Tony Stewart leaves Joe Gibbs Racing

[Double L]

It's official, Tony Stewart is leaving Joe Gibbs and going into a partnership with Haas CNC Racing. I had a feeling ole Smoke would leave Joe Gibbs and start his own team.

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/head...aas/index.html

[Mr. Ford95]

Actually this isn't new. Everyone that is in touch with NASCAR knew this was going to happen 2 months ago. It was what Gibbs Racing was not saying that was key. They were talking as if it was already a done deal that Stewart was gone. They weren't saying, "We would love to have Tony stay with us and win a few more titles and finish his career here." Instead it was, "Tony has been a great asset for Gibbs Racing and we hope to be able to keep him here." It was the same with Kyle Busch and Hendrick last year, it was what Rick wasn't saying about Kyle that gave away his future with Hendrick.

Wait till Newman accepts the 2nd ride alongside Stewart. Things will really get wild since Truex is apparently gone from DEI(sources say either he ratted his own team out at Daytona for the illegal roof or his agent ratted the team out.) We will have something like 8 drivers free next year and only 6 seats to take. Someone's career is possibly over or they are going back to the Nationwide Series for a few years.

Scott Riggs is out at Haas
Casey Mears is out at Hendrick
Jamie McMurray is out at Roush(due to NASCAR mandated 4 car limit)
Bobby Labonte, David Reutimann, Mike McDowell are undecided

[Double L]

I didn't know about the 4 car limit.

[Mr. Ford95]

Yeah, it's called the Jack Roush rule. NASCAR was afraid he was going to expand to 6-7 cars and basically take up about a quarter of the field each week. That rule goes into effect next year so Jack has to cut someone. Looks pretty good that it's going to be McMurray since Ragan is running so strong in his 2nd year, he has 3 Top 5's to McMurray's 0 and is higher in points.

[Double L]

Ahhhh I see, I don't blame NASCAR one bit, I was watching the Nationwide series race last night and the new cars look much better than the old cars. I have noticed the new cars make Talladega and Daytona much more interesting thats for sure. 8)

[Mr. Ford95]

I don't mind the new car as far as the safety aspect but NASCAR dropped the ball bad with it in the race condition R&D testing. They never put it on a 1.5 mile and bigger track under race conditions to see how it would react except for last fall's Dega race before turning the car loose full-time. Would not surprise me one bit to see guys having brake issues in 2 weeks at Indy. It's flat like Loudon but they are pushing 200 mph plus going off into 1 and 3. They had some cars with brake issues at Loudon and they were only going in at 145-150 mph.

I'm hearing the COT is going to be in the Nationwide Series within the next 2 years............stupid to me. NASCAR, if they were smart, would get the teams into a different body style and separate them from the Cup Series if they are so gungho about changing the body style. Either leave the cars the way they are right now or go with a Mustang, Vette and whatever Dodge and Toyota have for sports car bodies.

[Double L]

I agree, but I hear Nationwide is using the new car next season. I agree with Indy thats for sure! Ya know what really ticks me off about NASCAR is they changed the names of the series. NASCAR Busch and NASCAR Winston Cup goes hand in hand. I was upset that they changed it cause the new names just don't sound right. I never did get why the changed the names for I guess it was cause they didn't want to advertise alcohol and tobacco? If thats the case then why is Kasey Kahne sponsored by Budweiser and Kurt Bush by Miller Lite? Makes ya wonder doesn't it.

[Mr. Ford95]

Busch got out because they were no longer getting much of return on their investment as being a title sponsor. Winston got out due to the Federal Govt. They had to start placing no smoking ads and stuff per the govt. and it just wasn't working out at all for them. They were losing money as it was with all the govt. sanctions on the tobacco companies and so they got out since the return they were getting was not offsetting their huge losses.

[Double L]

Regardless if there are ads or not people are gonna do it cause they see other people do it. TV is just a small part of it. It's called peer pressure or better yet just wanting to fit in. Thats another topic for debate. 8)

[Mr. Ford95]

Well, explain that to the govt. to the point that they fully understand and you will be my new hero LL.

Silly Season is officially in high gear now. Right on queue Ryan Newman has announced he is done at Penske after 9 years and all signs point to the Rocket heading to fellow Indiana native Tony Stewart's team. The problem at Penske is that Alltel can no longer sponsor the 12 after this year due to the whole Nextel/Sprint fight with AT&T/Cingular. Nextel/Sprint got mad and told both Alltel and AT&T they were no longer welcome in NASCAR after this season after an agreement to let AT&T finish out the year sponsoring the 31 last season. Penske probably did not have a solid sponsor lined up and Ryan did not want to be sitting at home like Dario Franchitti on Sundays next year. I'm hearing Jack Daniels being Newman's sponsor if he goes to Tony's team and Betty Crocker on the 07 of Bowyer. The only thing I see with that situation above, (Newman not wanting to sit at home) is that whichever car he gets into, he will have to qualify on time for the first 5 races next year. Not a bad deal but if it rains or you wreck in the 150 qualifer at Daytona, your year is just about trashed right off the bat.

Got a feeling that if Tony misses the Chase this year, expect him out of the 20 car for the final few races after 'Dega and Logano to be in the car.

[Double L]

Ford please don't tempt to start writing letters to the government. I got alot on my mind that I can vent to them about. I do know more than likely Lagono is gonna go to the 20 car no doubt about it. I didn't know that about Sprint and AT&T. Sprint/Nextel isn't the best company anyway, they plain SUCK and I think that is why they sponsor NASCAR. I also heard Stewart is gonna drive part time or something like that. I think I read it on NASCAR.com.

[Mr. Ford95]

Logano is the 20 next year, JD Gibbs has already said it and so has Zippy.

The Sprint/AT&T fight looks really dumb right now. AT&T is in talks with Sprint to possibly buy'em out but things have cooled down there. If AT&T gobbles up Sprint then the whole fight looks really silly.

Stewart will go full-time for the next 2 years to get the team up and running but I suspect he will be retired in 3-5 years or at least semi-retired. He is having so much fun running the couple of dirt tracks he either owns or co-owns as it is and owning a Cup team is tough, just look at Mikey having such a tough time being a driver-owner of a 3 car team that is close to going out of business.

[Double L]

Yup thats true, soon we'll have a monopoly of cell phone providers. Might as well have a monopoly of everything.

[Mr. Ford95]

Little Bump here

JGR will announce the new driver of the #20 on Monday following Bristol. All signs point to the obvious, Joey Logano in that car. Drove a fabulous race from the back of the pack and should have had a top 10 until late in the Busch race Friday night at Bristol. Started 42nd or 43rd and was up to 11th with 25 to go before getting caught in a wreck he had nothing to do with.

Newman went to Stewart/Haas in the worst kept secret this year.

Announced today that Casey Mears is going to RCR next year and will take over the 07 Jack Daniels car and Bowyer will move into the #33 Betty Crocker car. So I was half right there.

Labonte and Reutimann are staying where they currently are and it looks like McDowell will also stay at MWR.

Two big questions have popped up, what is Ganassi going to do for the future with Dario Franchitti, and who is driving the #84 Red Bull car next year. Rumor is, Scott Speed is taking over and Allmendinger is out. In reality, would not be surprised to see Scott Speed in a Bill Davis Cup car next year for a few races while running a full Busch season in a Red Bull car. Red Bull isn't ready for a 3rd car, they have just got their current 2 running well every week. Let Speed get his feet wet in the Busch cars and do the occasional dabble in Cup like Marcos Ambrose has done with the Wood Brothers.