Image details: UAW-Ford 500 served by picapp.com

In the face of all of the scrutiny that has overcome NASCAR’s recent development, the Car of Tomorrow, there have also been quite a few tracks that have seen improved racing this year, largely attributed to the new car. Based on what we’ve seen this season and in the limited number of COT races in 2007, here are the tracks that have seen the most improvement:

5. Phoenix International Raceway – Though the racing was never terrible at Phoenix, it wasn’t great, either. The Subway Fresh Fit 500, however, ranks amongst my favorite races of the first half of the season, and that’s even with the outcome being determined by fuel mileage (which is something I can easily get tired of).

4. Infineon Raceway – While road course racing has never been my favorite, I always had a particularly bad perception of Infineon out in Sonoma, CA. While I still didn’t think the Toyota Save/Mart 350 in June was great by any means, I did think that the track had found significant improvement from where it was in years past.

3. New Hampshire Motor Speedway – While the Car of Tomorrow setup doesn’t seem to agree with the 1.5 mile “cookie cutter” tracks thus far, it seems to have done wonders for the action at the 1.0 speedway in Loudon, NH. While I would typically dread the very thought of NASCAR’s visit to New Hampshire, I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased with the action in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 just a couple of weeks ago.

2. Daytona International Speedway – Despite it being the most hyped and celebrated of all tracks on the Sprint Cup schedule, more often than not, the hype seemed to out perform that actual races themselves. That no longer seems to be the case, however, as both the Daytona 500 and the Coke Zero 400 rank amongst the best and most exciting races through the first half of 2008.

1. Talladega Superspeedway – There was quite a bit of uncertainty when the teams unloaded the COT at Talladega for the first time earlier this Spring, but in the end, the Aaron’s 499 resembled something along the lines of an actual race instead of just the crapshoot that it normally is (or was).

Post from: EveryJoe

List of the Week: 5 Tracks Improved by the COT

Image details: Daytona 500 served by picapp.com

This week, NASCAR returns to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400, one of the biggest races of the year on the Sprint Cup schedule. With Daytona being one of NASCAR’s two restrictor plate courses, the track has fallen under quite a bit of scrutiny over the years. While it’s still loved by many, there are still those that feel as though things tend to get a bit overhyped whenever the series heads down to Florida. But, whether you love it or you hate it, one thing cannot be denied, and that is that the 50th running of the Daytona 500 held here this past February was one that brought plenty of excitement. In fact, some believe that race was actually one of the Car of Tomorrow’s shining moments to date.

Recent Winners:
2008 – Ryan Newman
2007 – Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick
2006 – Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson
2005 – Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon

Recent Pole Winners:
2008 – Jimmie Johnson
2007 – “Cancelled Qualifying”, David Gilliland
2006 – Boris Said, Jeff Burton
2005 – Tony Stewart, Dale Jarrett

the Usual Suspects:
Despite the fact that he hasn’t won a Cup race all season long and that he’s been under the microscope this season in regards to his contract situation, Tony Stewart remains one of the favorites to win this Saturday. Along with boasting the highest driver rating over the last 7 races at the track, Tony has also won this race twice before (’05 & ‘06), and also holds the track record for most laps led in a 400-mile race when he led 151 circuits back in 2005. Additionally, Smoke leads all active drivers in the series with wins between June through August since 2003 with 12 of them to his credit. He also led the most laps at this year’s 500, only to lose the lead on the final lap of the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is certainly considered the fan favorite to win the race this weekend, and rightfully so. Dale owns two Cup victories at Daytona himself, and has recorded 10 top-ten finishes over 17 starts. He ran very well during the Daytona 500 in February and at times appeared as though he might grab a victory in his very first start with Hendrick Motorsports, but eventually faded away near the end. Now that he’s finally broken his winless streak by taking the checkered flag at Michigan, perhaps the no. 88 team’s been able to relieve themselves of enough pressure to regain Jr’s status as the master of restrictor plate racing.

Both Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have seen their share of dominant days at Daytona. Gordon leads all active drivers with 6 wins here, and Johnson had a stretch of five consecutive Daytona races with a finish of 6th or better, which also included a win at the 2006 Daytona 500. Since that win, however, Johnson has recorded only one top-ten finish in the four races since, and he finished 27th here in February. Gordon’s last Daytona victory came at the 500 the year before.

Amongst the other favorites to win this weekend is Kevin Harvick, winner of the 2007 Daytona 500. Harvick has struggled at the track since then, finishing 34th last July and 14th earlier this year. He’s also had his struggles over the last few weeks of the season, but also known as one of the best night racers in the series, a return to Daytona could be just what the doctor ordered … Kyle Busch’s over all numbers at Daytona seem to be about middle of the road, but you can pretty much chalk that up to a few bad runs earlier on in his career. He’s finished inside the top-five in 3 of the last 4 trips to Daytona, to include a pair of runner-up finishes, and he finally picked up his first restrictor plate win earlier this year at Talladega … Kurt Busch may have gotten the monkey off his back with his win last weekend at New Hampshire, and it could’ve come at just the right time. With the number 2 time finding themselves in a much deeper hole than they could’ve ever expected to have to climb out of this late in the season, there might not be a track they’d rather visit more than Daytona. He has still yet to add a Daytona victory to his championship resume’, but he’s always considered a favorite here with 7 top-five finishes over 15 races. He has finished as the runner-up here on three occassions.

the Unusual Suspects:
When you start to think about sleeper picks at Daytona, probably the first name that jumps out to you is the guy that beat Kyle Busch to the line in this race last year, Jamie McMurray. The 2007 victory was only Jamie’s second top-five finish at the track in his career, but don’t let the numbers fool you. McMurray’s been a solid performer here ever since he started running full-time in the Cup Series, but as has been the case so many times throughout his career, he has been the unfortunate victim of bad luck more often than not.

Elliott Sadler has run well here at times, especially as of late. He has finished 6th in three of the last four Daytona races, and also scored a pair of top-five’s here back in 2001 … Brian Vickers has had a great run for his Red Bull Racing team over the past couple of months, and Vickers is especially known for his restrictor plate prowess. Though he typically runs stronger at Talladega, he does have a pair of top-ten’s at Daytona, and finished 12th here in February … Robby Gordon typically isn’t associated with many tracks other than road course races, but you may be surprised to learn that he is currently working on a string of five consecutive top-15 finishes at Daytona.

the Unusual Slackers:
It’s not very often that folks will make it a point to drop Denny Hamlin from there fantasy rosters for an upcoming race, but a trip to Daytona could call for such action. Not only has Denny failed to record a single top-15 finish in his five trips to Daytona, but his average finish of 27.0 actually matches that of JJ Yeley … Carl Edwards has been one of the top performers of the season, and is heavily considered to be amongst the true championship contenders this year. That does not mean, however, that he’s necessarily solid at every track on the schedule. Carl has only one top-ten finish in 7 Daytona races, which was a 4th place run here last July. He was unable to use that for any kind of momentum, however, as he then finished 19th here in February … Carl’s teammate, Matt Kenseth, hasn’t had much better luck taming Daytona, either. With only one top-five to his credit and an average finish here of 22.9 over 17 races, Daytona ranks amongst Matt’s worst tracks … Martin Truex Jr. is in dire need of a good run if he wants to return to the Chase for the Cup field this year, but if you ask him, Daytona’s not the best place to be given the current situation. Martin’s 13th place run here last July ranks as his best finish over six races at Daytona.

Best Driver Ratings (from racingone.com):
1. Tony Stewart – 108.1
2. Ryan Newman – 98.6
3. Jimmie Johnson – 95.5
4. Kyle Busch - 95.3
5. Kurt Busch – 93.0

Best Average Finishes (from racingone.com):
1. Clint Bowyer – 13.0
2. Jimmie Johnson – 13.2
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 13.8
4. Sam Hornish Jr. – 15.0
5. David Gilliland – 15.7 

Daytona Facts:
- A Cup race at Daytona has gone without any lead changes on two different occassions, the last of which came back in 1963.
- The race has gone caution-free 12 times, most recently the Daytona 500 in 1971.
- The most drivers to ever finish on the lead lap at Daytona is 33. Eight races have seen only one driver finish on the lead lap, most recently in 1976.
- In 122 Cup Series races at Daytona, only 10 times has the winner come from outside of a top-15 starting position. 55% of the races have been won from the top-five, and 23 winners have started from the pole.
- Only four drivers have ever won both the Daytona 500 and the July race at Daytona in the same year: Fireball Roberts, Cale Yarbrough, LeRoy Yarbrough, and most recently, Bobby Allison in 1982. Ryan Newman won the Daytona 500 this year, giving Penske Racing their first-ever restrictor plate victory. 

Storylines for the Weekend:
Hendrick Motorsports has recently announced the release of Casey Mears from the no. 5 car next season. They’re expected to make an announcement on Friday in regards to whom will fill the seat in 2009, and heavy speculation at this point is that the announcement will involve the legendary Mark Martin … Though he is not on this weekend’s driver entry list, DEI has named the young Aric Almirola as the full-time driver of their no. 8 car in ‘09 … In a surprise move, Chip Ganassi Racing announced earlier in the week that they would be forced to shut down operations on their no. 40 car, which until then had been driven by 2007 Indy 500 winner, Dario Franchitti, due to a lack of sponsorship opportunities … This weekend’s Cup entry list includes Boris Said (making his 2nd start of the season) and Sterling Marlin (making his 6th start). Marlin leads all drivers on the entry list with 589 laps led at Daytona – 57 more laps than Tony Stewart, and 78 more than Jeff Gordon … Kerry Earnhardt will run the no. 8 entry in the Nationwide Series this weekend, marking his first official start in a DEI car in a NASCAR event.

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner – Tony Stewart
2nd Place – Jimmie Johnson
3rd Place – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
4th Place – Kurt Busch
5th Place – Kyle Busch
6th Place – Greg Biffle

Lock of the Week – Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Sleeper Pick - Brian Vickers
Steer Clear of – Martin Truex Jr.

Video – Jamie McMurray wins the 2007 Pepsi 400

Post from: EveryJoe

Race Preview for the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona

But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.

That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.

Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.

Post from: EveryJoe

NASCAR Rivals: Kevin Harvick vs. Tony Stewart

We all know that Joe Gibbs Racing has established themselves as the powerhouse of the field at this point in time. We know that Roush-Fenway Racing has come a long way in figuring out this new car and that Hendrick Motorsports seems to have lost the edge that they had on everyone else last year. We’ve analyzed potential contractual signings every which way we could, and still found ourselves locked in a guessing game. Been there, done that, but perhaps one of the stories that we haven’t talked nearly enough about are two teams that are holding out hope of getting a driver into contention for the Chase for the Cup for the first time in their team’s history, and another that hasn’t fielded a Chase contender since 2004.

Once considered one of the top organizations in NASCAR, Yates Racing last visited Victory Lane back in the Fall of 2005 when Dale Jarrett drove the no. 88 car to a win at Talladega and the last time they were able to land a driver inside the top-12 in points was with Elliott Sadler back in ‘04. Since those days, the team has gone through a horrendous rebuilding stage and continue to struggle week in and week out to find primary sponsorship of their cars driven by Travis Kvapil and David Gilliland. Both are highly regarded as “underdogs” every Sunday when the series hits the track, and both have failed to land a top-five finish all season long. Still, they’ve continued to push forward, and have managed to turn a few heads along the way, particularly Kvapil. Coming into the season as a driver that nobody really paid much attention to, Travis admittedly got off to a rather slow start. But, something seems to have clicked within this team ever since a solid run at Phoenix turned sour and he finished 22nd. After that race, Kvapil sat 24th in points, but four finishes of 16th or better in the last six races – highlighted with a 6th place run at Talladega and an 8th place run in Darlington – have now moved Travis up six spots in the standings. He’s now 18th in points and trails 12th place, Tony Stewart, by only 150 points.

Red Bull Racing has been the team that quite a few people have been talking about as of late. With Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger behind the wheel for the organization, the team managed to qualify for only 40 races in a combined 72 attempts in their inaugural season in 2007. Coming into the season with both cars outside of the top-35 in points and forced to qualify on time, Allmendinger again missed out on the first three events of ‘08 before being replaced temporarily by veteran driver, Mike Skinner. Despite failing to finish inside of the top-25 in any of the five races that Skinner filled in, the move appears to have paid dividends. AJ has been able to take what he’s learned from Skinner and put it to good use on the track, first winning the All-Star Showdown at Lowe’s to make the cut for the All-Star event itself, and then scoring a career best 12th place finish last week at Pocono. Still, the focus of the media on this team has been placed with Brian Vickers, who appears to be on the verge of scoring the second Cup victory of his career. After a disappointing 2007 that brought him only 1 top-five and 5 top-ten’s, Vickers has been impressive on several occassions this year, though it may not always show up in the results column. He’s been strong on all of the superspeedways, but the team really started to turn heads when they established themselves as one of the dominant cars in the Coca Cola 600 before an equipment failure ended their day. Since then he’s bounced back with a 13th place effort at Dover and finished 2nd last week at Pocono. Brian has now moved up to 17th place overall and trails 12th by a mere 112 points.

Rounding out the list of underdogs making a charge towards the Chase is non-other than Petty Enterprises. Despite the fact that this team has more wins than any other organization in the history of the sport and a slieu of championships from when “the King” himself, Richard Petty, drove the car, the company hasn’t celebrated a win since 1999 when John Andretti won at Martinsville, and the closest they’ve come to a bid for the Chase was an 18th place finish in the standings last year from Bobby LaBonte. Now, nobody’s really sure who will drive the no. 45 car next year as Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee, and Terry LaBonte have all failed to do much with the ride, but Bobby continues to press forward. Though he’s failed to score a top-ten all season long, he does have seven top-15’s and has gone the entire year without a DNF, something that has hindered the team in recent years. Additionally, he’s got six finishes of 18th or better in the last eight races, which started with a 12th place run at Phoenix, and LaBonte now resides in 19th in the standings, trailing his former Gibbs teammate in 12th by 159 points.

As many of the drivers in the top-12 continue to experience their share of misfortunes as they bounce back and forth between the bubble spots, this could be a prime opportunity for one of these teams to capitalize. But, with the recent emergance of guys like David Ragan, the resurgance of Matt Kenseth, and other perrenial Chase hopefuls such as Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr. standing between them as well, the guys currently in the top-12 may not be all they’ll have to contend with.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Which driver in these 3 organizations will be the first to score their first / next win?
2. Are consistent top-15 and top-20 runs going to be enough to land a driver in the Chase field?
3. Which of these teams has made the best organizational move(s) in the last 2 years?
4. Will any of these 3 teams get a driver into the 2008 Chase? If so, who?

*Credit photos to Newscom.

Post from: EveryJoe

3 Teams Under the Radar & On the Move

Image details: Aaron’s 499 served by picapp.com

5. “Boogity, Boogity, Boogity!” - It was pretty catchy at first, and then it just became tolerable for awhile. Let’s face it, though, at this point it’s just redundant and played out, and it brings serious question to the vocabulary range of Darrell Waltrip. Let’s find something new, shall we?

4. Retired Drivers Not Retiring – These days, I just don’t know anymore what it means when a driver says they’re retiring, because for a large handful of these guys it really just means that they’re moving to a part-time schedule. Mark Martin had a farewell tour two years in a row due to his highly publicized retirement, though two years later he’s still running a 24-race schedule. Bill Elliott has made 51 starts in the five years he’s been “retired”. And, now, Terry LaBonte and Sterling Marlin appear to be following the same trend as well. What’s going on?

3. Ticket Scalping – I’ve never had a problem with folks standing outside the stadium or the race venue trying to turn a quick buck on the tickets that they no longer need, but it’s become nearly impossible to get tickets for certain races because they’ve all been bought up by companies that will then turn around and sell them on E-Bay. Suddenly you’ve watched the price for tickets go from $85 to $250.

2. Composure During the National Anthem - It’s an issue that doesn’t get addressed nearly as often as it should, and it’s gone overlooked for far too long now. As patriotic as NASCAR is, it’s amazing that some of the drivers and teams can be caught on camera week after week talking and joking during the singing of the National Anthem. It’s also sad that folks such as Delana Harvick still haven’t figured out that they’re supposed to remove their hats during the ceremony.

1. Trash Getting Thrown on the Track – I love this sport, and I defend it nearly everywhere I go, but there are certain times that I find myself truly ashamed to call myself a fan. There’s no room in NASCAR – or, any sport, for that matter – for fans to be throwing trash such as full beer cans out on the track just because they didn’t like the driver that won the race. The most notorious of these incidents was in 2007 when Jeff Gordon won the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, but that wasn’t the only incident. Once is too many times, anyway.

Post from: EveryJoe

List of the Week: Worst Trends in NASCAR

Image details: NASCAR Testing Day 1 served by picapp.com

Dario Franchitti, driver of the no. 40 Target car for Chip Ganassi Racing, returned to the track on Tuesday for the first time since incurring his ankle injury a month ago at Talladega. Dario was on-hand for NASCAR’s test session at Pocono Raceway in preparation for the upcoming Pocono 500 two weeks from now which the husband of movie star, Ashley Judd, plans to participate in.

Since the injury to Franchitti back on April 26th in the Nationwide’s Aaron’s 312, car owner, Chip Ganassi, has used an extended list of contacts to keep the seat of the no. 40 car filled for the interim. Ganassi turned to Penske Racing’s test driver, David Stremme, for the Cup race at Talladega, and then Ken Schrader for Richmond, and then most recently, former Ganassi driver, Sterling Marlin, at Darlington and last weekend at Lowe’s. The team failed to qualify for the Dan Lowry 400 in Richmond, and posted an average finish of just 31.0 in the other three events.

Though Franchitti is considering possibly competing in this weekend’s Nationwide race at Dover, the Heluva Good! 200, Ganassi plans to run Jeremy Mayfield in the car for Sunday’s Cup race. Mayfield has been out of a ride since his release from Haas CNC Racing earlier in the season, and many people feel that he has just about run out of anymore good potential opportunities for the future. After touring with the soldiers in Iraq for 12 days earlier in the month, Mayfield now must concentrate on putting together a solid run this weekend if he hopes to have a shot at landing a solid ride for 2009.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ganassi Slates Mayfield for Dover; Franchitti for Pocono

Image details: Dodge Challenger 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

For the third time in this NASCAR season - or, for the third time in the past month, for that matter – Juan Pablo Montoya, driver of the no. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge Charger, will hear a different voice over the team radio during the race this weekend. After playing a round of Charity golf with Montoya on Monday, by Tuesday afternoon Jimmy Elledge had received the official word from Ganassi Racing that his tenure with the race team was over and that he was being released.

Elledge started the season off as the Crew Chief for the no. 41 team piloted by Reed Sorenson, but the team has been in the danger zone of slipping outside of the top-35 in owners points all season long, so Ganassi decided to swap Crew Chiefs between the two teams, sending Elledge to Montoya’s team, ending the relationship between he and Donnie Wingo, who had served at the helm for JPM ever since Montoya made his break into the NASCAR ranks.

Elledge’s time working with Montoya has lasted the course of only three points races, which included a second place run at Talladega, but nothing noteworthy since then. With Elledge’s departure from the team, Ganassi has now named Brian Pattie as the interim crew chief for the no. 42 team until a permanent replacement is found.

Pattie has been with the organization since 2004 when he served as the Crew Chief for Reed Sorenson in the Nationwide Series. He also worked with Montoya in the Nationwide Series last year during his rookie season, and will now take his first swing at the Cup level beginning with the Coca Cola 600 this upcoming weekend. Montoya recently dropped out of the top-12 in the standings after a dismal run at Richmond, and has now fallen all the way down to 16th. The team will be hoping for an immediate connection between driver and chief, because too much more inter-team turmoil could quickly end Montoya’s bid for his first cut in the Chase for the Sprint Cup field.

Post from: EveryJoe

Third Time’s a Charm for Montoya

10. Busch gets spun by Jeff Burton at the finish line as they race for the win at the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2007.

9. Kyle Busch sets off “the big one” in the 2006 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.

8. Richmond wasn’t the first time that Kyle Busch has been involved in an accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Here they make contact on pit road during the Ford 400 in 2007 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

7. Kyle is involved in another “big one” at Talladega Superspeedway, this time during the 2007 UAW-Ford 500.

6. Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner get into it at the Craftsman Truck Series’ opening event in 2008, the Camping World 300, at Daytona International Speedway.

5. In the closing laps of the Craftsman Truck Series’ Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway, Kyle plows into Johnny Benson as they race for third place.

4. Kyle’s involved in a horrific accident in the 2007 Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway, in which his Nationwide car performs several barrel rolls.

3. Kyle Busch was already quickly approaching notoriety status with the NASCAR fans, but here’s the one that pushed him over the top. Watch again, as Kyle battles Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead in the closing laps of the 2008 Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

2. Kyle gets into his older brother, Kurt, while racing him for the lead at the 2007 All-Star Race. Neither of the brothers appeared to take it personally, and Kurt even makes some witty comments following the race to make light of the situation.

1. Saving the best for last … at the 2006 NASCAR Awards Banquet held in New York City, Kyle Busch was giving his “thank you” speech – and, actually called his girlfriend by the wrong name. You’ll love this!

Post from: EveryJoe

the Big Ten: Best Kyle Busch Wrecks

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 Practice served by picapp.com

Richard Childress Racing has announced that their brand new number 33 team – not scheduled to go full-time until the 2009 season – will be fielded in the running of the Coca Cola 600 two weeks from now at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and that NASCAR veteran driver, Ken Schrader, will attempt to qualify the car for the event.

Schrader was left without a full-time ride when, earlier in the season, BAM Racing announced that they would be taking a sabattical from the sport until the Fall due to sponsorship woes. Since then, Schrader ran the no. 70 Chevrolet for Haas CNC Racing to a 42nd place finish at Talladega, and failed to qualify the no. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing two weeks ago at Richmond.

Schrader has run in four races this year, with a season-best finish of 21st back in March at Las Vegas and currently sits 47th in points. In his 44 career starts at Lowe’s, he has accumulated a win, 6 top-five’s, and 13 top-ten finishes. The most recent top-ten finish in Schrader’s career was a 7th place finish in the Fall of 2006 at Richmond.

One has to wonder if: a) There could be a potential matchup between Schrader and RCR for Childress’ fourth team in 2009, and b) Schrader can piece together some decent runs with solid equipment beneath him.

Post from: EveryJoe

RCR to Get an Early Start on Building #33 Team

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 Qualifying served by picapp.com

Mark Martin is regarded by nearly every driver, fan, and anyone associated with NASCAR as being one of the greatest drivers in the history of our sport, despite not having a Cup Series championship on his resume. He’s won 35 Cup Series points races, has the Nationwide Series record for wins with 48, and has finished 2nd in the Cup Series points standings on four occasions … so, yes, like him or not, I would be inclined to agree that he does indeed rank amongst NASCAR’s all-time elite.

Mark Martin’s status in this sport’s history, however, is not what is in question. Rather, I question his status in racing as it stands today. Following the 2006 season in which Martin finished the year 9th in points, he made a concious decision to part ways with long time car owner and friend, Jack Roush, and simultaneously retire from racing … or, so it seemed. After a long farewell tour that seemed to hit every track on the NASCAR season, in the offseason between ‘06 and ‘07, Mark announced that he would return to the track on a part-time schedule to help the no. 01 team in the DEI camp. This “part-time” schedule, however, included a 24 race tour out of the Cup Series’ 36 races – that’s 2/3rd’s of the complete schedule, and it has since carried over into 2008, despite the fact that he’s abondoned the 01 car and now races Dale Earnhardt Jr’s former car, the no. 8.

At first glance, the typical fan would probably say, “so what, what’s the big deal?”, and rightfully so. But, about the side-effects that Martin’s lingering presence is having on the sport? After NASCAR hit an all-time boom in production of young talents in the late 90’s and earlier in this decade, the manufacturing of standout prospects has been relegated to a minimum these past couple of years, and for a guy that’s presented himself as an ambassador for doing what’s good for the sport, Martin hasn’t been much of a help in that department.

The rise of young David Ragan into the Cup Series ranks was delayed for a year or two with Martin’s uncertainty as to whether or not he would return year after year, but he finally earned that opportunity last year after Martin had finally departed from the no. 6 car, and now it appears to be happening all over again with Aric Almirola.

Almirola fell into a spot with DEI after the purchase of Ginn Racing at the end of the season, and was immediately slotted to share driving duties in the no. 8 Army Chevrolet with Mark. Prior to this season, the 23 year-old Almirola’s professional driving experience had been minimal. He competed in a few truck races in 2005 and 2007, and full-time in 2006, though with very little success. He also raced in 21 Nationwide Series events from ‘06 to ‘07, and was credited with a win in Milwuakee for Joe Gibbs Racing, though Denny Hamlin actually finished that race. The bulk of his racing this scheduled is slated to come in the Sprint Cup Series, racing in only 12 races, while Martin handles the other 24.

Almirola impressed the masses by finishing 8th at Bristol in the Food City 500 in his first Cup Series start of the season, and seventh overall (he raced in 6 events in 2007). Since then, he’s finished 42nd at Martinsville due to engine failures after starting 3rd and running near the top-ten all day, and most recently settled for a 33rd place finish at Talladega.

Meanwhile, Martin has finished in the top-ten in four of his seven races this year, and is currently riding on a streak of three consecutive finishes of 8th or better, including a 3rd place run last weekend at Richmond. This now totals 15 top-ten’s for Martin in only 31 races for Martin since joining DEI, and he has been in contention for a win on several occasions.

So, it’s not that I question whether or not Mark’s still got it. It’s not that I question whether or not turning 50 next January will slow Martin down at all. Heck, I’m not even questioning whether or not Aric Almirola is more suited for a full-time Cup ride these days than Mark Martin. What I do question, though, is should we view this as Mark Martin getting to race 2/3rd’s of the schedule, or as Aric Almirola being forced to miss 2/3rd’s of the schedule?

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Is it still beneficial at this stage for DEI to have Mark Martin run a 24-race schedule, and, thus, eliminate one of their cars from competing for a spot in the Chase?
2. If Mark Martin were to run a full schedule, could he still compete for his first Sprint Cup championship?
3. What rate of success should we expect from Aric Almirola once he does have the opportunity to compete full-time in the Cup Series?
4. Should Mark Martin go into full-time retirement?

For a glimpse of Mark Martin’s entire 2008 Sprint Cup schedule, please visit Bruce Simmons’ post, Mark Martin’s Race Schedule for 2008 – the Full Details, over at Bruce’s NASCAR Bits & Pieces.

Post from: EveryJoe

Mark Martin Continues to Race Against Time