentary
It appears, barring an eleventh hour arrival of a White Knight flush with millions of dollars in sponsorship, Robby Gordon’s five-year battle to be a competitive full-time Sprint Cup owner / driver is about to come to an end. Said Gordon, who competed for the last time with support from longtime sponsor Jim Beam at Phoenix last Sunday: “I don’t know what we’re going to do [in 2010]. We’re going to work hard to sell races through March of next year. After that, I’m looking at a lot of weekends off.”
Sponsorship woes have plagued the 40-year old California native since he first began campaigning in his own No. 7 Robby Gordon Motorsports (RGM) entry as a single-car team in 2005. However, the desertion of Jim Beam, who provided primary sponsorship for 14 points races and the All-Star event this season, apparently has the independent-minded Gordon in desperation mode to replace that funding for 2010. Without it, he's got enough sponsorship for only eight races, leaving him sitting on the sidelines for the other 28.
Already, on three occasions this season, Gordon has found himself in the difficult position of having to participate on race day with no primary sponsorship. It's a scenario that obviously would be a huge financial blow for any team, but even more so for a one-car operation. That number would have actually increased to four following this weekend had MAPEI and Menards not agreed this week to co-sponsor Gordon at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Considering the financial state of affairs that have seen numerous underfunded teams close their doors or reduce their schedule, as well as multi-car teams that have downsized or put off expansion, perhaps Robby Gordon’s demise was inevitable. There is no doubt that these are tough times for a large number of team owners, as referenced by the handful of teams that come to the track every week only to start and park. However, considering that Gordon had survived against overwhelming odds for so long, his recent announcement that he only had funding secured for eight races next season still came as somewhat of a surprise.
“No one is spending money,” lamented Gordon. “Everybody is cutting the fat out of everything. To be in racing, you have to be a pretty big company.”
That's surprising to hear from Gordon, because one thing is for sure; if there's a sponsor to be found, his group is as energetic as anyone at finding them. This year more than any other, RGM's resourcefulness has landed him one-race deals at a time when they seem a virtual impossibility for everyone else. The multi-talented driver has convinced a variety of companies, including SPOT, Interstate Batteries, Quaker State Oil, Richmond Water Heaters, Pittsburgh Paints, Johns Manville, Moen, Hard Rock Las Vegas, Polaris, Camping World, Freightliner, and Schrock Cabinetry to sign on board -- and did so despite just one top 5 finish and an on-track record that has him clinging to a distant 34th in owner points.
In addition, Mapei has provided Gordon with primary sponsorship support in four races during the 2009 season, meaning that no less than sixteen separate companies have provided primary funding for the No. 7 Toyota. That number in itself demonstrates not just how difficult it is to secure a corporate sponsor for the long-term, but just how determined Gordon and his organization have been to run the full Sprint Cup Series schedule. One can only guess at how many "no’s" were given for every company that agreed to step up and help the team – if only for one race.
Unfortunately, the odds of Gordon succeeding in the Sprint Cup Series as a competitive full-time owner / driver were never good. Ever since Alan Kulwicki's Cup championship in 1992, single-car owner/drivers have been increasingly put in an underdog position from which even a miracle won't be enough to save them. But, like Kulwicki, Gordon refused to give up under any circumstances. And after failing to qualify for seven of his first thirty-six events in 2005, Gordon has participated in every race since. It had begun to look like he truly would be a survivor.
Unfortunately, though Gordon has overcome the top-35 rule that has prevented other startup teams from qualifying for races on a regular basis, his race results have progressed little over the past five years. In his inaugural year as an independent in 2005, Gordon finished 37th in points. Two years later, he finished 26th in the final standings – the highest he has been able to achieve operating as a "lone wolf." Today, Robby Gordon sits 34th, claiming a career-low one top 10 finish as a car owner. In short, Gordon has survived...but just barely.
Throughout the last five years, Gordon has made numerous manufacturer, engine builder, and crew chief changes to jumpstart the performance of his team -- all to no avail. In my opinion, he has done almost everything conceivable, short of merging his team with another operation and perhaps finding a degree of security in numbers by partnering with another small team. And even that almost came to fruition, with Gordon nearly merging into Evernham Motorsports a few years back before the deal ultimately fell through.
So while Gordon is saddened over the current state of his team, he should also hold his head up with pride -- for few ever expected Gordon to last as long as he has. And certainly from 2005 until the present, the sport has only continued to become more and more difficult for a small team, let alone a one-car, owner / driver operation to compete. It is hard to imagine anyone else doing it in the future on that scale with any better results than Gordon has achieved.
Of course, it is not news to anyone that follows the sport that a driver and owner must either be part of a multi-team organization or be fully affiliated with one (like Tony Stewart at "Stewart-Haas") to have any hopes of being anything more than an "also-ran." But Gordon never fully bought into that notion, and seemed truly convinced that given time and sponsorship dollars, his small group could run with the best of them. Perhaps, he could have... but it seems likely that we’ll never know.
Still, his on-track presence on the track has for years kept alive an important concept -- the thought that maybe, just maybe, he would pull one off for the little guy. Gordon was always a threat at the road courses, and who knows, with a little luck, maybe he would get in the right line at the right time and get pushed to a victory at Daytona or Talladega.
But considering the current economic climate, those possibilities are looking like they'll soon disappear. And when Gordon finally is absent from a race day lineup next year, it will signal the end of owner / driver teams running full-time in NASCAR. It is doubtful that anyone else, observing Gordon’s struggles over the past five years, will put their money and efforts into such a risky proposition. In the grand scheme of the sport, it probably is not a big deal to most fans who have become accustomed to dominating multi-team organizations -- but it's still a little sad for those that remember a Cup Series where independent owner / drivers were the norm and not the exception.
Yet Robby Gordon, with his varied interests in motorsports, will undoubtedly be just fine, turning his attention to his love of both off-road racing and open-wheel. And as he moves on with his life, the Sprint Cup Series will continue without skipping a beat.
The only difference is that now everyone knows that the day of the full-time, independent owner / driver has officially passed for good.
And... that’s my view from Turn 5.
Tommy Thompson is a Senior Writer at frontstretch.com. He can be reached at thomasmt...@msn.com.
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TODAY ON THE FRONTSTRETCH:
by Bryan Davis Keith
Matt McLaughlin Mouths Off: The Lights Of Miami
by Matt McLaughlin
NASCAR Scheduled To Throw Eight Cautions At Homestead
by Jeff Meyer
Fanning The Flames: Closing The Inbox On The 2009 Season
by Matt Taliaferro
Fantasy Insider: How To Hit A Home Run At Homestead And Win It All
by Bryan Davis Keith and Mike Neff
Do you want the chance to win a free Frontstretch T-Shirt, and are you really good at talking about NASCAR? Well, we have the perfect opportunity for you. Our staff will be giving away a FREE T-Shirt to the reader who makes the best post in our Frontstretch Forum between now and the end of the season. So, what makes a good post? It's pretty hard to impress us, but here are some things we are looking for:
Does your post spark passionate reactions from other readers? Are you commenting on meaningful NASCAR-related events? Do your posts have substance? In other words, "Dale Jr. is the best driver ever" or "Danica Patrick is hot" will not cut it.
So go to the Frontstretch Forums, post early, post often, and post well! We'll announce the winner following the final race of the season at Homestead.
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:
Q: We're going to make this one quite a bit easier than yesterday's question. In the 2001 Pennzoil 400, Bill Elliott picked up his first Winston Cup victory since the 1994 Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (back in 1994, Elliott was driving the No. 11 Budweiser Ford for Junior Johnson). Who did he overtake to claim the victory?
Check back Friday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Wednesday's Answer:
Q: On Tuesday, we asked a question about the No. 88 team that Kevin Lepage took to Victory Lane at Homestead in 1996. On Wednesday, we got a bit more obscure. During that same race weekend in 1996, there were two incredibly fiery crashes, one during practice, and the other during the so-called "Hooligan race" on Saturday. Which two drivers were involved in these wrecks?
A: Rookies Jimmy Foster and Mike Laughlin, Jr. both had fiery crashes into the wall at Homestead in November, 1996. The Foster crash occurred in practice, and unfortunately, there is no footage of the incident. The Laughlin crash occurred during the Last Chance, "Hooligan," or "Consi" race Saturday afternoon. Footage of the crash is shown in this crash complimation entitled "NASCAR Rubbin' and Racin' Part 8" at the 2:31 mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1l2FGzjWDE.
Frontstretch Trivia Guarantee: If we mess up, you get the shirt off our backs! If we've provided an incorrect answer to the Frontstretch Trivia question, be the first to email the corrected trivia answer to tri...@frontstretch.com and we'll send you a Frontstretch T-Shirt ... FREE!
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Coming tomorrow in the Frontstretch Newsletter:
-- Top News by Kurt Smith
-- In Case You Missed It by Kurt Smith
-- Links to your favorite Frontstretch articles, Phil and Mike's Spoiler Picks, the "mystery" continues, and more!
Tomorrow on the Frontstretch:
Frontstretch Driver Diary: Marcos Ambrose as told to Toni Montgomery
Marcos is back for his second diary edition, where he gives Toni a wrapup of his 2009 season and looks ahead to a "summer" off down in Australia...
Driven To The Past by John Potts
Our famous former racing vet gives us another look back down Memory Lane.
Holding A Pretty Wheel by Amy Henderson
Pointed commentary from one of our site's veteran writers. This week, Amy talks about how the outcomes of races today appear to be far more predictable than they were even just a few years ago. Why? You'll have to read to find out ... but it's not the obvious answers you may be thinking.
Happy Hour by Kurt Smith
While fans have been frustrated about the 2009 season, Kurt claims 2010 has the potential to offer significant improvement -- whether we want to believe it right now or not.
Tearing Apart The Trucks by Beth Lunkenheimer
Beth's back with another round of news and commentary for the Truck Series, prepping for Friday night's season ending Ford 200 at Homestead-Miami Speeedway.
Nuts For Nationwide by Bryan Davis Keith
Bryan's
back with another round of news and commentary for the Nationwide Series, wrapping up his season of coverage in time for Kyle Busch's championship-clinching race at Homestead Saturday afternoon.
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