The concept would give each team a value other than facilities and equipment, similar to that of franchises (teams) in other sports leagues. Had this program been in place last year, Michael Waltrip Racing could have sold their 2 charters to give 2 other teams a guaranteed spot in the sport, rather than just selling their cars, equipment and buildings. This move seems to really benefit the smaller teams that are currently in the sport (BK Racing, Front Row Motorsports, Premium Motorsports, Leavine Family Racing, etc.) and could be potentially help teams trying to enter the sport in the future. Over the years the biggest struggle for teams trying to enter NASCAR's highest level has been securing sponsorship and qualifying for races. Sponsors are hesitant to sign on if they are not sure the car will make the race and it is increasingly more difficult to make the race if you don't have the funding that the sponsorships bring in. With this program, a new team could purchase a charter from another team and they are locked in to each race. Being assured a spot on the starting grid will attract more sponsors and help the team stay in the sport.
The question at this point becomes the value of the charter and whether or not a team is willing to sell it. A new team will not simply be able to just buy a new charter, just like you can't just create a football team, pay an entry fee, and join the NFL. You would have to purchase an already existing charter. If nobody is selling, there is no guaranteed spot. At this point we also do not know how much these charters are worth? Most upstart teams struggle financially and it brings to question whether or not they can even afford to purchase the charter to begin with. It will be an interesting concept for sure. It is expected to be finalized in the next week, but if they cannot come to an agreement before the start of the season, then the charter system would go into place starting in 2017.
There are some bigger changes coming in both the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series'. Both are implementing a Chase system in 2016 with fewer drivers and fewer races than the Cup Series. With both having close championship battles coming down to the final race last year, it's a bit surprising they would make this change now, but regardless it will be fun. In what is probably the worst decision, however, in Brian France's tenure as NASCAR CEO, a new 20 minute caution clock will come into play in all of this year's Truck races. At the drop of every green flag a 20 minute timer will be set and if a caution does not come out before that 20 minutes is up NASCAR will throw out a caution. If a caution does come out before the 20 minutes is up, they will reset the clock at the drop of the green flag. Apparently Mr. France forgot about the Brickyard tire debacle back in 2008 when the cars couldn't go more than 10 laps or so under green without the tires bursting, so NASCAR threw out a caution every 9 laps so teams could change tires. Fans were upset and NASCAR VP Robin Pemberton had to formally apologize 2 days later. My guess is this rule will be canned before the season is up.
The End of an Era
Last week, while out driving sand buggies with Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Ray Evernham, and Don Prudhomme, Tony got airborne and bottomed out on his landing which ended up fracturing a vertebra in his spine. He was airlifted to a hospital where they performed surgery to repair the damage. What does this mean? Stewart is going to miss a minimum of 3 months.
The good news is that just 48 hours after surgery Tony is up and walking around. Stewart-Haas Racing even set a tentative return date of May 21st (The All-Star Race). While this is the absolute soonest he can return, according to doctors, it is still very possible that it could be pushed back.
No replacement driver has been named yet. Clint Bowyer, who is set to take over the ride in 2017,
seems to be ruled out due to sponsorship commitments with his new team, HScott Motorsports. David Ragan and Regan Smith, who over the last have become known for their roles as fill-in drivers (Smith even doing so for Stewart) both just signed new contracts with Cup teams over the last few weeks and appear to be out of the running as well. An obvious fit seems to be Ty Dillon, who subbed for Stewart in the past and has ties with SHR sponsor Bass Pro Shops, but he also has commitments with Cheerios and Leavine Family Racing for multiple races where he would not be able to drive the 14. Next 2 names that come to mind are Justin Allgaier and Elliott Sadler. Neither have a Cup ride lined up and both are driving full-time for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series, another team whose engines are supplied by Hendrick Motorsports like SHR. Even Alex Bowman's name has been thrown into the mix as he is also driving for JR Motorsports on a part-time basis this year. I wouldn't be surprised to hear Sam Hornish, Brett Moffit, or Josh Wise come up as possible replacements either. With Daytona 500 qualifying set to take place on February 14th, expect an announcement to come early next week.
Silly Season
As I said earlier, every year there is a carousel of driver changes that occur during the offseason. This year there were not a lot of big names involved, but the common theme seemed to be teams merging or downsizing, leaving a lot of 2015's full-time drivers without rides. Before we jump into that, though, let's start with 2016's 5 Rookie of the Year Candidates.
Don't count out Ryan Blaney, though. The Wood Brothers announced they will return to full-time racing this year with Blaney as their driver and full support from Team Penske. Ryan has won in just about everything he has driven. He already has 4 wins each in both the Xfinity and Trucks Series' all before even turning 22! Penske also has a habit of developing young talent. Just look at Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano. No doubt in my mind that Blaney will be competing with them for wins before the season is out.
Defending Xfinity champ, Chris Buescher, is also making the jump to the Cup Series this year driving the #34 for Front Row Motorsports. Part of this deal includes Roush Fenway Racing supporting the team and supplying engines. While that sounds really good, looking at the overall performance of RFR over the past 2 years on the Cup side, it may not make much of a difference.
Also jumping up to the Cup series is Xfinity series veteran, Brian Scott. With Richard Petty Motorsports parting ways with Sam Hornish after a disappointing (that's an understatement) season, it seemed all but locked up that either David Ragan or Regan Smith would get the ride, but the team was struggling to secure sponsorship. Enter Brian Scott, who has sponsorship ties with both Shore Lodge and Albertsons, and it's a done deal. The team will also change from the #9 to the #44.
The final ROTY candidate is Jeffrey Earnhardt, son of Kerry Earnhardt, nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr., and grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. Jeffrey will be driving the #32 for Go FAS racing this season, but will only drive 20-32 races, depending on sponsorship. Bobby Labonte is scheduled to drive at least 4 races in that car as well.
The rest of the driver movement really seems to stem around the closure of Michael Waltrip Racing. Clint Bowyer, who again is scheduled to take over for Tony Stewart in 2017, did not have a ride secured for 2016. Harry Scott, owner of HScott Motorsports, seized the opportunity to land Clint and sponsors 5 Hour Energy and Peak Antifreeze to help boost his 2 car operation. Unfortunately this meant that either Justin Allgaier or Michael Annett had to go. Allgaier had partial sponsorship with Brandt lined up, but Annett had full sponsorship with Pilot/Flying J. So Annett stayed and Allgaier took his sponsorship with him to JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series.
That move left Regan Smith without a ride. Again, he was a frontrunner to land the ride with RPM, but after Brian Scott snuck in at the last minute, Smith had to continue searching. He ended up signing with Tommy Baldwin Racing to drive the #7 car. Former TBR driver, Alex Bowman, did not learn of this until the press release came out and is now searching for a Cup ride. Bowman does have a part-time schedule set up with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series.
David Ragan was the other MWR driver without a ride and after the Brian Scott signing he was quickly snatched up by BK Racing, the team that purchased all of MWR's equipment, to replace J.J. Yeley. BK Racing also decided to downsize from a 3 car operation to a 2 car operation, keeping Matt Dibenedetto as the 2nd driver. This leaves Jeb Burton searching for a job in 2016.
Also downsizing from a 3 car team to a 2 car team is Front Row Motorsports. They decided to abandon the #35 and continue to run the #38 as a teammate to rookie Chris Buescher. That being said, they had no intention of keeping either Cole Whitt or David Gilliland and instead snatched up former Mark Hillman Racing driver, Landon Cassill to pilot their 2nd entry.
The reason Cassill became available is one of the more intriguing stories dating back to mid-season of last year. Premium Motorsports, which started the 2015 season fielding 2 cars (#62 and #66), purchased Phil Parsons Racing and the #98 team mid-season. Shortly afterward, drivers Brendan Gaughan and Josh Wise both quit the team, forcing them to use a slew of different drivers to finish off the year. During the offseason, Mark Hillman Jr. merged his #40 team with Premium Motorsports and took on a roll as a car chief. Even though they now owned 4 teams (#40, #62, #66, and #98) the team decided they would only run 1 team in 2016. After Cassill departed for FRM, the team signed former FRM driver, Cole Whitt, to pilot it's #98 this season.
Another team merger occured this offseason with the Circle Sport #33, which had partial support from Richard Childress Racing in races that Ty Dillon or Brian Scott drove the car, joined forces with Leavine Family Racing's #95. The team will keep the #95 and switch to Chevy's with full-support from RCR (filling the void of the Furniture Row Racing's switch from Chevy to Toyota) and Michael McDowell with share driving duties with Ty Dillon.
I think that about sums it up for the driver changes in 2016, but don't be surprised to see Erik Jones run a 2nd Furniture Row Racing entry a few times this year as they prepare to expand to a 2 car team in 2017.
That move left Regan Smith without a ride. Again, he was a frontrunner to land the ride with RPM, but after Brian Scott snuck in at the last minute, Smith had to continue searching. He ended up signing with Tommy Baldwin Racing to drive the #7 car. Former TBR driver, Alex Bowman, did not learn of this until the press release came out and is now searching for a Cup ride. Bowman does have a part-time schedule set up with JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series.
David Ragan was the other MWR driver without a ride and after the Brian Scott signing he was quickly snatched up by BK Racing, the team that purchased all of MWR's equipment, to replace J.J. Yeley. BK Racing also decided to downsize from a 3 car operation to a 2 car operation, keeping Matt Dibenedetto as the 2nd driver. This leaves Jeb Burton searching for a job in 2016.
Also downsizing from a 3 car team to a 2 car team is Front Row Motorsports. They decided to abandon the #35 and continue to run the #38 as a teammate to rookie Chris Buescher. That being said, they had no intention of keeping either Cole Whitt or David Gilliland and instead snatched up former Mark Hillman Racing driver, Landon Cassill to pilot their 2nd entry.
The reason Cassill became available is one of the more intriguing stories dating back to mid-season of last year. Premium Motorsports, which started the 2015 season fielding 2 cars (#62 and #66), purchased Phil Parsons Racing and the #98 team mid-season. Shortly afterward, drivers Brendan Gaughan and Josh Wise both quit the team, forcing them to use a slew of different drivers to finish off the year. During the offseason, Mark Hillman Jr. merged his #40 team with Premium Motorsports and took on a roll as a car chief. Even though they now owned 4 teams (#40, #62, #66, and #98) the team decided they would only run 1 team in 2016. After Cassill departed for FRM, the team signed former FRM driver, Cole Whitt, to pilot it's #98 this season.
I think that about sums it up for the driver changes in 2016, but don't be surprised to see Erik Jones run a 2nd Furniture Row Racing entry a few times this year as they prepare to expand to a 2 car team in 2017.
Bold Predictions
Now for everybody's favorite part....predictions!
With Jeff Gordon retiring we know we will have at least 1 driver in this year's Chase that was not in the 2015 Chase, but might there be more? The following driver's are in the most jeopardy of failing to return to the Chase:
Clint Bowyer- Driving for a new team that has had little to no success in the Cup series it's unsure what to expect from this team.
Paul Menard- Paul is a mediocre driver. He will be on the bubble regardless, but unless he wins a race (which I doubt would surprise anyone), he will be on the fence.
Jamie McMurray- Jamie is really improving as a driver. He is very consistent and hardly ever wrecks the car, but he has not really put 2 consecutive good seasons together.
Ryan Newman- While he is an extremely consistent driver, he hasn't won a race since coming to RCR. If he doesn't win a race and hits any sort of a rough patch, he could be on the outside looking in.
Martin Truex Jr.- The team is switching manufacturers which always brings a level of uncertainty, but with direct support from the manufacturer now, he should be ok.
The following drivers have the best chance of knocking out last year's Chase drivers:
Chase Elliott- He's driving for a team that was in last year's final four. He was the youngest driver to ever win the Xfinity championship. And he's the son of a Hall of Fame driver. You do the math.
Ryan Blaney- He's a winning driver driving for a team associated with winning. I'd be surprised if he doesn't go to victory lane this year.
Kyle Larson- He's come so close to winning so many times. His teammate made the Chase last year. And at the end of last season when Chip Ganassi Racing bought a bunch of new chassis's to prepare for 2016, he had his best performances.
Kasey Kahne- He's driving a Hendrick car! If he doesn't win this year he probably won't be in that car in 2017. How's that for motivation?
Greg Biffle- Even with how terrible that team was last year, he still came close to making the Chase. If there is any sort of improvement at Roush Fenway he just might sneak in.
Ryan Newman will win a race this year and make the Chase.
Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott will both win races this year, but one of them won't win until the final 10 races and will miss the Chase.
Jimmie Johnson will lead all drivers in wins with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick in a close 2nd.
This will be Kasey Kahne's final year with Hendrick and Greg Biffle's final year with Roush.
Brad Keselowski will not win a race, but will finish 2nd more than any other driver.
Since Tony Stewart is missing what was supposed to be his final Daytona 500, he will run in the 2017 Daytona 500 and make that his final race.
Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, and Ryan Newman will be the four drivers racing for the Championship at Homestead. And the champ will be..........
Kevin Harvick
Looking forward to another fun season of racing. We'll catch back up after Richmond for the Dollar General First Quarter Review presented by Nationwide Insurance. Until then....Happy Racin' Y'all!
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