Loose in Turn 3

Welcome, everyone, to the first installment of “Loose in Turn 3”. The thought process behind this segment is to offer you three opinions on three different subjects on a weekly basis, brought to you by three of your favorite NASCAR bloggers. Joining together in the trial stages of this experiment are: Bruce Simmons (Bruce’s NASCAR Bits ‘n’ Pieces), Charlie Turner (Bench Racing with Steve & Charlie), and Tim Zaegel (Do You NASCAR. We encourage you to you please leave your feedback on this forum and let us know what you think about the format, as well as what could be done to make it better. And, while you’re at it, be sure to check out all three bloggers at their sites located in the blogroll on the sidebar!

Has Joe Gibbs Racing positioned themselves as “the team to beat” in NASCAR?

TZ – I’ve never hid the fact that I’m an avid Tony Stewart fan, and I’m constantly pulling for the 20 car to get out front each and every race. I came into the ‘08 season unsure of what to expect from the JGR camp after making the jump to the Toyota brand, and quite honestly, I questioned their ability to compete for the championship in their inaugral series with them. Since then, they’ve come out of the gate dominating the laps led category and winning two of the first six points races. That said, they’ve also had several parts failures between Hamlin’s water pump issue and Kyle Busch breaking gears at Martinsville. I think that the season’s just too long, and the Toyota program isn’t quite where it needs to be just yet to sustain the entire Cup season for any of the Gibbs boys to bring home the big paycheck after Homestead. There’s just too many question marks still lingering in my mind.

Bruce -  Pshaw!  I can’t tell if they’re the team to beat, the team to ignore while Jack rants about irrelevant things or the team everyone is going to wait for in the race to fall apart.  Like you Tim, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I didn’t think a power horse like Gibbs would match up with Toyota without good reason, and visa versa!  Yet I can’t help but wonder about karma.  IE: The bad luck they’ve had up until Denny’s win.  We have a mystery sway bar that they wait until March to make noise about and probably won’t be seeking legal action now (why not?) and then there’s the oil pan cover and their decision to not fight the infraction.  (why not?)  And then they have two of the hottest mouths in Cup with Stewart and Ky Busch.  I assume they doubled their PR department to keep up with both of them.  As far as the paycheck at the end of the season:  They’ll get over this sophomore hump and get back on track.. they only have to get into the top 12 by the 27th race to have a shot at the cup and I think that’s doable for them except Ky Busch who keeps taking chances when he’s already got the race covered!  (Don’t get me started on 28% of the field being able to contend for the Cup!)

Charlie – Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the five best teams in NASCAR and the fact that they won their second race of 2008 at Martinsville confirms that and the fact that Toyota is a factor right now, despite only a bit over a year in cup. But is JGR the team to beat? No. Hendrick Motorsports is still the team to beat. The fact that both Gibbs and Roush have been able to do that a couple times only shows me that the Hendrick haters have some hope this year. But it’s too early to anoint a new “chosen team”. Give it until the second Daytona race at least.

Those highly touted 2008 rookies haven’t done much so far. Who is your favorite after six races to be Rooki of the Year?

Charlie – I picked Sam Hornish Jr. at the start and I am going to stick with my pick. Sam has had some disappointing finishes since Daytona, but so have the rest of the contenders. Look for Hornish to run well at Texas and maybe catch a break from the stock car gods for a change. But keep an eye on Michael McDowell. He has a longer resume than most fans know and he ran the whole ARCA Re/Max Series last year – winning four races and the ROY for that circuit.

TZ – When faced with this question two months ago, there was no doubt in my mind that Dario Franchitti would be a lock for Rookie of the Year in 2008, but from what I’ve seen in the first six races, I’d have to say that he’s turned out to be possibly the least impressive driver in this year’s rookie class. Hornish was impressive at Daytona and hasn’t done much since then, but I think he takes this one completely by default. McDowell might be decent, but at this point, I wouldn’t put my money on anyone in the MWR garage. Regan Smith could potentially be the breakout star in this group, but again, nothing’s safe when you’re talking about DEI. Carpentier’s the guy that I think could compete with Hornish if he had been afforded the luxury of guaranteed starts in the first five races like Sam was, but that wasn’t the case.

Bruce – It is definitely a lack luster bunch.  I think Regan Smith might pull it out in the long run.  Hornish is just blowing his chances as he keeps twisting up sheet metal like he did last year.  McDowell sure had an impressive first start at Martinsville.. even if it did tick off the front runners.

Do You Think Dale Jr will make the Chase this year?

Bruce: Judging from the fact that he’s got 5 top 10’s in 6 races, seems toalways be up at the front at some point, I think the only thing they have to figure out is how to get used to always being up towards the front These days.

Charlie: Yeah, of course I think he’s going to make. I also think that he should make it – since he’s with the best team and has the advantage of a nice first even races. But that doesn’t mean he’s GOING to make the Chase. Things happen. A couple bad finishes and people start talking about you like you can’t drive at all. Ask Casey Mears or Jamie McMurray. Junior has had slumps before – and they weren’t all the fault of his DEI team. Earnhardt runs a different race line than nearly anyone else – always flirting with disaster in the high line, against the wall. When it works, he’s fast. When it doesn’t work – and the new car is squirrelier than the old one – he wrecks. He’ll make the Chase if his tactics work often enough.

TZ: Charlie, I think you bring up an absolutely great point with the fact that Junior runs a completely different line than the rest of the field more often than not, and I agree, once in awhile that can be his huge downfall. Here’s my thing, though … for a few years now, I’ve firmly believed that Dale Junior is one of the most overrated drivers on the track. That’s not to say that he’s a bad driver or that he’ll never be able to win a Cup championship, I’m just saying that he’s not “the Intimidator,” and he never will be. That said, he was able to compete for a spot in the Chase last year even through all of the turmoil and controversy that he put himself in, and he should really have no problem cracking the top twelve with a Hendrick motor under the hood. He’s more than capable to make the Chase, and I believe he’s shown that so far, even if it has only been six races.