Joe Gibbs Racing

Source: Scenedaily.com

Times are tough in America these days, and it has begun to affect NASCAR teams and their fans. Race shops are closing doors or laying off employees and tracks are no longer selling out.

Fans would rather sit at home than make the trip to their local racetrack. Tickets are just too expensive. However, thanks to Denny Hamlin, they won't be in 2009.

Hamlin has said he will give away tickets for free.

"They can sit in my seats each and every week at every single race track we go to," he said. "Basically, they just enter in there, and we'll choose a handful to be sitting in my seats each week."

Go to Dennyhamlin.com and enter to win tickets to any track you wish to attend this season. Hamlin will then pick the winners and a minimum of four tickets per race will be given away. Certain tracks may offer more.

Hamlin estimates that the tickets will cost him between $75 and $150, since he's offering good views of the track. And, he's paying for them out of his own pocket without getting discounts from the tracks.

You don't have to be a Denny Hamlin fan either.

"That's not to go out there and try to get more race fans," he insists. "It's not [just] for Denny Hamlin race fans; it's for everyone. It doesn't matter if you're going to be there in your Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. gear or your Carl Edwards gear. It doesn't matter to me.

"I just want to help the race fans our that don't have the means to or have gone for the last 20 years and now aren't able to because of financial reasons."

Some NASCAR tracks have said they would be cutting ticket prices and some are reducing their infield parking prices. Both are necessary moves to keep the economy and NASCAR afloat.

"It's going to take a little bit from everybody, not just the drivers," Hamlin said. "It's going to take a little bit from NASCAR, a little bit from the race tracks, a little bit out of their pocket ... back in the pocket of the people who are putting it in their pockets to begin with."

Hamlin also said he plans to spend more time with the fans and sign more autographs.

"I’ve cut back on all the other nonsense to make $15,000 or $20,000,” Hamlin said. “I have a lot more time on my schedule this year. I cut out a lot of Nationwide stuff—I’m only running three races—to concentrate on the Cup Series, winning the championship this year, and having more time to do charitable things."

“This is my year. I’m taking off," he added. "I’m taking off and not worrying about myself and trying to get back to the basics.”

Tony Stewart has been called every name in the book. Denny Hamlin might have many personalities. Kyle Busch became the most hated man in the NASCAR world in a matter of seconds. Joey Logano has even shown he can be a little short tempered.

And last week team owner Joe Gibbs showed he has just as much fire in him as his drivers, or in Stewart's case, former driver. Maybe he's the one who taught them to drive, or vice versa. Either way it runs in the company.

For those of you who don't know, Gibbs was racing a friend in a mock race when he drove the car into the corner too hard and flipped his friends car. Which just more clearly showed what the Joe Gibbs mentality is as clear as the road signs we see each day.

So what's the problem?

Well, there really is no problem unless your a fellow driver on the track with these guys. Or if your an anti-Joe Gibbs Racing or Tony Stewart fan, then you have problems. These drivers and owner are the new sheriffs in town and they're kicking ass and taking names.

If your a JGR fan or Stewart follower you probably enjoyed when they made the Nationwide Series their own personal playground. Or when Kyle Busch dominated the Cup Series to an almost title.

Other drivers proceed with caution: you're in JGR's territory.

Stewart has mixed it up with the best of them. Both on and off the track. From getting into a shouting match with Jeff Gordon to bumping and banging with Jimmie Johnson at Daytona. He's played tag with Matt Kenseth at 190 mph and has openly criticized people on national television.

He drivers his car as hard as he drives his mouth and sometimes his fist as he displayed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002. However, he still goes out and wins and for that he's unapologetic.

The same way Denny Hamlin was after he intentionally stopped on the track at Richmond in May.

Beware of stopped traffic ahead.

Hamlin is another hard nose racer who can be eerily quiet and strategic on the track until it's time to strike.

But Hamlin has also ruffled some feathers.

In May at the Lowe's Motor Speedway while racing in a Nationwide Series race, he got up close and personal with Brad Keselowski and his team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hamlin said he didn't appreciate the way Keselowski was racing him-the way he gets paid to do, by racing hard-and so under caution Hamlin tore the left front fender off the No.88 car.

Once the race was completed Hamlin said the Nationwide guys should move over for the Cup drivers. "You throw a rock, I'm going to throw a concrete block back," he said. Witnesses later said that while in the media center Hamlin openly belittled and was snotty about Keselowski—while he sat right next to him.

However, these two drivers pale in comparison to their teammate Kyle Busch and what he did in 2008.

Drivers: report wreckless driving, call #####.

We all know about the performance year he had across NASCAR's top three series but he also accomplished upsetting someone in each of those series.

Ron Hornaday, Kevin Harvick and Johnny Benson in the Truck Series after spinning these drivers out during different events. He managed to upset the entire field in a Nationwide race when he led them down to slow restarts and they crashed behind him.

And in the Cup Series, wreck Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmondy, said Jeff Gordon raced him too hard at Lowe's, engaged in bumper cars with Juan Pablo Montoya at New Hampshire and cried foul on Carl Edwards in Bristol. Busch rattled people all year with his hard nose and hard bumper racing.

The same thing that Joey Logano has begun to learn.

Logano will take over for Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota in 2009 and he has already begun to fill his shoes. He knocked Brad Keselowski out of the lead at a Milawukee Nationwide Series race and everyone is still talking about the move he pulled in the Toyota All-Star showdown.

Beware: uneven road ahead.

Everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing are proven winners: Stewart won 33 races and two championships while at JGR, Hamlin has four career wins and has finished a career high third in points which came in 2006, Busch won eight races last season (he has 12 career wins) and was a virtual lock for the 2008 Sprint Cup Championship and Joey Logano has won in everything that he's sat in, winning a Nationwide Series race last year and will now get to challenge the big boys.

Provisional drivers keep to the right lane.

They contend for wins, every week, they challenge for championships, every year. They represent their sponsors well and keep their fans satisfied. And given the chance they would probably be everyone's pick when starting their own team.

And they obviously have no problem being the center of controversy: do we really need to relive magnet gate? Nor are they afraid of making things happen. But there's nothing and no one that can do anything about it. Except go out and keep them from winning.

Until that happens though, drivers and fans beware: Joe Gibbs Racing enter the track ahead.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing is the winningest team in American open wheel racing of the past 20 years.

A team known to hire some of the best drivers in the business, they no doubt have had their fair share of success, hiring drivers such as Mario Andretti, Michael Andretti, Nigel Mansell, Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, Sebastien Bourdais, Christian Fittipaldi, Cristiano Da Matta, Justin Wilson, Oriol Servia, and Graham Rahal.

Two new drivers can be added to the list; one of them fits in perfect, the other one, not so much.

As was expected, Robert Doornbos is now officially a part of the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing operation.

He is expected to be bringing ING as a sponsor, but nothing confirmed yet.

Doornbos raced for Keith Wiggins in the former Champcar World Series, winning two races in 2007, his rookie season. Doornbos was unable to find a ride last year due to the Champcar/Indycar unification, and only made a few appearances in A1GP.

Here's the surprising new hire: Milka Duno!

The female driver from Caracas, Venezuela, has moved away from her former team, Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, to be teammates with Doornbos and Graham Rahal.

Duno began racing Indycars with SAMAX Racing in 2007, after several years of sports car racing. She only ran seven races before joining Dreyer and Reinbold Racing in 2008.

Duno has been sponsored by CITGO for a rumoured $5 million but is thought to have another big sponsor on board for '09.

Sources say that Brian Lisles, team manager at N/H/L Racing, called the Indy Racing League office on Tuesday afternoon to reveal that young Rahal will have two new team mates for the upcoming season.

"I can't tell you anything right now because we have no signatures or contracts signed but we're working on doing the best we can," said Lisles. "We do hope to have some good news for ourselves and the series by the end of the week."

The news came as a surprise to Dennis Reinbold, Milka Duno's former boss. "I don't know anything about that and, if it's true, I didn't see it coming," said Reinbold, who along with partner Robbie Buhl has fielded an Indycar team since 2000.

"We've been talking with her a lot about this season and I'm kind of surprised she didn't let us know. But I guess that's her prerogative."

Reinbold, who signed Mike Conway earlier this year, added that he is still in talks with Townsend Bell and some other drivers about '09. "I don't know what we'll end up as, one or two cars, and we're also working on some single-race deals like Indy and a couple other tracks."

No doubt some great news that through these tough economic times, N/H/L Racing will still be able to field three cars with strong sponsorship.

The competition level in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is no doubt huge as winning the championship or even making the Chase are both very difficult tasks to do.

Seems to me, with the competition level the way it is, you would need experience behind the wheel of a race car.

I look at the potential rookie of the year contenders, Joey Logano and Scott Speed, and I think to myself, "Are these guys ready for the big leagues?"

Logano is in some of the best equipment you could possibly have in NASCAR, driving the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing, a car that has been champion with Tony Stewart twice, including two wins in the famed Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Logano certainly has talent behind the wheel of a race car, winning the NASCAR Camping World East Series championship in his rookie year. He also won his first ARCA Re/Max Series race by almost lapping the entire field.

Making his debut last summer in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, it did not take him long to find his way into victory lane, winning his first race at Kentucky and getting 14 top tens in only 19 starts.

But is he ready for Sprint Cup competition?

In my opinion, no.

This is not ARCA or the Camping World Series, this is the Sprint Cup Series. The competition level is too high, drivers need more experience from either the NASCAR Nationwide Series or the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

All Logano has, is less than half a season of Nationwide Series races; definitely not enough to be successful right off the bat in the Sprint Cup Series.

In three or four years, he could be competitive. But if he is unsuccessful due to the fact he isn't ready, his confidence will plunge into a deep hole, and it will be extremely difficult to find it back.

Same goes for Scott Speed.

Speed has proved to us that he is a very talented racer, but we haven't seen much of him in Sprint Cup competition yet.

As a rookie coming from the open wheel world, Speed started his stock car racing career in the ARCA Re/Max Series.

I thought this was a good move, to prepare to be a Sprint Cup driver one day and not rush him into the big leagues.

Speed had success in the ARCA Re/Max Series, leading the points most of the time, until Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s dirty driving cost him that championship.

He also did very good in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series(now known as NASCAR Camping World Truck Series) winning a race at Dover International Speedway.

So I thought to myself, if Scott Speed goes on a few more years racing trucks or in the Nationwide Series, he could do some serious damage in the Sprint Cup Series some day.

But the day Red Bull Racing announced he would drive for the Sprint Cup team, I immediately thought it was a huge mistake.

Not only did they hire an inexperienced driver, having only one year of ARCA racing and half a season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, but they got rid of an improving and upcoming contender, AJ Allmendinger.

Now one year of stock car racing experience is definitely not enough to be a Sprint Cup driver.

He may have driven in Formula 1, but so has Juan Pablo Montoya, which except for his road course win at Infineon, hasn't done much.

Speed ran the last few races of the 2008 Sprint Cup season, finishing lower than 30th in all races except for a fourteenth place finish at the Ford Championship weekend in Homestead.

Now a team that his doing this the smart way, is Hendrick Motorsports. Brad Keselowski, when he gets into a Sprint Cup Series ride for a full season, he will be a threat.

Keselowski currently has one and a half seasons in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, finishing third in points last year. He is ready for another one in 2009.

This year he will run 10 races for Phoenix Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, just to learn.

He is expected to take the No. 5 car, after Mark Martin retires. He will then be more than ready for Sprint Cup competition and he will immediately be one to watch for.

Drivers I hope are never rushed in are Brian Clauson, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing prospect, and Justin Allgaier, developmental driver for Penske Racing.

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the biggest level of stock car racing anywhere, you need experience to bump wheels with the big boys.

He's just eighteen years, eight months and 22 days old, but Joey Logano is already set to put his name in the record books. Again.

Last May he made his Nationwide Series debut, and in his first three weeks he racked up two poles and a victory.

Next, "Sliced Bread" is set to become the youngest driver to ever start a Daytona 500.

If Logano wins, he'll shatter four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon's record, as he won it at an "aging" 25-years-old.

While many believe Logano was pushed into the Cup Series too early, replacing ten-year veteran Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing, no one can deny his intensity, focus and determination on the track.

Along with his history making start at the Great American Race, "Sliced Bread" will also be competing in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA/REMAX Series event on the same day he competes in his first Budweiser Shootout.

Despite the mounting pressure, however, the young Conneticut native, who just attended prom last spring, is keeping his head on straight.

"In this sport, you have to be more mature about it than other sports," Logano recently told ESPN's Marty Smith. "Sponsors spend millions of dollars on us."

FOX Sports, among a chorus of others, has called Logano both "the next big thing" and "the show," and the Cup Series rookie is looking to impress.

“Personally, I’ve been through a lot of pressure through my whole career really," Logano said. "From signing with Joe Gibbs Racing to last year jumping in the Nationwide car. All of that stuff is a lot of pressure. Yeah, it has ramped up a little bit more, but I think having all of that pressure has got me prepared for this moment, so it’s not as big of a shock for me.”

“For he that expects nothing shall not be disappointed, but he that expects much - if he lives and uses that in hand day by day - shall be full to running over.” - Edgar Cayce

Thanks to ESPN, Jayski, Racing-Reference, and WRAL out of the fabulous North Carolina for the quotes and information used in this article.

It’s Day 28 of my 35-Day venture around the owner points for NASCAR and today we visit the third team in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable in three days.

Denny Hamlin, the Virginia native, enters his fourth full season of competition at the Sprint Cup level.

After Tony Stewart bolted to own and drive for his own team, Hamlin became No. 2 in the rankings. Sure, he’s been there two years longer than Kyle Busch, but let’s be honest, Busch is the veteran of the group.

Hamlin is no pushover, however. He has proven in his short career that he can compete in NASCAR’s top series, yet he has lacked the sensational run he had in his rookie season, where he finished third in the points.

Last year was a step up, as he finished eighth in points, up from 12th in 2007. He also has made the Chase in all three years of competition.

This season could be a breakout one for Hamlin who is looking to prove to everyone he has what it takes to compete at the top level all season.

Here is a look at today’s team:

Today’s Spotlight: No. 11

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing

Driver: Denny Hamlin

Sponsor: FedEx
FedEx Racing
Farm Bureau Insurance (two races) — For a look at paint schemes visit Jayski.com.

Driver 2008 Stats: Hamlin won more than $5.5 million in 2008 with one win, 12 top-fives and 19 top-10 finishes. He finished eighth in the points with a 14th place average finish.

News: Another team with no news during the off-season.

My Prediction for 2009: Hamlin will make the Chase, but Gibbs’ teams have struggled to maintain the consistency once in the 10-race playoff. I predict Hamlin will finish in the same neighborhood he did this year. I’m going with somewhere between fifth and ninth.

Will this team remain in top 35?: No doubt about it.

Up Next: No. 24 Jeff Gordon

This story also appears on my blog: Sports 101

Reminder: Only 8 days until the Budweiser Shootout!

(Editor's Note: I have done one a day for the past 28 days, but will be out of town over the weekend, so I'll probably post tomorrow's later today, and Sunday's late Sunday night.)

On the Fourth of July, race fans attending the Daytona International Speedway will be in for quite a treat.

As usual, they will get to see the stars of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race four-hundred miles on the 2.5 mile superspeedway Satruday night for the Coke Zero 400.

But to add to the excitement, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series will run the Brumos Porsche 250 on Saturday afternoon, using the infield road course.

Grand-Am used to race at Daytona on the Thursday of the NASCAR weekend, but attendance was always low as the stock car fans would only travel to the track for the stock car racing.

This will no doubt solve the attendance problem as the NASCAR fans will witness the sports cars as an appetizer before watching what they came for.

It will be a one day affair for the Grand-Am crews and drivers as practice and qualifying will be done on Saturday morning.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase our exciting style of racing in front of more than 100,000 fans," said Grand-Am President Roger Edmondson. "Coming off the photo finish of last year's race, along with the exciting conclusion of the recent Rolex 24, non-traditional sports car fans will experience a terrific show."

History of the Grand-Am July race at Daytona goes back quite a while.

From 1967 to 1983, the race began at midnight on July 4 and ended later that morning to begin the NASCAR race formerly run during the afternoon.

Grand-Am revived the event in 2000 putting it on Thursday.

The Brumos Porsche 250 is round seven of 12 on the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series schedule as the Coke Zero 400 is round eighteen of thirty-six on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule.

This will no doubt be an exciting Saturday of racing and I can't wait!

Thanks to speedtv.com for comments by Roger Edmondson.

It’s getting close, NASCAR fans—the start of the 2009 season, which kicks off in nine days with the Budweiser Shootout.

Today is Day 27 of my 35-Day venture into the world of NASCAR’s top-35 teams in owner points.

Today, we look at who many have determined to be the next Jeff Gordon and the greatest thing since “Sliced Bread.”

Is anyone else tired of hearing about bread?

Joey Logano has a lot of pressure on himself this season. Not only the title he has to live up to, but he fills the seat of two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart.

While he has been wildly successful at every level he has competed in, Logano has yet to prove he can compete with the big boys in NASCAR.

Of course, he has only been in a couple races, but he didn’t fare so well. (Say what you want about the fact that he was in the No. 96, but it was more or less Gibbs equipment, and by the way—Tony Raines had no problem keeping the team near the Top 20.)

Joe Gibbs Racing now lacks the leadership role it once had with Stewart, and is left with three drivers under the age of 23. It will be interesting to see throughout the year how the three “young guns” can mature together and keep their cool under pressure.

Here is a look at NASCAR’s youngest driver:

Today’s Spotlight: No. 20

Team: Joe Gibbs Racing

Driver: Joey Logano

Sponsor: Home Depot
HomeDepotRacing.com — For a look at paint schemes visit Jayski.com.

 

Driver 2008 Stats: Logano won $262,000 in three Cup Series starts last year. He managed zero top-fives and/or top-10s and averaged a finish of 37th. In the Nationwide Series, Logano started 19 races, had one win, five top-fives and 14 top-10 finishes en route to a ninth place average finish.

 

News: Much like yesterday’s preview of Kyle Busch, this team has no major news. Logano enters the 2009 season competing for Raybestos Rookie of the Year, and with a lot of pressure on his 18-year-old shoulders.

The only real news for this team is that Logano will run the season-opener at Daytona in the ARCA Re/Max Series. He will drive the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports car in a joint partnership with Gibbs Racing. In addition to the season opener, Logano will also pilot the No. 25 at Pocono in June.

 

My Prediction for 2009: Logano will flop in 2009 and the media will have a field day writing stories about how over-hyped he was entering the season. I’m not saying he will finish the season without a couple top-10s or maybe even a top-five here and there, but he won’t do what everyone is expecting him to do—compete for wins every weekend.

His learning curve is still too sharp and he will finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 20th to 25th in the points.

 

Will this team remain in top-35: Yes—if not, he’s so grounded!

Up Tomorrow: No. 11 Denny Hamlin

This story also appears on my blog: Sports 101

Reminder: Only 9 days until the Budweiser Shootout!

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Things are starting to come together for all the teams trying to make the Daytona 500.

The big four have been set for a while.  Rick Hendrick Motorsports has his four cars all set with Mark Martin coming on board to run the full season.  Jack Roush has had his five teams ready since getting the UPS sponsorship lined up at the  end of the 2008 season.  Richard Childress Racing has expanded his group to include a fourth car with Clint Bowyer moving over from the #07 to the new #33 car with General Mills sponsorship.  Joe Gibbs Racing has the kiddie corp  of Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and ROTY contender Joey Logano ready to hit the track.

After those four owners has been where all the craziness of the off season has revolved.  It has been well documented the strife a mergers that have surrounded Chip Ganassi, Dale Earnhardt, Inc, Gillet-Evernham and Petty Enterprises.  For better or worse success or failure will follow the mergered teams depending on their ability to adapt to their new surroundings, management teams and driving team mates.

With the loss of teams like Bill Davis Racing and part time seasons from Furnature Row and The Wood Brothers, the bottom feeders saw much of the change  revolve around them.  There has been an odd resurgence of single car–privateer teams spearheaded by Tommy Baldwin’s new entry in the Sprint Cup.  While many if not most of these new teams may not even make it past Daytona; it would seem to make the fields easier for the big boys to become bigger.

Less competition outside the top four teams could make it easier for a first time winner in both the 500 and the championship.  Which leads us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Will 2009 be the magical season that Mark Martin wins the Daytona 500 and/or the Sprint Cup championship?

Let us know what you think and your comments could be used on this week’s ON PIT ROW radio show.  Listen live at www.onpitrow.com from 5 to 7pm ET.

photo credit: Icon Sports Media

What are we looking to find out as the 2009 NASCAR season approaches? What do we not have to worry about?

One whopper that we fans have been faced with for the last couple, maybe few years has been the integration of the "Car of Tomorrow", would it screw up the Daytona 500? Would it change the sport in any serious way?

Unfortunately, we likely are not, or have not, seen the "financial benefits" preached around the COT because of the economy issues hitting everything, NASCAR most definitely.

That brings me to the start of questions going into the '09 season...

1. How much (more) will the sport be effected by the hurting economy?

This is something I feel like I talk about every single week on RaceHour-and I do. Who follows NASCAR for the business aspects? I certainly do not, and it does get stale, but isn't it the only thing that plays a part in this series that we love? Fans buying merchandise for a certain driver, sponsors sticking with the sport and with teams, you know the backing.

Any fan that does not acknowledge the potential threat of a worsening economy should look to Formula One.

F1 is viewed by millions around the world, getting near Olympic-sized TV audiences, and yet they are in a huge struggle of cost-cutting, there are some events removed from the schedule, and the series lost Honda as a constructor for financial reasons.

What we're looking for in 2009?

It is probably a long list, and also one I couldn't brainstorm in one sitting anyway. I want to see if any teams go under...and in the current news-time, I am very interested in seeing how the brand new (with that new team smell) Tommy Baldwin Racing does.

Scott Riggs as driver...sponsor is who? But they're signing up for the full 36 race effort! If they can survive...which means at minimum showing up and TRYING all 36...then I feel good at the end of the year.

2. Is Stewart-Haas Racing going to succeed or be a flop?

This is probably the most interesting thing to follow with the start of a new season. Some people may not have agreed with Tony Stewart's decision to jump from the highly successful Joe Gibbs Racing.

Tony Stewart has ownership part in the team, but we have only seen Tony Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing. Tony Stewart has been a huge success at Joe Gibbs Racing...but the guy isn't getting in a Joe Gibbs Racing car in 2009. We cannot assume he will have any success at all, just because his name makes us think of success with the one Cup team he has driven for his entire career (and I don't think many people are assuming that).

Haas' CNC Racing does not have a great history of late, they've gone through drivers, not performed well, and struggle with the top 35 rule. The big thing will obviously be if the new Stewart-Hass has some level of success, how much will there be (will it be like they're hitting an invisible wall everytime they get near the top five or ten zone) and if there is not success, how long until there is?

It would be interesting to see Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman both sink...never float actually...all season long. Not to say I'm hoping for it.

3. Who's going to be hot in 2009?

This is a very simple and predictable question that refreshes every year. We've seen it over the past few years with Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, and for most of 2008 with Kyle Busch.

Even though Kyle did not win the championship, and had a less than pleasant Chase, there is no doubt we all remember how on-fire he was in the new Gibbs Toyota for most of the season. I don't like to count Jimmie Johnson in this kind of question, because he drives with the sun in the passenger seat (anyone laughing? Nobody? Okay..).

But drivers like the Kahnes, Biffles, (Edwards?), Busches, Hamlins...you get it...have their spurts that never seem to seal the deal. But the spurts are impressive and interesting to follow in the event that it does launch them to a dominating championship.

I'm not a Dale Jr. fan, but I would really like to see him be the 'hot' driver of 2009. Not by fanbase...we get it! Everyone loves him. I mean by track performance, winning, consistent points standings.

Like he said at the end of '08, they've gotten their debut over with, there are no excuses from now on. I also don't think there's a single fan who wouldn't like to see Mark Martin pop back in, steal the year, and pop back out-and the tools are all there for Mark if he still has the fire to use them.

4. Joey Logano

I might have to erase everything from No. 3 and put this name. Right next to the interesting new Stewart-Haas deal we get to follow from the start, we get to follow Stewart's replacement, Joey Logano.

There is no question that Logano belongs in the 'Cup Family'. His winning and success in his 2008 Nationwide schedule was something fresh. It wasn't David Gilliand luck, and I think David is has a great personality for NASCAR, but he just isn't Sprint Cup ilk. Yates Racing seems to agree for 2009.

Joey Logano is the real deal, quick-Nationwide winner-means-cup ready. Logano is in the right place as well-Gibbs Racing. So will he be better than Tony Stewart? Obviously we need years to answer that fairly, but right out of the box there is no reason why we couldn't get the idea of an answer to that question.

I want Joey to win, win, win, win, win, win, win...blow everyone—us, media, NASCAR bosses—away. There is a lot of hype around him, and I got chills when we learned Gibbs Racing was cutting off his limited Cup racing towards the end of 2008.

It was like saying "This is our monster, and we're putting him back in the cave to rest...this half schedule is below him. He may become tired from this...we need him strong to kill you all next season."

5. If Robby Gordon decides he doesn't like Toyota....???

I'm going to fizzle out at five...Just imagine Robby Gordon sitting in a meeting room awkwardly with a Ford rep saying "I understand I hurt you...but I want you to take me back."

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Frank Gordon

-I talk about this stuff on the show RaceHour...www.jamesmadisonshow.com