Silly Season Projections
Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman Still Unsure of 2009 Plans
Silly Season is in full swing.
This has been one of the crazier silly seasons in NASCAR. It is difficult to predict the plans of each driver and team. Below are some unsubstatiated silly season possibilities.
Tony Stewart will indeed depart the Joe Gibbs Racing organization and join the Hendrick Motorsports organization, forming the most powerful foursome in auto racing history. UPS will take over sponsorship of the 5 car. Meanwhile, Stewart will purchase controlling interest of Haas CNC Racing, and Casey Mears, along with Kellogg's will move to the 66 car. JR Motorsports driver, Brad Keselowski, and an undetermined sponsor will move to the 70 car. Keselowski will compete for the rookie of the year honors.
However, in order to secure each team in the top 35 in the owner's standings, Stewart will start the season in the 66, and his champion's provisional will guarantee a starting spot for the first five races. Mears will start the season in the 5 car. Stewart will persuade 1984 and 1996 champion Terry Labonte to begin the year in the 70 car before turning it over to Keselowski after the fifth race of the season.
Reason: More money for Stewart. Obviously, owning an upstart team can cost an arm and a leg, so driving for Hendrick Motorsports, he will receive a hefty paycheck, which will help fund his team.
Joe Gibbs Racing will waste no time at all in finding a replacement for Tony Stewart. Eighteen year old Joey Logano is developing faster than the speed of light, and will assume driving duties of the Home Depot Toyota. Meanwhile, Gibbs will purchase controlling interest in the fledgling Hall of Fame Racing program. Gibbs will need a composed driver with a winning background to pilot the DLP HDTV Toyota. Greg Biffle is will likely stay at Roush Fenway Racing, so that would leave Ryan Newman.
But Newman will likely sign with Richard Childress Racing, one of the most consistent teams in NASCAR. He will drive the number 33 General Mills entry. If Gibbs were to have the fourth team, he may have to settle for Jamie McMurray or Jeremy Mayfield, or he could continue his youth movement with Reed Sorenson.
Penske Racing will have to replace Alltel and Ryan Newman. Steve Wallace will move to the 12 car with Kodak and AVIS as the sponsor. Penske's test driver David Stremme will continue to be Rusty Wallace's top drive in the Nationwide Series, but he will drive a fourth Penske Racing team on a part-tine basis.
Roush Fenway Racing will disband the 26 team, and the Crown Royal and IRWIN Tools sponsor package will transfer to the up and coming David Ragan and the 6 team. Gibbs will settle for McMurray to drive the DLP HDTV Toyota.
Reed Sorenson will not remain at Chip Ganassi Racing, as he will replace David Gilliland at Yates Racing with an undetermined sponsor.
Dario Franchitti will give it another whirl in the Cup series, but he will drive the Target Dodge. Ganassi seemed pleased with Mayfield's effort at Dover, so he'll tab Mayfield as the driver of the 40 car.
Martin Truex Jr remains at DEI, but Teresa will sell the 01 owner's points to Childress so the 33 team will begin the year in the top 35 in owner's points. The 01 team was never able to find a sponsor.
Note: All of this is just pure speculation, nothing that has been confirmed or corroborated.
