Allmendinger Does His "Ding," Kyle Petty Status Unknown, Silly Season Goes On

As the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup season draws closer to its conclusion, the big picture of the 2009 driver and team line up seems to get more interesting. While Silly Season has taken care of the shuffling of the spring and summer months, the fall is definitely not living short of iin excitement with driver and team lineup changes.

The first comes from the Team Red Bull Camp, where the "Dinger Watch" is on as to when lame duck AJ Allmendinger will be replaced by TRB prospect Scott Speed. It's expected that Speed will take over the wheel of the 84 car in 2009 and possibly during the last segment of this season. 

After Allmendinger's solid ninth place finish at Kansas Speedway doesn't the "boot" seem like a big bottle of wrong or just AJ's way of trying to impress his next car owner? That might mean you Chip Ganassi! I hear you need a driver in the #41 car!

Already chronicled and discussed, Allmendinger has surely stated his case to fans, media, and teams that he truly belongs in NASCAR. Maybe he accelerated too quickly in the ranks of the sport, but that doesn't not matter now.

What's important is that Allmendinger has shown his case to be in stock cars and there's no doubt that, if he has the right car and people around him, he just might be a dark horse come next year.

Then there's the sad situation at Petty Enterprises...oh I meant, Boston Ventures, with David Zucker, at the helm with Richard and Kyle Petty there probably by just name only. In a recent article published in the Winston-Salem Journal, it seems like the team has wanted to go in a different direction.

Just how extreme, you may ask?

Patti Petty said the team hasn't wanted KP behind the wheel of their cars for the past 3 years, wanting a younger driver to pilot the 45 car instead. I smell something rotten over here, and this situation, while worth watching, will only stink worse than the way their cars have run.

Is Kyle Petty solely to blame for the team's debacle? Not really. Case in point and a little history lesson: the team has struggled since the near end of the '83 campaign—long time NASCAR fans may recall how King Richard's 198th win was not exactly as genuine as it should've been, as his car's engine was oversized.

He was able to cut a relatively huge lead to mere nothingness in a matter of laps instead of a pit stop run, winning the 500 miler at Charlotte.

The engine controversy of '83 has surely set the team back and hurt it so since Richard Petty would bolt out of the PE doors from '84 to '85, taking STP, his beloved No. 43 and last bouts of winning talent to Mike Curb. Along with it went the desire to win, keep up with changes, sponsorship and years of hurt for Petty Enterprises.

And it seems like, despite the brief '90s success by the late Bobby Hamilton with wins in '96 at Phoenix and '97 at Rockingham, the team has never been able to strike up the consistent winning formula.

NASCAR fans now only seem to know that team's success  by reading articles or watching archived clips, instead of seeing it on the tube every Sunday.

Is booting Kyle Petty truly the elixir to the PE ailment? In the end, it might just turn into an ugly family and business fight if these matters don't get settled behind closed doors. Let's just hope that they've all learned from their history and that Kyle Petty doesn't bolt the doors of PE with disgust like his famous father did 25 years ago.

Lastly, how's this for another non-shocker? Paul Menard, driver of the No. 15 DEI Chevy, is reportedly leaving the team to go race in a Ford for Yates Racing! While he isn't going to set the track on fire with his track record, he obviously brings in cash and sponsorship thanks to his dad's store.

Keep an eye on things with these Homers, folks! Things are gonna look exciting in the musical chair game of "Last Racer Standing!"