Countdown to Daytona: Owner Point Style No. 18 (David Stremme)

Welcome back… Welcome back… Welcome back…

That’s right NASCAR fans, on Day 20 of my Top 35 preview, we welcome back an old friend to the Sprint Cup Series.

David Stremme returns to the big league with a different team in 2009 after taking a one-year hiatus from NASCAR’s top series (albeit, not by choice though).

If you want to talk about some big shoes to fill, Stremme feels your pain. He enters 2009 in the car that won the Daytona 500 one year ago with Ryan Newman behind the wheel.

Stremme also enters 2009 with a car that won’t have any logos on it. (More on that in the news section.)

Last season, Stremme was seen on Saturdays in a Rusty Wallace Inc. car, after losing his job at Ganassi Racing. It didn’t take long for him to return to the Cup Series, and it may not take long for him to be booted back out if he doesn’t succeed.

Here is a look at today’s team:

Today’s Spotlight: No. 12

Team: Penske Racing

Driver: David Stremme

Sponsor: Verizon

Driver 2008 Stats: Because Stremme only raced once in the Cup Series last year (a 28th place finish at the spring race in Talladega), I decided to include in Nationwide stats. Stremme earned $913,000 in 2008 with 16 top-10 finishes, five top-fives and an average finish of 15th.

In his previous two seasons in the Cup Series, Stremme managed only three top-10 finishes (all of which came in his sophomore season).

News: Just as I wrote my story about not much news happening at Penske Racing, when I wrote about Stremme’s teammate Kurt Busch in yesterday’s preview, out came the news.

Verizon has completed the purchase of Alltel, and has opted to continue sponsoring the No. 12 Dodge, without any logos on it. When the cellular company bought out the previous sponsor Alltel, it was not allowed to re-brand the car.

(Sprint has a clause in its agreement, that as the title sponsor for the series, no other cell phone companies can sponsor a car, unless they were grandfathered in, which Alltel was, but Verizon was not. It’s just like the case when AT&T purchased Cingular and the company had to fight to allow the AT&T logos on the car for one season.)

So instead, the No. 12 Dodge will be labeled as a Penske Dodge Charger, I’m sure with Verizon colors.

The good news for Verizon is that while they cannot be on the car, they can use Stremme in promotions and such, and with all the news surrounding the purchase, people will still know that they sponsor the car.

The question for Penske will be, how long does a company sponsor a car that they cannot show their logo on?

My Prediction for 2009: This is definitely a middle of the pack team. I’m sorry, Stremme and Penske fans, but the combination of Dodge with Stremme is not going to fare well this season.

Stremme struggled in his first two seasons at the Cup level, and I don’t expect 2009 to be any different. I look for this team to finish 26th to 30th.

Will this team remain in Top 35: Like most teams from here on out, there should be no problem remaining in the Top 35. Having a guaranteed spot in the first five races, and being able to set their cars up for the race, and not needing to qualify will help out greatly.

Up Tomorrow: No. 26 Jamie McMurray

This story also appears on my blog: Sports 101

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