Off-Season Thoughts
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To
paraphrase Charles Dickens, mid-January for race fans is both the best of times
and the worst of times. It's the best of times because now that the Rolex 24
Hours of Daytona is over, we know stock cars will soon be heading to the track.
It's the worst of times because each passing day seems longer than the previous
day as we anxiously anticipate our first sign of spring, engines firing at the
World Center of Racing. As I watch the snow fall around me on this cold, east
Tennessee day, I think of the season to come, what's transpired in the months
since Joey Logano celebrated his championship at Homestead, and thought I would
share.
I'm
excited to see what happens with the driver changes at Joe Gibbs Racing, Chip
Ganassi Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing. Martin Truex, Jr. and Cole Pearn have
shown they can consistently compete for wins on a weekly basis. How will that
play out now that they're with Gibbs? Will they be able to come out of the gate
as weekly contenders now that they're with a new team? Yes, they were running
Gibbs cars with Furniture Row Racing. Yes they were using a Gibbs pit crew
before. Now they're under one roof with a lot of new personnel around them.
There's an old adage that there can only be one rooster in the hen house.
Obviously Kyle Busch isn't taking a back seat to anyone. Gibbs already has an
issue with determining what it's going to take to get Denny Hamlin back to
being competitive. Where will Truex fall in that pecking order? It will be
interesting to watch as it plays out.
I
know everything seems optimistic in January when hopes are high but I can't
help but really believe Kurt Busch's move to Ganassi will be a winning move for
all involved. He showed he can still win last August at Bristol. You never know
how much credence can be put into rumors but if it's true that he wasn't wanted
at Stewart-Haas, then it was time to move on. Pairing him with Kyle Larson
seems to have so much potential for both, I can't help but think both teams
will benefit. Larson has shown he can run up front, he just needs to learn how
to close the deal for race wins. Kurt Busch knows how to do that. This move
should reenergize Busch, give Larson some championship guidance and help both
Ganassi teams in the process. I expect to see great things from that camp in
2019.
Daniel
Suarez, of course, moves from Gibbs to Stewart-Haas, where he replaces Busch. A
lot of people have been down on Suarez lately. I won't speculate why. I do,
however, recall another young driver who broke into the Cup Series with Gibbs
with much fanfare. He underachieved in the eyes of many and after four seasons
and two wins, moved on to Penske Racing. Now with 19 wins for that
organization, he being Joey Logano, is now the defending series champion. I'm
not predicting Suarez will become a champion in 2019 but I do predict he will
win. Stewart-Haas was head and shoulders above all teams in 2018 with all four
of their drivers earning wins. I'm not sure there can be a better scene for a
young driver to move into than that one.
Off
the track, there's been a lot of movement on the media side and unfortunately,
not all of it was good. As ESPN continues shedding itself of credible reporters
and analysts, they let Bob Pockrass and Ricky Craven go. Their loss was FOX's
gain as both will be a part of that network's coverage. Although there is a lot
of criticism directed at FOX for the way they cover NASCAR (a lot of it
deserved), the addition of these two veteran, credible professionals will be
nothing but a positive for FOX and for viewers.
Finally
and sadly, yesterday brought us the demise of Jayski. In today's
hyper-sensitive social media world where there's always someone ready to
criticize someone else's efforts, I never heard anyone say a bad thing about
Jayski. Drivers, team members, media members and fans alike all turned to
Jayski for years to find industry rumors, news, information and links to
stories from other NASCAR related media and websites, including this one. As an
amateur writer, I vividly remember thinking I had "made it" the first
time one of my Race Fans Forever articles was linked on the Jayski site. They
gave a lot of exposure to countless websites and viewpoints. It's an
understatement to say they will be universally missed. Although the
circumstances are different, it sure felt a lot like the day we got the news
that NASCAR Scene was ceasing publication.
That's
how I see things on this cold, snowy day as we sit between two seasons. One
just ended yet seems so far away and the other is right before us yet in a way,
seems equally distant. So as I anticipate what's to come and what storylines
will be created, I'll also look back on the greatness we've already enjoyed and
go listen to this week's The Scene Vault Podcast where they're having a reunion
of former Winston Cup Scene staffers. Racing is like life; it's amazing how
quickly what we await becomes memories we cherish.