Pardon me for a moment while I catch my breath.           The week that just passed, at least in NASCAR, has many people gasping for breath and trying to adjust to the changing face of the sport for 2008. Let’s see, if memory serves, there was one manufacturer switch, a driver signing, a sponsor announcement, much ado about numbers for a certain driver and…oh, yeah, The Chase.
Nothing like having everything in the world happen in the same five-day span, right?
First, the worst-kept secret in NASCAR had to have been Joe Gibbs Racing joining Toyota for 2008 and beyond. Thanks to newly hired Kyle Busch, there really wasn’t all that much drama to Wednesday’s announcement, as he blabbed everything he knew at a media conference in California.
Many have asked why the switch was made. It’s simple, really. At Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing is the unquestioned No. 1 team. At Chevrolet, JGR was No. 3 or No. 4, with Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing 1-2 and DEI sometimes No. 3. That’s a lot of competition for basically the same stuff.
With the Car of Tomorrow — we’re really going to have to come up with something else to call it, don’t you think? — the playing field is somewhat more level, and the engines Toyota is using have already been through the break-in stage. Mark Cronquist, the engine guru for Gibbs, is confident he and his minions can deliver competitive HP in the short term, and Toyota has promised wind-tunnel and aero help to whatever degree is necessary.
Sounds like a deal, right? J.D. Gibbs thought so, and that’s why JGR is now Toyota’s flagship team.
Chevrolet’s dominance of the sport in recent years is the product of having good baseline equipment and teams capable of taking the pieces and making them win races. There’s an emphasis on the team part of that. Do you honestly think that Hendrick organization or Childress couldn’t do the exact same thing?
Sure they could, and they would roll along just like they are now, without the Bowtie on the doghouse. It’s all about the teams now, especially with the COF (Car of February). NASCAR’s technology box is so tight with the new car that it’s all about pieces and how you make it work — HMS already found this out at Sonoma — and top-line teams are top-line teams.
In going from seven cars to 11 for Daytona, Toyota has landed its bell cow team in JGR, plus Hall of Fame Racing and new driver J.J. Yeley. Toyota is already cranking out equivalent horsepower to the established manufacturers; JGR will take them to the next level by making it consistent.
Coors Light won’t be with Chip Ganassi next season, and in an interesting twist, it’s because the team doesn’t think that the money necessary to compete is going to be there, budget-wise. There’s some reading between the lines here, but that’s likely the first time since Noah built his ark that a team has let a sponsor go instead of the other way around.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr. won’t be driving the No. 5 at HMS in 2008; he’ll get the No. 25 team (the one with the “Voodoo curse” on it, according to Brian Vickers) and the number will change. He’ll have Tony Eury, Jr. as his crew chief, a new number and hopefully, new luck.
Tony, Jr. coming with Earnhardt was always going to be the case, and it’s most likely a comfort thing for Dale, Jr. If he can’t drive the family car, then he can drive the car with family, right? Eury will have Chad Knaus, Steve Letarte and Alan Gustafson (Casey Mears’ new crew chief) to consult when things go south, and a whole lot of resources unavailable at his current team.