The Fastlane Motorsports Forum

Bottom post of the previous page:

Lunatic Armchair wrote:

UPDATE 2: Sirius Speedway has learned that UPS will move from Michael Waltrip Racing’s #44 Toyota to the quarterpanels of Clint Bowyer’s #07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in 2009, leaving Jack Daniels in search of a new driver. That driver will be Ryan Newman, who is set to sign-on with Stewart at Haas CNC.(Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway)(7-7-2008)

Do you think they'll change the number? The only reason they Chose 07 was because of the Product tie-in right?

Correct. If Jack Daniels does leave, they'll probably go back the #30 they ran a few years back. And if they move to Stewart-Haas Racing, Jack could likely bring the #07 with them.

Dan wrote:I'm interested to see how that DEI one shakes out- that team seems very vulnerable to go downhill fast at the moment (especially if Truex flees the coup).

DEI is in trouble:

#01 Regan Smith - No sponsorship
#1 Martin Truex Jr. - Looking to leave team; possibly no sponsorship
#8 Aric Almirola - inconsistent driver with 11 career Cup starts, Sponsorship?
#15 Paul Menard - Moving to Yates Racing? - No sponsorship

Justin Lofton is moving to trucks in 2009.

DaleJuniorFan wrote:

Lunatic Armchair wrote:

UPDATE 2: Sirius Speedway has learned that UPS will move from Michael Waltrip Racing’s #44 Toyota to the quarterpanels of Clint Bowyer’s #07 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in 2009, leaving Jack Daniels in search of a new driver. That driver will be Ryan Newman, who is set to sign-on with Stewart at Haas CNC.(Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway)(7-7-2008)

Do you think they'll change the number? The only reason they Chose 07 was because of the Product tie-in right?

Correct. If Jack Daniels does leave, they'll probably go back the #30 they ran a few years back. And if they move to Stewart-Haas Racing, Jack could likely bring the #07 with them.

or Keep the #70

Best Buy left Haas CNC last year. The #66 is still on their car.


I don't expect to see a number change if UPS joins Bowyer's team. Fans can easily identify Bowyer from the number, RCR has the rights to it, and UPS doesn't seem to be picky about it...

JR90 wrote:

Dan wrote:I'm interested to see how that DEI one shakes out- that team seems very vulnerable to go downhill fast at the moment (especially if Truex flees the coup).

DEI is in trouble:

#01 Regan Smith - No sponsorship
#1 Martin Truex Jr. - Looking to leave team; possibly no sponsorship
#8 Aric Almirola - inconsistent driver with 11 career Cup starts, Sponsorship?
#15 Paul Menard - Moving to Yates Racing? - No sponsorship

Menard will always have sponsorship -- Menards.

Cynon wrote:Menard will always have sponsorship -- Menards.

If Menard moves to Yates, the sponsorship will travel with him.

UPDATE: Dario Franchitti has replaced Bryan Clauson on the Chicago entry list.(7-8-2008)

Thanks Chip for messing up Clauson's promising career. Hope someone offers him a ride soon. Why did Dario take up this option anyway, knowing how much it'd impede Clauson? Does he seriously think there'll be a Cup ride open for him next season? I read this article sometime back which also agrees it's a bad idea.. http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/opinion ... index.html

I don't know what Chip Ganassi's thinking anymore. I think he's just being really, really stupid.

Hotdogger wrote:Why did Dario take up this option anyway, knowing how much it'd impede Clauson?l

Whilst Chips decision is questionable...who am I kidding, it is maddness tbh. You shouldn't take a development driver out of a seat because one of your top drivers has lost his. Anyway, whilst Chips decision is...silly...you can hardly blame Dario can you? He is being offered the seat and wants it. When your a racing driver you're career progression never takens into account "Oh what if this means someone else doesn't get a seat because of me", "what if this holds someone back" etc. If that is how racing drivers worked then we wouldn't have racing series.

You have to take what you can get in motorsport, and unfortunately for Clauson, Chip offered Dario the seat.

Lets be honest though, looking at Ganassi right now, would you want to be a development driver for them? I wouldn't if I was Clauson. It looks like its going to fall apart at any minute. This might be a blessing in disguise if another team picks him up.

ellis wrote: Anyway, whilst Chips decision is...silly...you can hardly blame Dario can you? He is being offered the seat and wants it. When your a racing driver you're career progression never takens into account "Oh what if this means someone else doesn't get a seat because of me", "what if this holds someone back" etc. If that is how racing drivers worked then we wouldn't have racing series.

You have to take what you can get in motorsport, and unfortunately for Clauson, Chip offered Dario the seat.

But on the other hand, Chip also offered Dario a ride in his IndyCar team, which is the best seat in the house in that series, so considering that his stock car future is pretty bleak, I can't see what made him choose a year in Nationwide over returning back to doing what he did best, especially when the consequences are that of a promising development driver losing his ride.

ellis wrote: Lets be honest though, looking at Ganassi right now, would you want to be a development driver for them? I wouldn't if I was Clauson. It looks like its going to fall apart at any minute. This might be a blessing in disguise if another team picks him up.

Their Nationwide program hasn't run as bad as their Cup one though. Bryan was running really strong in a lot of races this year but met with a string of accidents not of his doing. A few more good runs with that team and maybe he'd have been picked up by another team who have a better Cup program, like Penske for example. Now I wonder where Clauson will go, maybe the #81 team? That'd be a huge stepdown, but better than not driving at all atleast.

Darios IRL offer was only a partial season deal, and only if they found sponsorship. You need less sponsorship to run there, which makes it easier than Cup racing obviously, but it still had a lot of ifs and buts.

But Dario left IRL because he didn't want to be there any more. There is no point in giving up and going back because your not doing well if you left because you didnt want to be there anyway. He wants to be in NASCAR so if Chip offers him a NASCAR drive then hes going to take it. Personally I'd rather see him in sports cars with Marino, but its not up to me.

Remember some of his nationwide runs were pretty good. Hes never going to be Dale Earnhardt, but I don't see why he can't do above average given the proper time and preparation. He was never going to do well jumping in at the top like he did. Just because JPM can do it, doesn't mean everyone can.

Clausen losing his ride has to be blamed on the people that own the ride and offered it out, not the person who accepted the offer.

Has anything else been said for the full year btw? All I can find is Dario is in it for Chicagoland, not the full season.

Oh I'm definitely blaming Chip for it, not Dario. I was just wondering if Dario had second thoughts about it, but I guess I'd probably have done the same thing if I were him.

And so far, it's only seems to be for Chicago. Maybe there's hope that it'll still be shared by Bryan in some races.

Jeff Burton's 2009 scheme

DaleJuniorFan wrote:Jeff Burton's 2009 scheme

Wish they'd just kept it as it was all these years with BDR.. that orange scribbling on the door panels just ruin it for me.

Jeez we're almost near 100 pages.