GM Scraps Pontiac in NASCAR……

General Motors informed NASCAR this past week that it will not race or support teams who race the Pontiac brand cars starting with the 2004 season. The auto manufacturing conglomerate has decided to put all of its marbles behind the super-successful Chevrolet brand in the future.

There are five teams running Pontiacs this season, the No 4 Kodak sponsored Morgan McClure entry, the No. 10 Valvoline sponsored MBV entry, The No. 0 NetZero sponsored Haas/CNC entry, The No. 1 US Army sponsored MB2 entry, and the No. 32 Tide sponsored PPI entry.

The No. 32 Tide ride driven by Ricky Craven is the only Pontiac to take the checkered flag so far this season, winning at spring event at Darlington. Pontiacs fro Joe Gibbs Racing have taken the last two out of the three championships, with Bobby Labonte winning the top spot in 2000 and teammate Tony Stewart winning last year’s 2002 title. Gibbs must have known some inside info, or else saw the handwriting on the wall, because he switched to Chevrolet this season.

Its no surprise that General Motors wants to put all of its support behind the Chevrolet model. Chevrolets have won 23 of the last 31 Manufacturers championships, and have captured 17 wins in 33 Cup races so far this season, easily winning the 2003 manufacturers championship.

Now here’s the contradicting part of their statement. Although they claim that they will no longer support Pontiac teams starting with the 2004 season, they also state that they have contracts with some teams that they plan to honor. They state that they will not leave these teams in the lurch. This may mean that they will help them convert to the Chevrolet, the other GM model and help to cover the cost, or loss, whichever it may be. A couple of Pontiac teams have reported that they have already built Pontiacs for 2004 and are already suffering a loss in that respect.

There’s speculation that General Motors has decided to fortify it’s position in NASCAR racing with the suspected emergence of Toyota in Cup racing maybe by the 2005 season. Toyota will be racing in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2004, already having had a truck and an engine approved by the sanctioning body. We all know that the engines used in the Truck and the Cup Series are very similar and that it won’t take the Toyota people long to develop a Cup car, as a matter of fact, they are already working on it, along with a their version of a Cup engine. Move over Dodge and Chevy, there’s soon to be a new game in town. As for the Fords, they appear to be in line to suffer the worst with the emergence of Toyota, but we won’t count any chickens before they are hatched, it could just as will be Chevy or Dodge who gets the dirty end of the stick…..

Adding to this story, there’s news abound that NASCAR may be partially to blame for Pontiac’s pull-out. It seems that the greedy people who run NASCAR demanded more than one million dollars per race from the GM/Pontiac people in order for them to use their Pontiac grand Prix as NASCAR’s official pace car for all of the 2004 Nextel Cup races. GM/Pontiac wisely said no, and I don’t blame them one bit for pulling the Pontiac out of competition.

I’m certainly not surprised by this, as we’ve all seen over the past few seasons, NASCAR’s greed doesn’t have any limits. They are doing all they can to make every cent they can get their hands on before they end up getting booted out of the sport of auto racing. A lot of people mistakenly think that NASCAR is the only game in town when it comes to stock car racing, but that just isn’t so. Word has it that big brother is seriously looking into their shenanigans. Look for a solid corporation to take over NASCAR in the future with Speedway Motorsports tycoon O. Bruton Smith running the show!

Cheater Extraordinaire……

The continuing saga of master cheating crew chief Tony Furr continues. Furr has been labeled by the majority of the NASCAR insiders as the cheaters cheater. The crew chief who bends the rules to their limits and beyond.

I’m sure that most of you continuing fans of the sport remember the hefty fine and four week suspension and $25k fine that NASCAR handed out to Tony Furr during Daytona Speed Weeks before the start of the 2001 season. Furr had designed a suspension part to fall off of Jerry Nadeau’s No. 25 Hendrick racing’s Chevy. I remember writing about how abhorrent I thought it was for the idiot to design a metal part to fall off on the track surface that would endanger the lives of the competitors and possibly the fans at Daytona.

Of course, that wasn’t the first time that Furr had been whacked with a heavy fine for his cheating. Back in 1997 while working for Cale Yarborough Motorsports, he was fined $50k for off-setting a restrictor plate where more fuel and air would enter into the engine.

Furr finally got dumped from Hendrick Motorsports early in the 2002 season after once again getting fined $25k during Daytona Speed Weeks for having the No. 25 too low in a post race inspection. Then he ended up with the No. 7 Sirius Dodge with Ultra Motorsports and driver Casey Atwood. That marriage did last long, as Ultra Motorsports owner Jim Smith dumped Furr for Tommy Baldwin in November of 2003.

Morgan McClure Motorsports picked up Furr as its competition director January fifth of this year, but that only lasted for a couple of months, with Furr getting dumped by Morgan McClure in March of 2003.

Furr was picked up by Haas/GNC Racing in April of this season taking over the crew chief duties for Jack Sprague on the No. 01 Pontiac. Last August, Jason Leffler left the No. 7 Sirius Dodge to drive the No. 0, but that was a short lived jaunt, as Ward Burton was signed to drive the No. 0 for the rest of 2003 and the entire 2004 season.

Burton has wrecked the No. 0 in all of its outings with him in the driver’s seat, which isn’t much of a surprise, and now Crew Chief Tony Furr has been caught cheating again. NASCAR found unapproved carburetor modifications after the Atlanta race and fined Furr $25k. They also took 25 drivers points away from Ward Burton, and 25 owners points away from Haas/CNC Racing. Does anyone want to place any bets on how much longer Furr will remain with Haas/CNC? Losing points hurts big time when the checks are handed out at the end of the season. Of course, Haas/CNC has on one but themselves to blame because they are the ones who hired the cheater, but Ward Burton will lose money in the points because he fell into the situation fueled by the cheater Furr. I would hope that NASCAR will see the light one of these days and ban this cheater Furr permanently from NASCAR competition.

Checker Auto Parts 500k………..

Dale Earnhardt Jr. held on ahead of a hard charging Jimmie Johnson to take his second win of the 2003 season and the ninth win of his Cup career. The victory marked the first time Junior has won a non-restrictor plate race since the fall race at Dover after the 9/11/2001 terror attacks when he made such a national splash by carrying the American flag around the track during his victory lap.

Following Junior and Jimmy Johnson across the finish line were Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip, points leader Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Scott Wimmer, and Mark Martin. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 3rd
2. Brian Vickers -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 13th
3. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 2nd
4. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy -- finished 7th
5. Rusty Wallace -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 33rd
6. Tony Stewart -- No. 20 Chevy – finished 18th
7. Kurt Busch -- No. 97 Ford – finished 4th
8. Dave Blaney -- No. 77 Ford – finished 24th
9. Casey Mears -- No. 41 Dodge – finished 42nd
10. Joe Nemechek -- No. 01 Pontiac – finished 31st

Matt Kenseth improved his points lead, even though he lost some points in the process. Kenseth’s magic number now is 30. All he has to do is to finish 30th or better in the final two events and the championship is his. If he ends up with a 186 point lead after the next event at Rockingham, he’ll have clinched the title there before going to the final event at Miami-Homestead.

Kenseth is now listed with 4828 points. Dale Earnhardt Jr. still holds on to second place and is now listed with a -228. Jimmie Johnson moved up one spot to third and is now listed with a -241. Jeff Gordon moved up one spot to fourth and is now listed with a -300. Ryan Newman moved up one spot to fifth and is now listed with a -329. Earnhardt is very vulnerable in second place; either Johnson or Gordon could easily unseat him from his precarious position.

Next Week…….

Race No. 34 on the 36 race 2003 Cup schedule is the Pop Secret 400 at North Carolina Speedway. The next to the last event of the season at the Rockingham facility is slated to be televised by the TNT channel at 12:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event will be televised by the TNT channel on Friday, November 7th at 3 p.m. eastern.

Last season’s winner of the fall Rockingham event was Johnny Benson. He was followed across the finish line by Mark Martin, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Mike Skinner, Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth, Ricky Craven, and Jeff Green.

Ryan Newman won the Bud pole award with a speed of 155.836 miles per hour. There were four caution periods for a total of 22 laps out of the 393 laps on the 1.017 mile oval.

The Bud Pole Man……..

Ryan Newman has really poured on the coals in his qualifying efforts. His recent pole at Rockingham tallied up to eleven so far for this season. Newman has started form the pole position eighteen times in 79 career Cup races. This feat ties him with Bobby Allison, 1972; David Pearson, 1974; Darrell Waltrip, 1981; Bill Elliott, 1985. This tie starts at the modern area in 1976 when the race schedule was cut to 36 races or less. Cale Yarborough holds the modern era record of 14 pole position starts in 1980. The all-time pole record was set in 1969 by Bobby Isaac when he won 20 poles in the 54-race season

With just one more race remaining, Newman clearly won’t break Yarborough’s 1980 record this season, but if he does manage to win the pole at Miami, he can move into new territory, bypassing the above mentioned drivers in the record books.

A recent poll at NASCAR .com asked which driver would most likely win the first NEXTEL Cup in 2004. Newman was among the drivers listed and came in second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. We have to realize that it isn’t the driver’s performance that is paramount in these polls, but a driver’s popularity. In that respect, Dale Jr. could probably win any pole that includes his name, as long as the question is of a positive nature.

If you’re a Dale Jr. fan you don’t want to hear this, but Newman’s on-track performance has far surpassed Earnhardt’s this season. Not to take anything away from Dale Jr., but Newman has just been a better driver this season, hands down. Sure, the driver’s points tell another story, but they don’t tell the whole story. In most cases, the driver isn’t at fault for mechanical failures and certainly isn’t at fault for all of the accidents he ends up getting involved in, whether his name is Newman or Earnhardt. Newman recorded eight wins going into the Rockingham event to Earnhardt’s two. In 34 races Newman has racked up 21 top five and 25 top ten finishes. Earnhardt has racked up 12 top five, and 17 top ten finishes, which is quite a way off of Newman’s performance. It will be interesting to watch the two vie for the Championship next season!

Pop Secret 400……

Bill Elliott handily won the last fall Cup race that will be run at the North Carolina Speedway at Rockingham, North Carolina driving the No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge for Evernham Motorsports. I thought it was kind of amusing, NASCAR.com had one of their race-day polls that is usually shown on the TV during the race allowing fans to have the opportunity of calling in to vote on their cell phones. The question asked which of the listed drivers would break his slump and win a race first. If I remember correctly, the drivers listed were Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, and Bill Elliott. Bill Elliott was my choice, mainly because of the better finishes he’s had lately compared to the others listed. I figured he stood the best chance to break into victory lane, and so did the majority of the voters as Elliott won the poll scoring a 32% over Rusty Wallace’s 30%.

The victory was 1988 Winston Cup Champion Elliott’s 44th in the 730th race of his Cup career that began full time in 1982, although he raced a partial schedule in the Cup Series since 1976. Elliott finished second in the championship in 1985, 87, and 92. He finished third in 1983 and 84, and finished fourth in 1990. He scored eighth place finishes in 1993, 95, and 97.

Following Elliott across the finish line were Jimmy Johnson, Jeremy Mayfield, Matt Kenseth, Ryan Newman, rookie Tony Raines, Jeff Burton, Bobby Labonte, Tony Stewart, and Sterling Marlin. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge – finished 5th
2. Brian Vickers -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 24th
3. Jeremy Mayfield -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 3rd
4. Tony Raines*-- No. 74 Chevy -- finished 6th
5. Bill Elliott -- No. 9 Dodge – finished 1st
6. Joe Nemechek -- No. 01 Pontiac – finished 25th
7. Rusty Wallace -- No. 2 Dodge – finished 23rd
8. Jimmy Spencer -- No. 7 Dodge – finished 14th
9. Jeff Burton -- No. 99 Ford – finished 7th
10. Greg Biffle* -- No. 16 Ford – finished 11th

The race was a strange one, there were a lot of cautions as drivers were antsy in getting positions for the up-coming championship payoff. There is a million dollars difference between the second and sixth positions, and lots of money involved in positions on down to the 25th, which is the last paying position. The record tying amount of caution periods played havoc with drivers who got caught making their pit stops when the caution flag came out. This automatically put them a lap down. As a result, there were only ten cars on the lead lap when the checkered flag flew. Two drivers in the 11th and 12th positions were one lap down, five drivers from 13th thru 17th were two laps down, leaving the rest of the field three or more laps down to the leader.

Matt Kenseth Clinches the Title……..

Matt Kenseth had to have at least 186 points at the completion of the Rockingham event to clinch the 2003 Winston Cup Championship title. His fourth place finish gave him a 226 point lead which put the brass ring in his hand. Roush Racing team owner Jack Roush was joyous to finally win a Cup Championship, as well as the co-owner of the No. 17 DeWalt Ford, Mark Martin. The win will pay Kenseth and his team well over four million dollars.

Regardless of Kenseth’s win, there is still one race left in the 2003 season and the points will count heavily between the drivers from second place on down. Jimmy Johnson moved up one spot over Dale Earnhardt Jr. and is now listed in second place with a -226. Dale Jr. is listed in third with a -264, just 38 points away from second place money. Ryan Newman moved up one spot to fourth and is now listed with a -329. This leaves Newman just 65 points behind Earnhardt and 103 points away from second place money. Jeff Gordon’s continued run of bad luck dropped him down a spot to fifth listed with a – 363.

Kevin Harvick is still in sixth place listed with a -393, still in contention to move up higher in the standing and improve his lot. Tony Stewart is still in seventh listed with a -590, and will probably end the season next week in that position. It isn’t numerically possible for him to overcome the 197 point deficit between him and sixth place Harvick. The same rings true for eighth place Bobby Labonte, who is listed with a -791 Labonte will most likely finish in that spot. Bill Elliott’s win moved him up one spot to ninth and is now listed with a -837, followed by Kurt Busch who dropped a spot to tenth now listed with a -893. It’s possible for a switch between the last three in the top ten, with only 102 points separating them.

Next Week……..

Race number 36 on the 36 race 2003 schedule is finally upon us. The Ford 400 fro Homestead-Miami Speedway is scheduled to be aired on the NBC network Sunday, November 16th at 12:30 p.m. eastern. Qualifying for the event is slated to be aired by the SPEED channel at 1:30 p.m. eastern on Friday, November 14th.

Last season’s winner of the Ford 400 was Kurt Busch. He was followed across the finish line by Joe Nemechek, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, rookie Ryan Newman, Bill Elliott, rookie Jimmie Johnson, Elliott Sadler, and Bobby Hamilton.

Kurt Busch won the Bud pole award with a speed of 154.365 miles per hour. There were six caution periods for a total of 41 laps out of the 267 laps on the 1.5 mile oval. The Homestead-Miami track has been re-configured with high banked corners. Very few drivers have tested at the newly configured track, so it will be a new racing experience for a lot of competitors to finish out the season. Look for a lot of hard racing and a number of caution periods as drivers attempt to improve their point’s standing on a track that they aren’t used to racing on.

2004 Rule Changes

The sanctioning body has already began to get the field sized up for the 2004 season. Actually, in the background, they have been working on the rules changes all season. There will be quite a few changes ahead, and we’ll just mention a few of them here at this time.

The gas cans that are used to fuel the cars on pit road will be enlarged to 12 gallons instead of the previous size of 11 gallons. With the 22 gallon fuel cells, the teams have been emptying their two 11 gallon cans to fill up an empty tank. Now, with the new 12 gallon fill-up cans, there will be more gas in the cans than what the tanks will hold. It makes one wonder if there will be a chance for a tam to add more gas by filling up the fill tube. I can’t really say if this will be the case, remembering the catch can and the overflow. The catch can/over flow deal may stop the fill tube from filling up with gas giving the teams an advantage of more gas for each run.

The F3 template used to measure the overall body or skin of the racecar has been elongated to reach from the front cowl to the back of the rear spoiler. Previously it just came down to the base of where the rear window met the rear deck in front of the spoiler.

Once again, NASCAR has decided to change locations. The have decided that the engine location will be the same on all competitors models. In 2004, the engine must be located 14.25 inches from the center bolt/stud holding the air cleaner cover over the carburetor to the base of the windshield. There will be a one inch variance allowed with this new rule. This new rule is going to cause a lot of teams who already have 2004 race cars prepared to change engine mounts and drive shaft lengths.

Ignition boxes are going to have to be separated. The primary ignition box and the secondary ignition bow will have to have separate wiring going to all of the electronic functions of the race car. This will make it easier for inspectors to check for the addition of traction control devices.

Ignition boxes will be mounted on the top of the dash by the windshield in plain view, where they can be easily inspected for additional wiring that could lead to traction control devices. A lot of these new rules are designed to make the pre-race inspection processes much quicker for both the teams and the inspectors.

New Champion Crowned…….

Although Matt Kenseth won the championship last weekend at Rockingham, the official presentation was made at the end of the season after the finale at Himestead-Miami. The official 2003 pennant with Kenseth’s name on it was presented to him by 7- time champion Richard Petty, after which Kenseth added it to the top of the platform backdrop along with the other champion’s pennants.

Along with the trophy, the RJ Reynolds CEO presented Kenseth with a placard representing a check for $4.25 million dollars as the monetary prize associated with the 2003 Winston Cup Championship. The actual check will be presented to Kenseth at the awards ceremony in NYC on December 5th at 9 p.m. eastern to be aired by the NBC network.

Ford 400………….

The final race of the season was plagued with faulty tires from the Goodyear tire & Rubber Co. Does that surprise anyone? The tire company has been maligned a number of times this season, and previous seasons, for bringing substandard tires to an event. I wouldn’t say right off hand that they brought sub standard tires to Homestead, but they certainly missed the mark somewhere along the line. To their defense, the new track configuration with its new pavement offered a lot more traction/grip than the tire company allowed for which heated up the tires to the point where they came apart before they had a chance to wear out. There were a record number of caution periods in the race and 98% of them were tire related. Goodyear dropped the ball on the final race of the season. One would think that they would have tested tires for the new surface. When will NASCAR learn their lesson and switch to a better, more progressive tire company!

Bobby Labonte was in the right place at the right time when race leader Bill Elliott blew a right rear tire on the last lap of the event. When Elliott faltered and his blown tire came apart, Labonte shot by him to take the checkered flag Elliott had led over 180 laps, which amounted to leading the most laps of the race. Labonte hadn’t led any laps, but as we all know, it’s the leading of that last lap that counts!

Elliott managed to finish eighth, and was bewildered as his car caught fire after it came to rest near the pit area. In a post-race interview, Elliott seemed to be in good spirits and was lauding his team for all of the hard work they have done this season to help bring about his comeback in stock car racing. Elliott alluded at the end of his interview that he would be back in the driver’s seat for Evernham next season.

It was Bobby Labonte’s second win of the season after having taken the checkered flag at the spring event in Atlanta. The victory was also the 21st for Labonte in the 366th start capping the 11th year of his Cup Series career.

Dirty driver Kevin Harvick finished second behind Elliott, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Johnny Benson, Jeff Gordon, Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, Bill Elliott, rookie Jamie McMurray, and Sterling Marlin. The top ten starters and how they finished:

1. Jamie McMurray* -- No. 42 Dodge – finished 9th
2. Bobby Labonte -- No. 18 Chevy – finished 1st
3. Brian Vickers -- No. 25 Chevy – finished 34th
4. Ryan Newman -- No. 12 Dodge -- finished 37th
5. Jeff Gordon -- No. 24 Chevy – finished 5th
6. Kevin Harvick -- No. 29 Chevy – finished 2nd
7. Kurt Busch -- No. 97 Ford – finished 36th
8. Joe Nemechek -- No. 01 Pontiac – finished 17th
9. Jeremy Mayfield -- No. 19 Dodge – finished 6th
10. Jimmie Johnson -- No. 48 Chevy – finished 3rd

The championship standing were a very important of the season finale as per usual. Dale Earnhardt Jr. dropped the ball on his second place position, but it wasn’t by any fault of his own. I’m sure he can blame Goodyear for losing several hundred thousand dollars between second and third place. 2003 Winston Cup Champion Matt Kenseth finished the season with 5022 points. Jimmie Johnson is the second place driver in the standings finishing just 90 points down with 4932 points. Third place Earnhardt finished the season with 4815 points, 207 points down from the leader. Jeff Gordon moved up one spot to finish in fourth with a -237. Kevin Harvick moved up one spot to finish in fifth with a -252.

I have to interject here that I feel that Harvick pulled a dirty stunt on Ryan Newman to get the top money in the standings over him. Harvick is an accomplished race driver. Everyone knows this. Everyone knows that when you go into a corner too hot you will drift up the track towards the wall. Early in the race, I believe it was on lap five, Harvick forced his way in the inside making it three wide with Newman and Kurt Busch. Harvick slid up into Newman and Busch taking them both out of the race, and putting Harvick up higher in the points standings over Newman. We all know that the one on the inside is able to bounce off of the competitor to his right and take off unscathed; we’ve all seen it happen on the track hundreds of times. Harvick know what he was doing. Nothing that anyone can say will ever convince me that Harvick didn’t make that move purposely to take the two drivers out of the race to his benefit.

Ryan Newman ended up finishing the season sixth in points, followed by Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Bill Elliott, and Terry Labonte. Kevin Harvick’s crooked stunt on lap five took Kurt Busch out of contention for a top ten points finish, relegating him to 11th.

Jamie McMurray was named by NASCAR as the winner of the 2003 Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. McMurray finished the season over second place rookie Greg Biffle by a little over 30 points.

Dale Who?...........

Robert Yates Racing (RYR) has once again bought up another crew chief for the beleaguered Dale Jarrett. Jarrett went through his usual three crew chiefs per season in 2003, starting out with Brad Parrott, who failed Jarrett by asking him questions about what Jarrett wanted for a set-up on the car. We all have to remember that one; it made the news early in the season when Jarrett fell flat after his early win at The Rock. So Parrott quit Jarrett, not being able to make the touchy driver happy. Then team engineer Garth Finley moved into the crew chief position on an interim basis until they moved Shawn Parker from the Elliott Sadler’s No. 38 team to try to get Jarrett’s performance up to par.

One thing I’ve noticed over the years about RYR, they always seem to let the other guy get a successful program, then they tend to do their best to acquire it. As an example, when Jeff Gordon’s “Rainbow Warriors” crew was so productive and famous, Yates managed to buy them away from Hendrick Motorsports. I don’t have any idea what it cost him, but they never did perform for RYR like they did for Hendrick. Then the musical chairs game with Jarrett’s crew chiefs began, with Yates buying anyone he thought was winning, to help the beleaguered driver Jarrett out of his seemingly terminal slump.

Now Yates has bought Mike Ford away from Evernham Motorsports to take over as Jarrett’s crew chief. Anyone want to lay any odds on how long this one will last? Ford has been with Bill Elliott for the past three seasons since Elliott moved to Evernham Motorsports and Dodge, scoring four wins with the veteran driver, and helping Elliott in considerably raising the level of his performance.

Actually, Evernham bought Ford away from RYR to begin with. The best part of the scenario is that Ford was a member of Jarrett’s 1999 championship team. Jarrett, Yates, and Ford all feel that Ford can contribute a lot to Jarrett’s future resurrection as a competitive driver. Another member of the championship team, Barrie Swift, has also rejoined RYR in the capacity of shop foreman.

I guess I’m being a little too hard on Jarrett, I think what we have here is a need to find a better realization of the term “veteran driver.” Jarrett isn’t the only veteran driver on the circuit who takes his troubles out on the crew chief. I remember Jeff Burton dumping Frankie Stoddard like he was a hot potato, blaming Stoddard for his inability to produce on the race track, after Stoddard guided him to all of those wins. Appropriately, Burton hasn’t won a race since dumping Stoddard.

Then there were the problems between Ben Leslie and Mark Martin this season, with Leslie finally getting the boot. A fan wrote to me and told me about all of the yelling and complaining between Martin and Leslie over the No. 6 in-car radio earlier this season. When a veteran driver falls into a slump, as the majority of them do, the crew chief is the first to get the blame for the driver’s inabilities.

Isn’t it strange the three I have mentioned are all Ford drivers? What may even be more strange than that is the deal where Jack Roush has been trying to get the new top end for the Ford engine approved for the past two years with NASCAR saying no for no apparent reason other than to appease Dodge. NASCAR has recently okayed the new Ford engine part. Then we have Matt Kenseth winning the championship on consistency alone, with just a solitary win, driving a Roush Ford without the new engine part…….. Go figure….. We’ll see how Jarrett and the Roush drivers do in 2004 with the new engine, and will also await their next complaint that’s responsible for choking their performance.

Who’s Looking…….

As per usual, there are a few teams looking for sponsors and drivers, and a few driver’s looking for rides before the beginning of the new season. For an overall rundown on the 2004 situation, the best place on the Internet for this info is at   Jayski’s  .

Cup drivers Johnny Benson, John Andretti, Jeff Green, and Steve Park are searching for driving situations for the 2004 season. Benson was bought out of his multi-year contract at MBV Motorsports so the team could put up-and-coming Busch Series driver Scott Riggs in the driver’s seat. Riggs didn’t do as well as expected in the Busch Series Championship standings, but MBV had already committed. Let’s hope they didn’t make as big of a mistake as I think they did, and let’s hope that Johnny Benson can find a driver’s seat soon. I’ve never been a big Johnny Benson fan, but I have to respect him as one of the cleanest racing drivers on the circuit.

John Andretti was dumped out of the No. 43 Dodge ride earlier in the 2003 season by Petty Enterprises in lieu of Christian Fittipaldi. He had a brief run in the No. 1 DEI Chevy, but nothing concrete has come forth for him as a permanent ride in 2004.

We’re all aware of the big switch between Jeff Green and Steve Park that took place in the 2003 season, Neither driver set the track on fire in their rides before and after the switch, and its doubtful that any winning team will opt to put either driver in a ride for the 2004 season. Don’t be surprised to see either or both of them in the Busch Series next season. Park has even a worse chance than Green, due to the severity of his head injury that put him out of racing for several months. Park has never really gotten over the severe concussion that may plague him for the rest of his live. I don’t really know what Jeff Green’s problem is. He had the best of both worlds driving equipment from both Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Richard Childress Racing. If a driver can’t find any success driving for either one of those teams, it’s really doubtful that he’ll find success anywhere in Cup racing.

The following teams have been, or are, searching for major sponsors:

• Bel-Car Racing, No. 54 Ford
• Dale Earnhardt Inc., No. 1 Chevrolet
• Petty Enterprises, No. 44 Dodge
• Ultra Motorsports, No. 7 Dodge
• BAM Racing, No. 49 Dodge
• Bill Davis Racing, No. 23 Dodge
• Roush Racing, No. 99 Ford
• Morgan McClure Motorsports, No. 4 Chevrolet
• Andy Petree Racing No.’s 55 & 33 Chevrolets

There are a few more teams on the sponsorship hunt, but the above mentioned are the mainstream teams that will be most likely to find sponsorship. The No. 1 DEI Chevrolet may have found enough sponsorship to guide it through 2004 by running a different major sponsor on the car at five or six week intervals. I haven’t received any official word on this yet, but a story was out to that affect not to long ago with Ty Norris hoping to have solved his 2004 sponsorship problems.

11/30/03……….. There’s a good chance that A. J. Foyt Racing will be throwing in the towel where it’s Cup Series efforts are concerned with its No. 14 Dodge. Rookie driver Larry Foyt, A. J.s’ 26 year old son, finished 41st in points, with a season high finish of 16th at homestead-Miami in the 2003 season finale.

A. J. Foyt Racing has had a rough time with its attempt to re-enter Cup racing. I well remember when Foyt came back into Cup racing. Everyone was curious as to who the driver of his new team would be. Amid lots of controversy and media attention about his up coming driver choice for his new team, Foyt made the statement that he wasn’t going to rely on an “recycled” Cup drivers for his new team. That statement made by Foyt back in the early fall of 1999 created quite a splash in the NASCAR racing world.

Foyt turned to an open wheel driver for his return to Cup in the 200 season. Scott Sharp was slated to start out the season in Foyts’ No. 14 Conseco sponsored Pontiac, but didn’t last long enough to make Foyts’ first race at Daytona. Mike Bliss ended up at the wheel, but was soon replaced early in the first season by none other than “recycled” driver Dick Trickle. Lets face it folks, Trickle had been recycled several times.

Over the three seasons that Foyt has been trying to work his way back into Cup, Foyt has had lots of drivers, from Kevin Lepage to Mike Wallace. It’s no surprise to hear of the possible upcoming demise of the No. 14 team, and that Harrah’s won’t be coming back as a sponsor in 2004.

A downward spiral seems to be the norm for Valvoline. A few seasons ago, the oil company was the sponsor for Mark Martin’s No. 6 Roush Racing Ford. As the racing technology progressed and successful team owners began demanding more money per season from their primary sponsors, Valvoline opted to leave the high priced Roush racing for a cheaper team.

Valvoline decided that they could get just as much exposure with a team called MB2 Motorsports and decided to buy into the team, purchasing half of the No. 10 Pontiac driven by Johnny Benson, which then changed the name of that team to MBV Motorsports and put the Valvoline logo on the car as primary sponsor.

Even though Benson had his best season, and even managed to garner the first win for the team, they bought the mediocre veteran Benson out of the final year of his contract and hired an up-and-coming Busch Series driver by the name of Scott Riggs. At the time the decision/deal was made, Riggs was leading the Busch Series driver’s point’s standings. When the last race rolled around separating the men from the boys, Riggs ended up in sixth place, a far cry from the championship.

Regardless of how his Busch Series season panned out, Riggs will be driving the No. 10 Valvoline Chevrolet this coming February at Daytona. The Valvoline people have a new rookie driver in the seat of the No. 10 as well as a rookie crew and a crew chief with limited experience in Cup racing. Doug Randolph, Riggs’ crew chief in the Busch Series on the No. 10 Nestles Ford has been signed along with his crew to work with Riggs on the No. 10 Cup Chevrolet.

The Valvoline people have gone from a winning driver and championship contender with Mark Martin, to a rookie driver with a rookie crew. Randolph has worked on Cup teams before, but without much success. He was a car chief with Hendrick Motorsports, a crew chief for Bill Davis Racing’s second team, and a crew chief briefly for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabatas.

Five teams in transition during the off season have a lot of work to do. The five teams who have formerly fielded Pontiacs now have to switch their models and re-skin their chassis. Some of the teams had already built Pontiacs for the 2004 season as per the changed 2004 rules. Then, late in the season, General Motors decided that they were pulling Pontiac out of NASCAR racing after an unsettling disagreement with NASCAR concerning its demands of $1 million per race from Pontiac to have their Grand Prix act as official pace car. General Motors, in so many words, told NASCAR to go fly a kite!

The No. 01 team owned by MB2 Motorsports, who also own half of the No. 10 with Valvoline, will be switching both of its Pontiac models to Chevrolet for the 2004 season. The No. 01 U. S. Army sponsored Chevrolet will be driven by Joe Nemechek and will be powered with engines from Hendrick Motorsports. Jerry Nadeau, the former driver of the No. 01 who was critically injured last May in the Richmond race, isn’t expected to be rehabilitated to the extent of being able for handle a full time ride in 2004. Nadeau is expecting to run a couple of ARCA and Busch races with Hendrick Motorsports and maybe even a couple of Cup outings as well as time progresses with his rehabilitation process.

The No. 0 NetZero Pontiac owned by Gene Haas is another team that is in transition switching to Chevrolet, as it gets its GM engines from Hendrick Motorsports. The team started out last season with Jack Sprague and ended up with Jason Leffler in the driver’s seat, but Leffler was ousted this past August and Ward Burton was hired to pilot the entry. Leffler may drive an entry in the Busch Series for the team in 2004 and three-time Craftsman Truck Series Champion Jack Sprague has been hired to drive the No. 16 Chevrolet truck for Xpress Motorsports.

Leffler was ousted from the No. 0 because of poor performance, and it was amusing to see Burton fall flat on his face after he left Bill Davis Racing and took the No. 0 Pontiac ride. Burton managed to crash the car in his first three races, and his best finish with the No. 0 NetZero Pontiac was 13th. Burton only had three top tens in the 2003 season with a finish of sixth at Watkins Glen in Bill Davis Racings’ No. 22 Dodge being his best effort.

Call Wells’ PPI Motorsports No. 32 Tide sponsored Pontiac driven by Ricky Craven is another entry that is going through the switch to Chevrolet for 2004. If I’m not mistaken, Wells was one of the owners who already had some Pontiacs built for the 2004 season which he has to scrap.

The final entry having to switch is the No. 4 Pontiac owned by Morgan McClure Motorsports and formerly sponsored for several years by Kodak. The buzz around the garage area this past fall seemed to indicate that Kodak wasn’t coming back in 2004 as sponsor for the No. 4. On top of that, the team hasn’t contracted a driver for the up-coming season, or made a decision as to who will be the crew chief on the entry.