NASCAR News - 1/31/2010

New faces in new places for Cup Series season

It's a fact that stability and consistency lead to success at the Sprint Cup Series level. What Jimmie Johnson and his Hendrick Motorsports team have achieved by winning championships the past four years proves that.

Change is a fact of life in every Cup season. And a double-handful of changes will be on display when Speedweeks 2010 opens at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 4.


Jamie McMurray is perhaps the most enthused about his change -- a return to Earnhardt Ganassi Racing -- which was known as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates when McMurray last drove there in 2005. McMurray annually contended for a Chase spot while he was there.

McMurray drove the past four years with Roush Fenway Racing but never was as successful in the five-car RFR format as he had been at Ganassi. He says he's hit it off extremely well with both his new crew chief, Kevin Manion, as well as his new teammate, Juan Montoya.

Martin Truex Jr. failed to make the Chase in 2009 and he's hoping the switch to Michael Waltrip Racing's Toyota fleet and joining new crew chief Pat Tryson puts them back in contention.

Paring down to NASCAR's four-team limit was only one thing that created change. Economics and family matters made for some alterations as well. With his children growing and wanting to be more of a family man, John Andretti has stepped back into a part-time schedule with Front Row Motorsports.


At the same time, team owner Bob Jenkins made an aggressive step to field three full-time teams, based on the top-35 platform established for his lead team by Andretti and crew chief Steven Lane. On top of that, Front Row has joined the Ford family this season after running a mix of Chevrolet and Dodge last year.

Travis Kvapil, who has the 2003 Truck Series championship on his resume, will be FRM's lead driver, primarily in the No. 34. Rookie Kevin Conway isn't NASCAR-approved to compete at Daytona, but will start his season at Fontana in the No. 37. Jenkins' No. 38 car is a new team that will use a mix of drivers: Andretti, Speedweeks pilot Robert Richardson Jr. and David Gilliland, who will run the majority of the races.

Ford's expansion included Richard Petty Motorsports, formerly a four-car Dodge team, merging with Yates Racing, which fielded three Fords at the beginning of last season. The transition began last fall, when A.J. Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler "test-fired" new RPM Fords.

This season creates an odd mix of backgrounds running the blue ovals for RPM. Lead driver Kasey Kahne was formerly a Ford development driver before he began his Cup career in Dodges with former team owner Ray Evernham. Sadler achieved his best Cup results driving Fords for the Wood Brothers. Paul Menard's in a Ford for the second consecutive season after a stretch in Chevrolets.

And maybe the most significant change, at least for Allmendinger, is a chance to bring Petty's famed No. 43 back to Victory Lane. That'd be a first for the former CART Champ Car star and the first since 1999 for Petty's iconic badge.

If its Web site graphics ring true, Gunselman Motorsports, a startup team re-established in 2009 by a group led by Larry Gunselman, has switched to Ford as well. The team was housed last season at Mike Wallace's shop, with Wallace also driving.


The veteran Mike Bliss earned a lot of well-deserved praise for maintaining a top-five position in the Nationwide driver standings while hopping from ride to ride after he was released from Phoenix Racing. Bliss joins Tommy Baldwin Racing's gutsy program that also switches from Toyota to Chevrolet and brings new crew chief Kevin Buskirk into the mix as well.

While it apparently remains to be seen if Phoenix owner James Finch's tribal sponsorship will continue on his Cup and Nationwide cars, Aric Almirola is earmarked to run the full season, which would be a first for the promising Tampa, Fla., native; for hard-core racer Finch's No. 09 team.

A couple drivers who broke-in with their new teams before the end of last season get a chance to start a 36-race run at Speedweeks. Former champ Bobby Labonte did most of the end-of-season races with TRG Motorsports. Labonte starts 2010 with new crew chief Doug Randolph, whom he's worked with previously at Petty Enterprises.


Brad Keselowski, who's one of three drivers -- along with Carl Edwards and Menard -- who are contesting full schedules in both Nationwide and Cup, ran three races in Penske Racing's No. 12 car last season, after replacing David Stremme. This season Keselowski will work with Penske's newest crew chief, Jay Guy, who came over from Furniture Row Racing.

Crew chiefs who "broke the ice" working with new programs at the end of 2009 also begin a full season, at Daytona. Included in this group is Todd Berrier, who had a stunningly consistent debut last fall at Richard Childress Racing when he joined Jeff Burton on the No. 31 Chevrolet.

Dave Rogers, who was a fixture with Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide program before he took Steve Addington's place as Kyle Busch's crew chief near the end of the season, nearly won with "Shrub" at Texas. Now they face a full season together after winning in Nationwide.

A driver joining new teams means they're working with new crew chiefs and that's just part of the mix as the new season begins. Several crew chiefs have also made moves to work with new drivers.


The most significant of those moves would be Addington switching from behind one Busch to another. After winning a pile of races with Kyle Busch at Gibbs', the pair began misfiring last season and the team made a change. In the offseason, Addington came to Penske's to work with Kyle's older brother, 2004 Cup champion Kurt Busch. Kurt challenged for the 2009 Cup working with Tryson, who excelled in that role despite saying before the Chase he was leaving the team at season's end.

Veteran chief mechanic Donnie Wingo simply changed pit boxes within the Roush Fenway camp, after working with McMurray last season. David Ragan's hoping the move fulfills all the promise he and former crew chief Jimmy Fennig displayed in 2008. Fennig has moved to an R&D role at RFR and Ragan, who won his first two career Nationwide Series races last year, hopes Wingo can transfer that magic to the Cup garage and their No. 6 Ford.

A couple guys with engineering backgrounds start 2010 in new crew chief roles, including first-time chief mechanics Ryan Coniam, who'll work with Regan Smith at Furniture Row, and Iain Watt, who's stepped into the position with owner/driver Robby Gordon on his No. 7 Toyota.


Gordon's involved in another major change, as he'll cut back from running the full schedule for the first time since 2001. Sponsorship woes have dictated Gordon, who's the most diversified driver in the Cup garage, may run Indy cars, rally cars, Monster Trucks and off-road vehicles this season in addition to Cup cars.

The most noticeable change that hits the Cup garage at the beginning of any season involves colors -- the color schemes that new sponsors and new combinations bring to each new campaign.

The most significant here is for 2003 champion Matt Kenseth, who'd been identified with a single sponsor since his Cup career began, until the toolmaker decided to leave the sport after last season. Thus, Kenseth will start 2010 resplendent in Crown Royal purple, mixed with Valvoline's red, white and blue.

Michael Waltrip has diversified his career to be on TV as much as behind the wheel. But in 2010 he'll make a quantum leap as he quits full-time driving -- unless a major Truck sponsor arrives. However, Waltrip's in the "new look" camp at Speedweeks as he'll make one of his final Cup Series starts in a newly-numbered No. 51 Toyota with familiar sponsorship writing.

Any new season wouldn't be complete without a new team or two and 2010 is no exception.


Michigan businessman Dusty Whitney, a longtime Keselowski family ally, has established a North Carolina base for Whitney Motorsports. Whitney will field the No. 46 Dodge for Cup rookie Terry Cook.

Raymond Key has taken the hard-working approach used by his brother, Curtis Key, with the formation of Raymond's Keyed-up Motorsports. Curtis is zeroing-in on the Nationwide Series this season while Keyed-up plans to begin with Casey Mears driving its No. 90 Chevrolet.

And a new season wouldn't be complete without an enigma or two.

Veteran team owners Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau's BAM Racing fits that mold only because of the uncertainty surrounding their return to the series. Gilliland will drive BAM's No. 49 Toyota at Daytona with Larry the Cable Guy riding along courtesy of Warner Music Nashville. After that the plan is somewhat up in the air, along with that of close ally Robby Gordon Motorsports.

Latitude 43 Motorsports has remained a mystery since the operation was named as the purchaser of the 2009 owners' points accrued by Roush Fenway's No. 26 program and McMurray. No other news has been released on this team.

And maybe the best news would be if former two-time Cup champion Terry Labonte were able to establish the part-time program he was contemplating at the end of 2009, in partnership with former team owner Billy Stavola.

source: http://www.nascar.com/2010/news/features/01/29/cup.new.faces.new.places/story_single.html#page2

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