2012 Nascar Silly Season

[Jacques Rabbit]

Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. will drive the #6 for Roush-Fenway at Daytona, which means they will be keeping their owner points. NNS plans are unknown. Originally, they had planned to give Bayne a full season in NNS and Stenhouse the 21, but obviously, that's not happening. I am led to believe there will be very little NNS for anyone in the Roush camp in 2012; I know Edwards was planning to be part-time anyway and do more with ESPN, but now I'm not sure if they will have any NNS cars at all, or just run the 60 part-time for Edwards, or have Edwards/Stenhouse/Bayne split the 60...

On the subject of TBD NNS teams, Rusty Wallace Racing is not looking good for 2012. Larry Carter has departed from the team to join Hendrick. Steven Wallace has indicated that they're still working hard, but it's been rough...seems like the typical message to the public saying "yeah we're really ****ed unless some magical sponsor comes along."

Can't say I'd actually miss Steve out on the track, or Rusty having a team he can make completely biased remarks about in his commentary.

Johanna Long will be in the ML Motorsports #70 for 21 NNS races. The other 12 will be that weird ML Motorsports/Jay Robinson Racing entry where Dennis Setzer gets to sleep with Derrike Cope's girl, that weird Dodge-like-thing that raced everything from Talladega to Nashville to Montréal.

Speaking of Mr. Cope, Creation-Cope are now a Ford team. Creative Recycling or something to be the sponsor when they do run, which will probably just be the Bud Shootout and a few entries at Martinsville that they will withdraw from when they realize they're an automatic FTQ.

[Jacques Rabbit]

And there it is, a few hours after my post: Rusty Wallace Racing/Rusty Wallace Inc. will not field any cars in any NASCAR series after 2012.

Michael Annett still has some backing from Pilot, so he may land elsewhere. Steven Wallace, on the other hand, has nothing but a terrible résumé and a last name.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Can't help but get the feeling Nationwide is getting thinner by the season. Be interesting to see what the regular star-and-park count end up at - I counted 15 at one race this season.

[kurski]

Former A1GP driver Salvador Duran making a comeback NASCAR Corona Series, Escuderia Telmex Racing Team?

Duran raced in the 2010 NASCAR Mexico Series for Citizen-DHL team.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

Can't help but get the feeling Nationwide is getting thinner by the season. Be interesting to see what the regular star-and-park count end up at - I counted 15 at one race this season.

Of course. It mimics the Cup schedule, and as such, as starting to cost Cup money. Young drivers can't afford that, and most of the sponsors and team owners would rather take these recycled guys from Cup like Elliott Sadler or Reed Sorenson who they know are safe picks over gambling on a young driver. It's becoming a series for Cup washouts. No one goes to Nationwide climbing the ladder anymore; they're only coming the other way from the top on down. Now Cup's gotten inbred; no new young talents come in, and you have to hustle like Landon Cassill with "test driver" roles like this is F1 or something, while starting-and-parking some ****ter until you can earn your way up with team owners who are paying no attention since these Cup drivers seemingly have infinite shelf-lives and never need to be replaced...

It's truly a mess. You can have the big show be the big show, and I understand the need for a development series running on some of the big tracks to get drivers acclimated, but Nationwide/Truck need to find ways to be more affordable, and a shorter schedule of shorter races condensed a bit more regionally would go a long way toward that. The fact is, NNS is trying to be a big boy, and while it is the second most-watched racing series in the U.S., it's still consistently in the 1.0 - 1.5 range in the Nielsens, so you are not getting enough exposure to justify the cost of trying, and the teams, not NASCAR, are the ones that feel that, and will be the only bearers of that cost until NASCAR realizes that a generation of young future stars got lost in all of this and they're forced to sell you an aging Jimmie Johnson and a geriatric Tony Stewart five or ten years from now.

[GTRMagic]

So what is the comparative cost of a Sprint Cup team compared to a Nationwide one?

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So what is the comparative cost of a Sprint Cup team compared to a Nationwide one?

Just read over @ Speedtv.com 20M versus 6M.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Depends if you build your own equipment or not. Both of those are on the low end.

I guess what I should have said was that the cost to do Cup with respect to the exposure for a sponsor and the cost to do Nationwide with respect to the exposure for a sponsor are not equal. It costs too much to do Nationwide given the actual value of a sponsorship there with the TV viewership they have. Not saying that Cup's costs are perfect, but it's closer to what you can get sponsors to pay than Nationwide is.

[FIRE]

Truck season around $2M?


I would not be surprised if NASCAR terminates Nationwide or Trucks in coming 5 years.

[Paradise City]

With Edwards is possibly not competing at all in Nationwide and Kyle certainly isn't. It would be nice to see the series in shape this year.

[FIRE]

I like the new Geico livery
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2012/13cup.htm

I wondered myself also why Geico never joined one of the big teams.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Truck season around $2M?

I would not be surprised if NASCAR terminates Nationwide or Trucks in coming 5 years.

I wouldn't be, either. CWTS was created to run at short tracks and a few road courses in markets that Cup/Nationwide either didn't go to or had outgrown. However, CWTS no longer does that, and now they're supporting three national series when they'd be better served by two.

Originally Posted by Paradise City

With Edwards is possibly not competing at all in Nationwide and Kyle certainly isn't. It would be nice to see the series in shape this year.

I still insist the problem was never the Cup drivers; it was the ex-Cup drivers who are filling sponsored seats that could have gone to young drivers. I'm not a big JR Motorsports guy or a Cole Whitt fan, but I'm impressed they turned down David Ragan to give a young guy a shot.

Originally Posted by FIRE

I like the new Geico livery
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2012/13cup.htm

I wondered myself also why Geico never joined one of the big teams.

I like it, too. Nice to see them using the actual corporate colors rather than something random.

GEICO don't join a bigger team because they don't want to pay that much. I'm sure they could get a two-race deal with a big team if they wanted to, but I'm glad they stick to sponsoring the majority of the season with a smaller team than disappearing into a rotation of sponsors for a big one.

[Speedworx]

Geico have been with Germain for a while. Its nice to have some loyalty. Glad they have resigned Mears (finally a team thats backing him).

Also glad they dumped Toyota (underpowered crap) and got with Ford.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

GEICO don't join a bigger team because they don't want to pay that much. I'm sure they could get a two-race deal with a big team if they wanted to, but I'm glad they stick to sponsoring the majority of the season with a smaller team than disappearing into a rotation of sponsors for a big one.

GEICO is owned/controlled by the Oracle of Omaha Warren Buffett isnt it? I somehow doubt that business would spend anything more than it could get away with...

Are they returning to IndyCar too?

And it remains a surprise that the number #13 is in use here.. quite obviously nobody involved is superstitious at all...

[Jacques Rabbit]

What's incredible to me is that they cancelled their CWTS involvement (a full season) to increase their Cup involvement...and added a total of one Cup race for next season.

Kurt Busch will run the "big" Nationwide races with Phoenix Racing, starting with Daytona. It is reported that Kyle Busch will drive for his own team in those races, with Kurt driving in the rest. No CWTS for Kyle, however, and no Nationwide races with JGR.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

What's incredible to me is that they cancelled their CWTS involvement (a full season) to increase their Cup involvement...and added a total of one Cup race for next season.

If you play with the maths, a round of the Nextel Cup (at the quoted $20m a year minimum operating cost) is ~$556k per round.

If a Camping World Truck Series effort costs the quoted $2m a season to operate... there seems to have been leakage of ~$1.45m somewhere

Maybe some more of those awful teev ads with the gecko?

[HJJ]

Good story on the money involved for tracks.

http://nascar.speedtv.com/article/cu...r-track-terms/

[Jacques Rabbit]

Interesting read, thanks.

Saw in the sidebar that Leffler is confirmed at Kyle Busch Motorsports, as had been posted here weeks ago. However, he's only in for fourteen races, as the other eight remain unsponsored. Media release reads as though Leffler could run more if there's funding, but since most funding comes attached to a driver, it's more likely someone else will drive the rest of the year.

Good opportunity for Leffler, though. I think he'll win races with KBM.

And the man who loves all of this? James Buescher.

He won't have Austin Dillon, Cole Whitt, Todd Bodine, Johnny Benson, or Jason Leffler to contend with for the overall title. That isn't to say Ty Dillon, Johnny Sauter, Ron Hornaday, and/or Matt Crafton can't mount a title charge, as could a breakout driver like Parker Kligerman.

Have a feeling CWTS will be a lot of fun next year, especially given that Kyle Busch will run zero races and Kevin Harvick will likely only run about two.

[MJ_N_09]

http://www.jayski.com/schemes/paintschemes.htm Many Cup schemes are out. Which ones do you like so far and which are bad? We've already given the thumbs up on the GEICO colors, so yeah.

[FIRE]

I like these ones:

#48 Lowes/Kobalt Tools (black version)
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2012/48cup.htm

#55 Aaron's (white bonnet version)
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2012/55cup.htm

#1 Bass Pro/Tracker boats
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2012/1cup.htm

#13 Geico
http://www.jayski.com/schemes/2012/13cup.htm

[Paradise City]

Day-glo isn't my thing with the 13. Like the Johnson colours.

[Jacques Rabbit]

In numerical order, I like:

#10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
#11 FedEx Office Toyota (the blue/purple one)
#22 Pennzoil Dodge (the old-school Las Vegas paint scheme, not the regular one)
#24 DuPont Chevrolet (twenty year one, not the regular)
#27 Menards Chevrolet

Not a big fan of the #13 or the #16, but both are big improvements from 2011. The #99 Cheez-It and Kellogg's cars are the worst paint schemes I have seen since Bobby Labonte ran the Go-Gurt car.

Here are some paint schemes that Jayski does not have yet:
Cup
#1 Belkin Chevrolet
#7 SPEED Energy Dodge
#31 BB&T Chevrolet
#44 ADP Chevrolet (Xxxtreme Motorsports - may field Chase Austin)
#44 ESP CO2 Chevrolet (same as above)
#51 Phoenix Construction Chevrolet
#75 Creative Recycling Ford (Uncle Derrike)
#95 WRL Ford (Scott Speed)

NNS
#2 OneMain Financial Chevrolet
#3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
#11 Dollar General Toyota (also the #18 and #20; same scheme)
#38 Great Clips Chevrolet

CWTS
#3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
#18 Dollar General Toyota
#22 Darrell Gwynn Foundation Chevrolet
#29 Draw-Tite/MOPAR Dodge
#29 Reese Towpower/MOPAR Dodge

[Jacques Rabbit]

Also, Lee Spencer reporting that investors have purchased the Red Bull team and will field David Ragan as their lead driver.

Keep in mind that Ragan has been linked as the leading driver for:

The #51, which he rejected to pursue...
The #22, which was very nearly his until Allmendinger became available, so he looked to take his seat in...
The #43, which needed funding and went with Almirola, who vacated...
The #88 NNS, which went to the promising young Cole Whitt instead, leaving Ragan to look at rides like...
The #71, which no longer exists as TRG moves back to sports cars, forcing Ragan to be linked to...
The numberless, teamless ride that may or may not exist.

[Jacques Rabbit]

In addition to Smithfield Foods and the U.S. Air Force, STP will sponsor Aric Almirola at some point in 2012. I'd assume a one-race deal at Kansas again.

http://www.pyramidracing.com/content...mirola-stp.jpg

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Also, Lee Spencer reporting that investors have purchased the Red Bull team and will field David Ragan as their lead driver.

Keep in mind that Ragan has been linked as the leading driver for:

The #51, which he rejected to pursue...
The #22, which was very nearly his until Allmendinger became available, so he looked to take his seat in...
The #43, which needed funding and went with Almirola, who vacated...
The #88 NNS, which went to the promising young Cole Whitt instead, leaving Ragan to look at rides like...
The #71, which no longer exists as TRG moves back to sports cars, forcing Ragan to be linked to...
The numberless, teamless ride that may or may not exist.

No other sources seem to say anything else about this. I really don't buy her story....yet.