The Shift ~ Darlington's Date And New Faces At Hendrick, Roush?
8/29/2014
I’m Kevin Abraham and welcome to The Shift. The Shift is a column of alternating takes on
some hot topics around the world of NASCAR.
For this first version of the article, Jim Fitzgerald and I sat down and
sorted through many stories about NASCAR recently and wanted to share our
thoughts on some of them, along with a few random thoughts of our own. First of all, we at Race Fans Forever have vowed
not to comment in an opinionated fashion our thoughts on the whole Tony Stewart
incident, especially until the facts have been released, except to say that our
prayers are with the Ward and Stewart families as they continue to endure the
grief of the tragic accident that claimed the life of Kevin Ward Jr. Kevin: The first subject I want to address is Darlington
getting the Southern 500 back on Labor Day weekend. My thought on this is ITS ABOUT TIME, along
with the date should have NEVER been moved in the first place. NASCAR at least acknowledged they made a
mistake and decided to rectify the error of its way, and bring back a Southern
tradition. Jim: I’m in 100%
agreement with you, Kev. I guess NASCAR felt like they had to test the
waters and break some traditions, but like the song says, you don’t know what
you’ve got until it’s gone. The fans
complained long, loud, and hard enough about it that NASCAR finally did the
right thing and put the race back where it belonged. Kevin: And to do this, Bruton
Smith moved the Bristol date to mid-April, where it should have been, and moved
Atlanta’s date to early March. Jim: And enter the new complaints… Kevin: Right. I have heard and read comments that NASCAR is
trying to force Atlanta off the schedule with this date change. I would disagree with that statement. For many decades Atlanta hosted a race in
early March. Many were affected by
weather, and had to be postponed, however many of the races put on at Atlanta
in the spring were some of the best races NASCAR had seen. Who can forget the 2000 race where Dale
Earnhardt edged Bobby Labonte at the line.
What about the 2001 Atlanta Spring race, where an unknown Kevin Harvick,
only in his third race after the tragic loss of Dale Earnhardt won the race by
a bumper over Jeff Gordon. Also in 2005
we saw another good battle with Carl Edwards barely beating Jimmie Johnson for
his first career win. I applaud this
move and see that NASCAR is at least trying to make NASCAR better, and that
they are listening to their fans. Jim: And while it was the “old” Atlanta, and in the fall,
who could ever forget the greatest race ever, the 1992 Hooters 500. All of this adds to the history of Atlanta,
and I think for NASCAR or Bruton Smith to push it
under the rug in exchange for a new facility or another race at a current one
would be a big mistake in my opinion.
Now, I bring this up because Mr. Smith has indicated he would like to
bring the final race of the season to Atlanta again, where it was for many
years. To me, that is just a door to him
mothballing or moving Atlanta yet again and moving that final date to his gem
in the desert, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Kevin: My second subject I want to broach this time is the
Kasey Kahne saga. Many might read that
statement and think ‘What Saga?’ He has a contract until the end of 2015, why
talk about it now? Jim: Well, don’t forget that the announcement of Kahne
signing with Rick Hendrick came more than 18 months ahead of the first time
that Kahne would drive the No. 5 competitively!
He did a layover year for Red Bull Racing. Kevin: That’s
true! But, I have two words as to why it
needs to be broached now: Chase Elliot.
Elliot is setting the Nationwide series on fire with three wins, and
leading the points as a rookie. Many
have him pegged as the heir apparent to move to Sprint Cup in 2016. With Kasey Kahne not performing and no
contract after 2015, the rumor mill with have Kahne in almost every open
ride. Where do I think he should look to
go? Jim: Kevin, you and I have discussed this before behind
closed doors, and I’m not afraid to make my speculative opinions known at this
point. I think the writing is on the
wall, and it doesn’t play out as a good scenario for Kasey Kahne. There should be very little doubt, unless
something major changes, that Chase Elliott, after running a few Cup Series
races in 2015, will make his run for the rookie title in 2016. That run will be made in a Hendrick car. A lot of folks were speculating that Jeff
Gordon would retire maybe at the end of 2014, maybe 2015. However, as well as “Ol’
4 Time” is running, combined with the addition of 3M through the 2016 season,
that doesn’t appear to be the case. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr? They would both be wise to stay exactly where
they are at this point as they are contending for and winning races, and recently and possibly Championships. I’m sure Rick Hendrick will keep those two
gents exactly where they are as long as he can. Kevin: So, that leaves Kasey Kahne. Jim: It does leave Kasey Kahne…or it leaves a Hendrick
satellite team. There are the
Stewart-Haas teams to consider. Are
Stewart, Patrick, Busch, and Harvick all going to be around the SHR garage in
2016? And then you’ve got Justin
Allgaier in the No. 51. That’s a whole
lot of options. But at the end of it
all, I see Chase Elliott driving a No. 5 Chevy, maybe bringing NAPA back to the
Cup level. Where does that leave Kahne,
though, Kev? Kevin: I think that answer is to go and be a big fish in a
small pond and drive for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series in the No. 5,
or the No. 9 car. Why Nationwide and not
another Cup ride? Simple answer is that
Kahne is a talented driver and it would be easier for him to win a Nationwide championship and come back to Cup as a champion,
rather than run in second rate Cup equipment. Jim: I’m not sure how
much I buy into that. No offense, Kev. I don’t think a
driver of Kasey Kahne’s talent and record would
choose to select a lower series ride if there were a viable Cup
alternative. We all know Kahne’s distaste for Fords, so that may make him choose a
lower series ride if nothing else were available. It doesn’t look like a lot of options, but
you never know…someone may breach a contract to go get a Kasey Kahne. Kevin: Lastly, I wanted to look at Roush Fenway racing and
share what I see. I see two drivers on
the hot seat in Bayne and Stenhouse Jr.
Chris Buescher is showing quite a bit of
promise, and I don’t know if anyone else has noticed that Roush is placing his
Roush Performance on Chris Buescher’s car as a
sponsor, along with Buescher landing Cheez-It and other Roush sponsors as well on his Nationwide car. Jim: Wait…Trevor
Bayne? Bayne has his future in front on
him, don’t you think? They are bringing
back the No. 6 for him and having Mark Martin as a mentor for him. I’m not sure about Bayne, but I’ll give you
Stenhouse. I’m not really impressed at
all. Kevin: Well,
Stenhouse is not performing well as a sophomore driver, and Roush has not
always been patient with underperformers in his organization once they lose
their sponsor. Think about some of the
drivers that Roush has released: The
first one that showed promise but never quite showed it was Ted Musgrave. He was forced out in 1998 after showing
promise, and was replaced by rookie Kevin LePage
halfway through the season. Johnny
Benson drove for Roush for two years until he lost his General Mills
sponsorship to Petty Enterprises. Kevin
LePage was released when sponsorship dried up for his
team as well. Chad Little
was replaced by Kurt Busch and Roush ran Busch under-sponsored for a year then
Busch showed his promise in 2002. Jeff
Burton was forced out to make room for Carl Edwards back in 2004. David Ragan
was not retained after UPS scaled back to one race a year with Carl
Edwards. For these reasons, I say that
Bayne is on the hot seat at Roush as he has over fifty Sprint Cup starts with
the Wood Brothers, even though he may be considered a sprint Cup rookie next
year. I will go on record stating that once Stenhouse starts to lose
sponsorship on the No. 17, he will be shown the door at Roush Fenway. Jim: Let’s also
remember though, that in those fifty starts was a win, a really big win. I don’t think you can hold the Wood Brothers’
part time effort up against a full time ride from Jack Roush. I think Bayne gets his full two years, but
like Stenhouse now, if there is no performance, the questions will come. Kevin: I will concede
that point, that Bayne has a really big win, the 2011 Daytona 500, and has
never competed in a full Sprint Cup season.
He will be expected to perform right away due to his experience,
however, along with having Mark Martin as his mentor off the track. I am interested to see how this all plays
out as Roush will only have one proven veteran driving for them in 2015 in Greg
Biffle. Makes one wonder if Martin will
be back on the track again? Jim: Uhhh…unless there is an
extreme situation, I think Mark Martin might be done, save for a Daytona 500
opportunity should it arise. I think
that might bring anyone out of retirement if the situation is right. Kevin: Perhaps. I
guess we can only wait and see. Thanks,
Jim, for joining me. Jim: My pleasure! Kevin: Now to our readers…What are
YOUR thoughts on this? Do you agree with
my thoughts? Do you disagree with my thoughts? Feel free to sound off below! I am on
Twitter @Kevdogg329
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!