For several drivers, 2010 will be a make or break year.
With blue-chip sponsors slashing budgets or searching for a
greater return on investment, a driver finishing outside of the top
25 is simply unacceptable.
Certainly racers can have a run of bad luck. But when a
driver’s results are in sharp contrast to what his teammates
are accomplishing and it becomes a recurring theme, then it’s
time to reevaluate the program.
Here are four drivers on the hot seat as the season begins.
Scott Speed
Speed, 27, has a mere 40 Cup races under his
belt. Similar to AJ Allmendinger, this Red Bull racer was thrown
into the deep end in NASCAR’s Cup pool and expected to swim.
It hasn’t happened. The glaring example of Speed’s lack
of proficiency in stock cars was failing to qualify at Sonoma last
June, which forced management to purchase a ride for the driver.
One would believe a former Formula One racer could at least put on
a show at a road course. Speed finished 37th at Infineon and 22nd
at Watkins Glen. In comparison, fellow F1 pilot Juan Pablo Montoya
won his first Cup race at Infineon.
Speed has just one finish better than 15th – a top five
at Talladega last spring. His average finish last season was 28.9
and he was posted 36th in owner points, forcing Speed to qualify on
time for the first five races in 2010. Word on the street is he has
until Bristol to save his ride. If Speed can’t turn his
program around, Casey Mears, who worked with crew chief Jimmy
Elledge at Chip Ganassi, will be waiting in the wings.
Sam Hornish
Unfortunately for Hornish, 30, rumors of his
demise started just about the time the IndyCar champ transferred
full-time to stock cars. After missing the season finale at
Homestead in 2008 and falling outside of the top 35, team owner
Roger Penske was forced to purchase points from Bill Davis to
secure a spot for the No. 77 Dodge in the first five races of the
season.
While Hornish had the stability of working last season with
one crew chief, Travis Geisler, he was still adapting to someone
new calling the shots and finished 28th in the point standings.
Hornish showed improvement on flat tracks and venues where he had
raced before but overall his bad days were horrid. Seven top-10
finishes in 2009 were overshadowed by six races where
Hornish’s car ended up on the wrecker. Hornish caught the ire
of four-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, who recently said of
the driver, “He hits way too much stuff, including me, at
important times of the year. And then he's never said a
word.”
Hornish, like Speed, could have benefitted from a full season
on Nationwide Series racing before making the jump. Some pundits
have Hornish under a three-year plan similar to Montoya, where he
would flourish following two seasons to get the kinks out. Despite
Hornish’s heralded record with Roger Penske in open wheel,
there are too many development drivers in the company’s
arsenal to continue down this path without marked improvement in
2010.
David Ragan
After barely missing the Chase in 2008 —
Ragan’s sophomore season — the youngest Cup driver in
the Roush camp tanked in his third year on the tour. Yes, the
entire Roush Fenway Racing organization missed the mark; former Cup
champ Matt Kenseth missed the Chase for the first time since the
program’s inception after winning the first two races of the
year. But after securing a solid sponsor in UPS for the No. 6 Ford,
Ragan suffered two engine failures in the first seven races. The
25-year-old, second-generation Cup driver experienced two
additional DNFs over the next 10 events and struggled to remain
inside the top 30 in points before settling for 27th.
Roush enlisted veteran crew chief Donnie Wingo to replace
Jimmy Fennig for Ragan this season. Wingo led former Roush driver
Jamie McMurray to Victory Lane last fall at Talladega — the
company’s third and final win in 2009. Wingo has a strong
track record with younger drivers and will be an asset to Ragan as
the pair works to turn the team around. Ragan finished sixth in the
Daytona 500 last season and excels at restrictor plate tracks. A
strong run in the Twins and on Sunday could go a long way toward
rebuilding momentum for this squad.
Elliott Sadler
Following Sadler’s first season in the
No. 19 car, one manager quipped, ‘We’ve replaced Jeremy
Mayfield with Jeremy Mayfield’. In his three full seasons
with the company now known as Richard Petty Motorsports, he’s
posted just three top fives. His best effort in the point standings
came in 2008 when he finished 24th and team owner George Gillett
attempted to release Sadler at the end of the season despite having
re-signed him earlier that year.
Still, it’s surprising that in 11 Cup seasons, Sadler
has just one top-10 finish in the point standings and three career
wins. Certainly, Sadler’s popularity makes him attractive to
sponsors and his stats more palatable. With all of RPM’s
sponsor and driver contracts up for renewal this season, Sadler
could use his relationship with Stanley tools to his advantage when
it comes to negotiating.
However, with RPM’s alliance with Roush Fenway Racing
and the development drivers such as Colin Braun and Ricky Stenhouse
moving up the ranks, there could be other plans for the No. 19
ride.
