2012 Nascar Silly Season

[Jacques Rabbit]

Well, he won't be running for points.

Full-time in Nationwide with Kyle Busch Motorsports after their deal with Ricky Carmichael fell through. He's almost guaranteed to join Bobby Labonte as a Cup/NNS champion now; I see no way Kurt loses the title with that team and that crew chief and his talent.

[FIRE]

KBM wanted Carmichael in their car? Isn't conflict in sponsors (NOS vs Monster)?

[Jacques Rabbit]

Yes, they had actually signed him and Monster for 2012. NOS is long gone. Not sure if Monster will still be partnering with Kyle Busch in any capacity.

Kyle isn't likely to run any Truck races, so it is possible Monster/Carmichael will be on the Truck, but it seems more likely it will be a rotation that includes Kurt, Germán Quiroga, Josh Richards, Brian Ickler, and anyone else with money.

Not sure where that leaves Carmichael, but NOS is gone, and Monster was going to step up.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Aric Almirola expected to be announced as the driver of the 43 with a sponsor after the holidays, per Jim Utter.

No word on whether or not this opens the 88 ride in Nationwide. Really hope a guy like Landon Cassill could get it if Almirola vacates, though I don't keep my hopes up too high.

[MJ_N_09]

Could Almorola be bringing sponsorship from the NNS 88 over? Would be cool to see this guy get another shot at Cup.

[FIRE]

Would be nice to see him in Cup again.

[Jacques Rabbit]

I don't expect any sponsors from the 88 to follow Almirola, since the sponsors didn't come with him, are mostly there to be associated with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (i.e. Unilever, who use Earnhardt in their ads, not the drivers of the 88). I hope the 88 doesn't end up with some rotation of Cup drivers and some "meh" Nationwide guy like Josh Wise taking the rest, yet that's exactly what I think we'll get. I hope I'm wrong. I'd love to see Bobby Santos get the seat with his loose ties to the team having driven their backup as the 52 at Daytona (and did so respectably, running in the top ten for a time, getting TaxSlayer some greet free air-time on the broadcast, and returning JR Motorsports' car to them in tact). I know I'm just dreaming and being biased toward the local driver.

Xxxtreme Motorsport appear to be readying for a full-season in Sprint Cup with their #44 Chevrolets, sponsored by ADP Fighting for a Cure and ESP CO2 weight loss supplement. The team previously competed in Nationwide, most recently with Chase Austin in the #07.

Geoff Bodine will not return to Tommy Baldwin Racing, having determined that his poor performance was due to TBR's equipment, and completely independent of his racing while strapped to an oxygen tank and being a Bodine. He'll likely park his fifteen races of funding with the Sixteenth Row Motorsports team in either their 34 or 38 cars.

[DanicaFan]

Aric Almirola will be in the #43 next year. I would like to see them put Josh Wise in the #88 car in the Nationwide Series.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Xxxtreme Motorsport appear to be readying for a full-season in Sprint Cup with their #44 Chevrolets, sponsored by ADP Fighting for a Cure and ESP CO2 weight loss supplement. The team previously competed in Nationwide, most recently with Chase Austin in the #07.

Are they buying any of the dead teams' owners points, or will they have to qualify on their own merits and cross fingers they make the show?

[Jacques Rabbit]

No idea what their plans are. I have a suspicion they won't even show up at Daytona, or any other race. Seem to be a "talk a big game" kind of team...

Another "talk a big game" kind of entity, this one a sponsor, was Wave Energy Drink. They screwed Tommy Baldwin Racing out of a lot of money. They never paid him and made grand promises about franchising and all this bull****. Then they disappeared. Now they're trying to come back, this time to sponsor Kurt Busch at Phoenix Racing. I'd demand some cash up-front if I were James Finch...

Next up, we have the #88 in Nationwide that Aric Almirola will vacate. The driver will either be David Ragan or Cole Whitt. Announcement soon.

And that brings us to the Trucks. Leading candidate to drive the #18 for Kyle Busch Motorsports? Jason Leffler. I suspect they'd be real contenders. Leffler was mighty good in the Truck Series.

For something else to note, way off into the future...those Trucks might be racing at Watkins Glen in 2013. ISC is proposing a CWTS/IndyCar weekend, but again, that's not relevant to a 2012 silly season thread. Just had to post it because CWTS back on the road courses is badass. They tried to be at Road America for 2012, but the deal fell through. They also tried to be at Circuit of the Americas in 2012 with Grand-Am, but NASCAR bailed on the event for both series given the drama they have had with their F1 date. Watkins Glen also rejected CWTS for 2012, not wanting to overload their weekend that already features Cup, Nationwide, and Grand-Am.

[FIRE]

Racing Trucks on road courses. As a big fan of the Truck series I would love it but are these cars suitable for road courses?

[Matt]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Racing Trucks on road courses. As a big fan of the Truck series I would love it but are these cars suitable for road courses?

They used to do it all the time.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Trucks were made for road courses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr3FcXzQ54s

Jim Utter says that Monster Energy will still sponsor KBM next year, even though Ricky Carmichael will not be driving, so perhaps Carmichael has decided to end his somewhat embarrassing stint in NASCAR? However, Utter also says that Kurt Busch will drive in the majority of races, if not the full season...

...but if Kurt is going to be sponsored by Wave in Cup, how can he drive the Monster car in NNS?

Plus, James Finch wants to run Busch in some NNS races next year in his #1, so I wonder if Kurt will end up doing the full season anyway, even if it means splitting the year with KBM and Phoenix.

If he's full-time in NNS, he will run for the title there, since his chances in Cup aren't very good given his ride.

Smithfield Foods is likely to be the sponsor that Aric Almirola is bringing. They sponsored Bobby Hamilton, Jr. in NNS at a time through their Ekrich, Curly's, John Morrell, etc. brands.

[Clive Brown]

They understand how to run Sprint Cup and Nationwide cars on Superspeedway, cookie cutters, short tracks, and road circuits, so I don't believe for a moment that running a truck on a road circuit would faze them in the slightest.

[FIRE]

David Ragan or Cole Whitt driving the #88 Jr Motorsports Chevy in Nationwide.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Yep, they've been the leaders for the past few days. Bob Pockrass suggested today that Reed Sorenson, too, is in contention, but that's the first I've heard of that, whereas every source is saying Whitt and Ragan. Hope Whitt gets it. Not a big believer in him after his performance dropped off so much last season, but I'd rather see someone going up the ranks than back down them. There's no ladder system, just an escalator going down, filling Nationwide with "safe choices" like Sadler, Sorenson, Gaughan, etc. rather than any funded team taking a chance on someone who might actually have a future. Oh well...

[Jacques Rabbit]

Tommy Baldwin Racing announcement coming Tuesday. Dave Blaney will remain in the 36; they still plan to run the 35 full-time as well. Not sure how much they will touch on with their 2012 plans, but I believe part of it will include a Nationwide effort, more likely to be part-time than full-time. They have a few NNS cars already, just needed some funding, so perhaps they've found that.

Wouldn't be too surprised if Ryan Blaney had something to do with any NNS program. They've been looking at running Nationwide either in lieu of or in addition to K&N Pro, and you can see a plausible scenario with Seal Wrap sponsoring now that the driver they backed in CWTS, Jack Smith, has received his second and likely permanent suspension from NASCAR.

Another scenario could involve Bobby Santos, a TBR development driver and a favorite of mine. However, he has never had any kind of funding behind him, just the support of Baldwin, Tony Stewart, and to some extent Carl Edwards. I doubt they'd run him without some backing, and he himself said he wasn't pursuing sponsors; he just races because he recognizes he's not very good at the marketing side and it would just detract from the skill he does have in a racecar. Obviously, I hope it's him, but we'll have to see.

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Tommy Baldwin Racing announcement coming Tuesday. Dave Blaney will remain in the 36

Reutimann joins Tommy Baldwin Racing: Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) added NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) driver David Reutimann to the team's 2012 driver lineup alongside Dave Blaney. Still seeking sponsorship for both Reutimann and Blaney, details regarding car number, sponsors and team members will follow in the upcoming weeks. "Tommy has built a really good organization from the ground up in a really short amount of time," said Reutimann. "One of the things I like about Tommy and what's refreshing about him is that he is just a racer. There are lots of things he could be doing but instead he is at the shop every day working hard to build the organization from the ground up. There are not a lot of true racers in the garage, and he is one of them. It's the way I was raised with my Dad, so we are on the same page. I'm just really looking forward to the season and see what we can do." TBR competed in every event in the 36-race NSCS schedule in 2011 and raced into the top-35 in NSCS Owner Points, meeting the team's 2011 season goals. Blaney drove to the team's best finish of third in the October event at Talladega Superspeedway. The team also fielded a second car for five events in the second half of the season.
"Reutimann will be a great addition to our program and to Dave Blaney," commented team owner Tommy Baldwin. "Last season, we met our goal of running the entire schedule and making the top-35 in points. This season, our goals is to continue our progress on the competition side. Having two veteran drivers in Reutimann and Blaney is a very important step in our program's growth. We are still working on finding funding for next year, but having a car guaranteed in the first five races, including the Daytona 500, is a big step for our team. We had success last year with our partners. Although Golden Corral will not return in 2012, they were very happy with the exposure they received. We hope they have shown other companies the value of our program and that our program will once again align with their business objectives."
TBR competed in every race and locked the #36 Chevy in the top-35 in NSCS Owner Points. TBR also fielded a second [#35 Chevy] car for select races in the past two seasons with multiple drivers.(Tommy Baldwin Racing)
MORE: Reutimann agreed to a one-year deal for 2012. Baldwin will start the season as Reutimann's crew chief, while veteran chief mechanic Philippe Lopez would again work with Blaney. Reutimann said he and Baldwin had discussed their schedule, with start-and-parking not in their plans. "As we talked [Monday] we're looking at 26 races -- not a full season but that's something we're obviously angling towards and trying to do and we're going there to race," Reutimann said. "They have a great group of guys over there who are really working their butts off and it's really cool. It's gonna be a different side of things, but I think it'll be a good fit for me. Baldwin said on Monday that sponsorships for the full seasons and which car numbers his two drivers will use were still being determined, "we've got some things etched on paper and hopefully we can get those announced and move ahead." Accell Construction, which has been with Baldwin in limited appearances the past couple seasons, has already committed to the team. Baldwin said his team would bring a new car to the season-opening test at Daytona Jan. 12-14, probably with Blaney driving "to see how it compares to the field." Reutimann said he has also been talking to some Camping World Truck Series owners about some 2012 races in that series.(NASCAR.com)(1-3-2011)
AND Tommy Baldwin Racing has also signed an agreement to run Earnhardt Childress Racing engines for the 2012 season.(FoxSports)(1-3-2011)

.

[Clive Brown]

On the face of it , the bim will have to make the field for the 500 through one of the qualifying races. But as reigning Sprint Cup Champion, her team boss has an automatic starting place in every race in the 2012 season. So will the #14 owner's points be transferred across to the #10 to ensure that she does qualify for the 500?

If not, will SHR acquire owner's points from elsewhere?

Call me cynical if you will, but somehow I just can't envisage a situation in which she fails to qualify for the main event.

And it won't take talent to do it!

[Axeman444]

Almirola confirmed in the #43.

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by Clive Brown

On the face of it , the bim will have to make the field for the 500 through one of the qualifying races. But as reigning Sprint Cup Champion, her team boss has an automatic starting place in every race in the 2012 season. So will the #14 owner's points be transferred across to the #10 to ensure that she does qualify for the 500?

If not, will SHR acquire owner's points from elsewhere?

Call me cynical if you will, but somehow I just can't envisage a situation in which she fails to qualify for the main event.

And it won't take talent to do it!

There's no way she's gonna miss the race cause it's gonna be bad publicity otherwise. That's what I feel on that.

Also, TRG is leaving Nascar and will keep focusing on GA. MWR plans to buy the Red Bull assets. Also, R3 motorsports moves to Cup full time from the NNS. Final news for now, Cole Whitt replaced Almorola in the #88 for Jr Motorsports.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Turn One Racing is having a rough go in the CWTS world. Cole Whitt has graduated to Nationwide, which leaves the 60 empty on both the driver and sponsor fronts. Their second truck, the 66, is now on the same footing. Johnny Benson and Pure Michigan were confirmed for 2012, but Pure Michigan's gone, and that means Benson is, too.

[FIRE]

Bayne confirmed at #21 Wood Bros. So far budget for 12 races (Motocraft/Quick Lane).

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Bayne confirmed at #21 Wood Bros. So far budget for 12 races (Motocraft/Quick Lane).

Hmm, Jayski team chart said 16-18 races for them. The #6 will be run for the Daytona 500 for Stenhouse. They still have the owners points so may as well.

Germain may be gone from the trucks, but at least their Cup effort looks much stronger. Their Single car entry, the 13, will now be a Ford supported by Roush/Yates. GEICO signed through 2014 with Casey Mears and the crew chief taking contract extensions as well.

[FIRE]

From Jayski I understand they plan 16 to 18 races but have so far budget for 12.