Some Final Thoughts on the End to the 2008 Sprint Cup Season

The Monday after the final race of the season is always bittersweet. It is a time for reflection on the year that was in NASCAR and a time to relax without the sport engulfing each and every weekend, yet at the same time, many of you are probably already counting down the days to Speedweeks 2009.

I'm not in that boat, but give it until about the second week of January. I figured I'd have one more lengthy NASCAR article before the end of 2008, and then kick off year three of my extensive preview once mid-January rolls around. Hopefully, I'll actually not make myself look like such an ass next time around haha. Anyways, here are a few thoughts extending from the end to the 60th edition of the Sprint Cup Series:

Jimmie Johnson three-peats
Love or hate Jimmie, Chad, and the 48 bunch, they have their stuff together. Each of the past two years, I have doubted they would be able to repeat, and they have resoundingly proved me incorrect.

They obviously have to be a favorite to become the first four-peat champions in series history in 2009, but there will be a long list of drivers ready to challenge them. Not to make any official 2009 predictions here, but I see Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards being VERY strong again next season.

Bowyer and Benson help a brother out
Some 10 months ago, I predicted Clint Bowyer and Johnny Benson would be the champions of the Nationwide and Truck Series, respectively. Thanks for proving me right, guys, and at least lessening the pain brought on by picking Matt Kenseth as the Sprint Cup champion.

Regan Smith takes home Rookie of the Year honors
The 2008 Sprint Cup rookie class may go down as one of the worst PG (post-Gordon). Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti made the move from the open wheel ranks, and left with their tails between their legs before the season concluded. Jacques Villeneuve didn't make it past Speedweeks.

Michael McDowell was a rolling chicane who nearly managed to kill himself in Texas qualifying. That left Regan Smith and Sam Hornish Jr. fighting for the "honor" of being 2008 Rookie of the Year, and frankly, neither deserved it.

Smith nearly won at Talladega in the fall, but otherwise struggled to finish in the top 20 on a consistent basis. Hornish seemed to regress as the season wore on (in fact, his best race may have been the season-opening Daytona 500), and will have to step it up in 2009 or he may be following Franchitti back to IndyCar.

Smith's future is uncertain after the DEI-Ganassi merger, but he is apparently a candidate for the fourth car in that revamped operation. 2009 should be more exciting with Joey Logano and Scott Speed duking it out, and Chad McCumbee may get in on the festivities as well. Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola will also run their first full Cup campaigns, but used up rookie eligibility in 2008.

Bill Elliott brings home a 12th place finish in "final" race
Awesome Bill was supposed to hang it up after this event, but is apparently open to running the occasional race with the Wood Brothers in 2009. Regardless, he gave the team one of their better runs on an intermediate track in some time, staying on the lead lap all day and moving up the leader board thanks to pit strategy at the end.

Hopefully, this is not the end of the Wood Brothers as we know it. For an organization that is nearly as old as NASCAR itself, sponsorship dollars are currently tight for next season. It would be a real shame to see this mainstay become the latest victim to the current economic conditions.

The DEI-Ganassi merger
You just knew I would weigh in on this, right? This at least stabilizes the two organizations for the time being, although they still have to piece together sponsorship for Aric Almirola and half a season on JPM's machine. Montoya could still move to the Target car, if a driver brought sponsorship to the team for the fourth car.

It will be interesting to see who Ganassi and company settle on, and I am not 100% sold on it being A.J. Allmendinger. Chip gives the DEI people an at-the-track ownership presence, seeing how the wife of the team's namesake never seemed to be around.

And he may have created a marketing dream for the Hispanic community with Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, Cuban-American Aric Almirola, and Cuban-American part-owner Felix Sabates. As for the team's on track prospects, I wouldn't expect any major gains, although Montoya seemed to be turning it around at the end of the year. Maybe GM horsepower is what pushes him over the top and into Chase contention along with Truex.

Speaking of Allmendinger, SOMEONE GIVE THE KID A RIDE
It's going to be a crying shame if A.J. Allmendinger is without a Sprint Cup ride entering the 2009 season. His performances in both the 84 car and the 10 car suggest given the right equipment, he has the ability to win races and potentially contend for a Chase berth.

George Gillett is going to have a hard time letting him walk away, and may be regretting signing Reed Sorenson for the team's third car. They could expand to a fourth machine, seeing how Kahne and Sadler are pretty much set sponsorship wise.

I read on Sorenson's fan club message board that a member had a conversation with Reed's mother, who said McDonald's was apparently going to sponsor a large number of races on the 10 car in 2009 (don't take that as official word...we all know how message boards tend to operate) in addition to the four being backed by the Air Force.

You'd think at least one or two of the multiple primaries that team had in 2008 would be coming back, so the money might be there to expand to a fourth team. But with the current economic situation, hiring new people and rapidly building the infrastructure for a new team will be extremely difficult. Of course, Gillett could just do the easy thing and fire Elliott Sadler.

Junior says the season is too long...WAA WAA
Okay, this one is a couple weeks old, but I felt the need to weigh in seeing how we just finished a nine-month long marathon to Homestead. The season is one, maybe two weeks longer than it was fifteen or twenty years ago. Of course, there are seven more races, more travel, and infinitely more off-the-track responsibilities for our pretty boy drivers.

You know what? Too bad if you think the season is too long. There are tens of thousands of boys, girls, men, and women who would love to be in the position of one of these 43 men each Sunday. They'd do ANYTHING just to get a chance at the top level of American motorsports.

If you are going to get paid millions of dollars to participate in a sport, suck it up and do whatever is asked of you because there are plenty of Americans working their ass off at two jobs just to pay the rent or grocery bill each week.

Maybe if these drivers didn't stretch themselves so thin with other ventures, or the sponsors didn't have so many outrageously stupid corporate obligations (which accomplish nothing besides turning the garage area into 40 b0ring robots, Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, and Kyle Busch), they'd shut up.

After all, driving the car requires flying to the track on Thursday night, practicing and qualifying for all of two hours on Friday, another two hours of practice on Saturday, and the race on Sunday.

Sure, there is the working out component during the week, but working out can be quite enjoyable. These guys must have forgotten where they came from. Many short track racers across the land are on the road six days a week, nine months out of the year making a fraction of the money that Sprint Cup prima donnas take in on a yearly basis. End rant.

No stage appearance at the banquet for Kenseth and Dale Jr.
One thing that often gets overlooked when considering the 12-man Chase field is the fact that the bottom two finishers do not get to speak on stage at the banquet in NYC. Kenseth was in position for a win or top five but lost out on fuel strategy yesterday, while Junior proved yet again over the past 10 races that he is one of the most overrated drivers in the sport.

Falling out with mechanical issues late yesterday did not help his push to get into the top 10. With Mark Martin coming on board for one final full-time title push in 2009, you have to wonder if Earnhardt Jr. will become fourth priority at Hendrick next season. The organization will also be looking to get Gordon back on a winning track and give Johnson a fourth straight title.

Speaking of the banquet, I haven't watched a minute of it since Rusty Wallace's final speech in 2005. The entire thing seems staged, and the drivers, crew members, and big wigs are all out of their element. Oddly enough, my first ever trip to NYC will be the day after the banquet, so I will have to see if there are any lingering side effects from the celebration.

Jeff Gordon and 24 team go winless for first time since rookie year of '93
Only the most poignant events of the mid-90s NASCAR still stick out in my mind, but I clearly remember Gordon's first win in the 1994 Coca-Cola 600, probably because that was Rusty's race to lose. Obviously, after all these years, it is strange to see the 24 bunch go this long without a victory, and I am sure they will be on their game next season.

If not, you have to wonder if Gordon will start thinking retirement, especially seeing how DuPont only reupped through '10. This was a year of big names not making victory lane...Gordon, Kenseth, and Harvick come to mind.

The COT
Obviously, I have been obsessed with football a little more than NASCAR since the beginning of the Chase, but from what I can tell, the racing has been improving. There is still a ways to go before I would call the new car a success, and without NASCAR-sanctioned testing in 2009, it will be interesting to see how much progress teams will be able to make with the car next season.

It will also be worth watching to see if NASCAR makes any changes at the end of 2009, and I think there will be a few in order. Obviously, I think removing the bump stops in order to promote the reemergence of coil bind setups will be something requested up and down pit road, but let's see if NASCAR budges or not.

An uncertain future
We're living in troubled times. Defaulted mortgages, failing banks, high unemployment, etc. NASCAR is not exempt, and the past couple months have shown us just that. There have been plenty of empty seats at recent races, teams are merging to survive, sponsorships are hard sells, and layoffs are becoming the norm for each team in the garage, even at Hendrick Motorsports.

Obviously, the effects will be seen in earnest next season, with short fields another potential side effect of the economic downturn. And I hate to make this prediction, but it may get much, much worse if any of the Big Three automakers fail.

I am going to go ahead and predict at least one will have to pull out of the sport after 2009 (I'm not sure which). You think what we see now is bad? Just wait if any or all of the Big Three are forced to rethink their NASCAR affiliations.

But you know what? NASCAR and this great country have always persevered through difficult times, and only grown stronger as a result of them. The next few years will not be a walk in the park for the sport or America, but we can all rest easy knowing that better times are on the horizon.