Kurt Busch decided that getting into the chase with a team that last year could not do anything but stumble over its own feet was not good enough to keep him there and has taken an offer from only a 50% owner in a team where the other 50% owner has had many of scuffles with on the track as well as off the track... Not only that, the owner that hired him did not even ask the partner if it was ok to hire him, he just put his money where his pen was and said I don't care what my partner says, your hired. The other part of this equation in the team is the second owner is also a driver for the team, Tony Stewart, another equation in this is also a silly season story in his own right, driver of the number 29, Kevin Harvick, who will be getting replaced by Richard Childress's grandson Austin Dillon, who will be driving a car rumored to have the number 3 on the door, (if you don't know the significance of that number, google Dale Earnhardt and start reading) Go back through the last several years and your going to see these two guys, Kevin and Kurt, have had more then their fair share of little skirmishes along the way. Ok so this is where I hope I continue to get this in the right order because from here it gets sticky as fly paper dipped in extra sticky glue then coated with syrup. Ok so when Stewart-Haas racing hired Kevin they had to get rid of a driver because co-owner Tony Stewart said in a press conference that "we don't have room here for a 4th driver right now and if we did Ryan Newman would be who we would put in that car." So by that you can tell Ryan was the guy that got fired. Ryan was only a week into understanding he just got screwed by someone he thought was his friend/owner and that friend/owner found out he got screwed by his partner all in one fail swoop of a reporters pen. Tony was actually still in the hospital for a crash he had in a winged sprint car...that's a whole other story we wont get into today. The screwing part came when he found out, guess what? They did have room for a 4th driver and not only did they have room, Gene Haas, the other owner of the team, is forking over his own money from Haas Automation to sponsor Kurt. Ok so a week later another chip fell in this odd season, Jeff Burton, driver of the 31 said he was safe for another year at Richard Childress racing.....just to learn that once Ryan came available, he was no longer safe and was let out of his contract that ran through the 2014 season and was replaced next season by Ryan Newman.
Are we following along ok still? Because it gets even better. Bobby Labonte found out after he was injured from a fall he had while riding a bicycle, he broke 3 ribs, that he was getting replaced by driver A.J. Allmendinger next season in the number 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota.
Then we hear that Juan Montoya will not be back in the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing number 42 Chevy and actually we now know that he will be leaving NASCAR all together and headed to Ganassi's rival in the Indy Racing league, Roger Penske Racing. After 7 years of NASCAR and only 2 wins, both on road courses, he has decided to go where he can win......a lot.
So far we have covered all the drivers that are going other places.......or have we? Today NAPA Auto parts announced they will be leaving Michael Waltrip Racing at the end of this season, effectively leaving Martin Truex Jr without a sponsor for the next 2 seasons. I feel so sorry for Martin because he, over the last 3 weeks, has been screwed more then any other driver this season. Not only has he been penalized for something he didn't do, not only did he get kicked out of the Chase for something his teammates did, (Martin raced his butt off the last several weeks just to get into the chase, oh and did I forget to tell you that he broke his right arm before the Chase started and has been in a cast for the last couple weeks, the cast he had on in Richmond actually was the wrong kind of cast and he was in a ton of pain to boot) he also lost his sponsor because of it. So without a sponsor for next season and it being long after big money sponsors have decided who they would spend money on, what are the chances that MWR can actually find a sponsor for Martin and if they cant find the money (takes anyplace from 15 to 20 million dollars on average to fund a cup team for a season) will Martin still have a car to drive next season? Michael Watrip says they plan on having 3 teams next season no matter what, but in the sport of big time auto racing, money dictates the final answer to the question I am sure Martin Truex Jr has asked his bosses over the last 24 hours when NAPA decided to move on the bigger and better things, do I have a ride next year? I actually would love to see Martin get back into a Chevy and hop into that 78 Furniture Row car that Kurt decided wasn't good enough. So if we have basically 1 car open, Earnhardt-Ganassi already replaced Juan with an up and coming driver Kyle Larson, and we have Bobby Labonte, Jeff Burton both without a ride and possible Martin Truex Jr, I am sitting here thinking I am missing a driver someplace, but have no idea if I am right or not because my head is spinning right now from all the musical race seats hopping from team to team. Clint Bowyer's sponsor (in my opinion the driver that started the whole fiasco in Richmond and the only one really not hurt by the penalty) 5 hour energy is also looking at what their options for next year might be. If MWR loses yet another sponsor for another of its teams, they could be looking at the begining of the end. Aarons has been really quiet so far also. One could speculate they are doing some sole searching also.
Phewww! Just when I think I am done, I remember Mark Martin, who is subbing for Tony Stewart while he mends his multiple breaks from that wreck I said I wouldn't talk about right now lol. We still have no idea what he will be doing and from what I gather neither does he right yet, guess that all might be depending on if Tony actually heals like they think he should or not. Will Mark drive full time next season? I would say no, his distaste for both Daytona and Talladega would lead me to that conclusion.
Well.....I am about to spin into turn 4 with a flat tire on the right rear, this is just what normally starts the silly season. 9 races to go, Matt Kenseth firmly in front of the pack, teammate Kyle Busch closely chasing his tail, is this the year of Matt? Or is this finally Kyles year to show his maturity finally out weighs his fast temper? I have not even touched on last weeks race in Chicago.....no time tonight either. So look for a recap of what I think Chicago means for the top 13 drivers, I will even try and put together my very own power rankings, something I have yet to try because it changes every week and I will give my thoughts on race 2 of the chase and what I think we all can look forward too this weekend.
So with that being said....
Until next time.....
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