11:13 PM
JD
This year the available driver pool is packed with 2 drivers from top tier teams, Kurt Busch from Penske and David Ragan from Roush Fenway, and 2 drivers from mid tier teams, Brian Vickers from Red Bull and David Reutimann from Michael Waltrip Racing. While each of these drivers carry there own issues, they all have won at the highest level of stock car racing and one of them is a former Sprint Cup Champion.
Not only has their been a heavy load of drivers coming on the "market" this fall, there are also a couple of winning crew chiefs available. After winning 5 of 10 Chase races and the 2011 Spring Cup Championship, Darian Grubb apparently was not quite achieving the level of success Tony Stewart was looking for, so he is now looking for a job. Also, after an up and down year, mostly down, Mike Ford, crew chief for Denny Hamlin, is now out of his seat at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Although a couple of the above have just exited their positions, two of them are rumored to be close to nailing down their next gig. David Ragan been supposedly putting on a full court press to land in the seat of the #22 Penske Racing Dodge vacated by Kurt Busch. Ragan had been under contract with Roush Fenway Racing through 2012, even though his #6 Ford was without sponsorship next season and was unlikely to run a full schedule. Ragan has now been released from his contract by RFR, but nothing concrete has been commented on by Penske Racing.
Darian Grubb, defending crew chief champion, has been said to be the leading candidate for the crew chief slot for the #11 FedEx Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Although he has less career wins than former crew chief Mike Ford, Grubb is coming off of his championship run with Tony Stewart, so if he and Hamlin can get up to speed quickly, they could be contenders come Chase time in 2012.
One unanswered question as of yet is, with three winning drivers left available, will any top tiered teams or mid tier teams add a car to their stable? It is not altogether likely that Vickers, Reutimann, or even Busch in his current state, could land a sponsor big enough to start a new car with a top team like JGR, RFR, Stewart Haas or RCR, but Vickers and especially Busch could definitely land a sponsor large enough for a car with Richard Petty Racing who had flirted with adding a car earlier in the year when all of the Danica craze was going on. Either way, there will be some new looking cars on the track come January at the Daytona test prior to speedweeks.
Posted in: Brian Vickers,Danica Patrick,David Ragan,David Reutimann,Daytona,Denny Hamlin,Jack Roush,Joe Gibbs,Kurt Busch,Nascar,Nascar Blog,Richard Petty,Roger Penske
2 comments:
I don't see Kurt signing with any Ford team. Jack Roush appears to have his hands in all things Ford as far as NASCAR is concerned, and I think he'll put the brakes on any Ford team that wants to hire Kurt.
I see him going somewhere like Germain or Finch. I know that Finch has the same arrangement with Hendrick that Stewart/Haas does, so that ride, while not top tier, would be better than average equipment.
Not saying that signing Kurt would bring about the same kind of change that Stewart brought to Haas, but at least, Kurt is a driver CAPABLE of winning races.
Would love to see Ruett get a year with Penske & see what he could do (classy MWR) the franchise indeed...Ragons had his time with top level equipment..I'd love to see Crash (vickers) just out of Nascar he has no respect for the damage he causes (regular basis) & admits no fault ever (we have eyes & see who did what) the same guy who took out his teamate at Dega . No thanks buddy Nascar dosn't need you.. & kurt ...well a sponsors got to be desperate to do this ...Earner
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