2013 Nascar Silly Season

[Clive Brown]

If Buescher has a full-time seat at Turner, he's in the mix, as well.

Last year Justin Allgaier had the Turner Motorsports NNS seat, and finished sixth in the overall standings. If Buescher is to have a full-time NNS ride with the team, is Allgaier getting dumped?

If so, it looks like a tough break to me....

[FIRE]

Piquet coming season fulltime in NNS?

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by Clive Brown

Last year Justin Allgaier had the Turner Motorsports NNS seat, and finished sixth in the overall standings. If Buescher is to have a full-time NNS ride with the team, is Allgaier getting dumped?

If so, it looks like a tough break to me....

Not necessarily. I'm unsure of what Turner's NNS plans are, but they might run the 30 full-time for someone instead of having drivers share it part-time. They could also release Allgaier who, in my opinion, just hasn't accomplished a ton. Highly hyped, but after losing the Penske seat, there's been little to see (Montréal was nice, though). I think he's a decent driver, zero Cup potential, a steady hand in NNS. I'd rather see Buescher get the shot.

At the end of the day, it comes down to funding. Buescher is married to the team owner's daughter or something like that, too.

Originally Posted by FIRE

Piquet coming season fulltime in NNS?

There's that possibility, too, for Turner's #30, or for another team.

[MJ_N_09]

Looks like Robby Gordon won't be racing in Nascar this year.

Despite many doubts and rumors of closing down, Phoenix Racing confirmed they are coming back. I don't know if they will be full or part time, but they will definitely run with AJ Allmendinger. Though, Regan Smith will be in the car for the Daytona 500, no idea about any other races.

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by MJ_N_09

Looks like Robby Gordon won't be racing in Nascar this year.

I suppose that this means that Danica Patrick will be able to opt for her favoured #7 on the third SHR car....

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by Clive Brown

I suppose that this means that Danica Patrick will be able to opt for her favoured #7 on the third SHR car....

Personally, I don't understand her obsession with that number or at the very least, why people are so convinced that she will keep trying to get it.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by MJ_N_09

Personally, I don't understand her obsession with that number or at the very least, why people are so convinced that she will keep trying to get it.

I don't think its chic sentimentality; the 7 is integrated with her brand identity

She can have the 7 if she wants though.

[Jacques Rabbit]

Danica is not using the #7 next year in any series. That asset must have gone to Paul, since 7 was the age Danica was when they met.

Always wanted to see Robby and his wingman P.J. Jones run a sports car race together. I'm clinging to a notion that they both still have it (some may argue Jonesy never did, but they haven't obsessed over following his every move like I have and missed some great moments in his career).

[gomick]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Piquet coming season fulltime in NNS?

Hope so, he will be one of my favorite drivers in the series

[Jacques Rabbit]

Danica Patrick is going to Turner Motorsports for ten races instead of RCR.

Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet will go to JR Motorsports with Great Clips.

Turner won three races with three drivers in 2012's NNS, though the wins came at Daytona (a ten car-wreck in the final corner), Road America (road course ringer), and Montréal (a race that ran into tons of overtime and had more wrecks than Talladega).

I am not trying to discredit any of those three races or wins. Just saying they may not be fully indicative of Turner's ability to win NNS races; consider that Kasey Kahne took a total of 0 wins this year for them.

Anyway, really no reason for me to be talking about Patrick and wins in the same post. She has an allowance for slightly more excuses at Turner than RCR...but only just...

[Jacques Rabbit]

More on Turner: Buescher will stay in the Camping World Truck Series and run part-time in NNS. The team has the Rheem sponsorship now, so who knows where that leaves Cale Gale.

Turner also has the option of doing a fourth truck. Perhaps for Kyle Larson (Jeb Burton and Miguel Paludo are in the other two).

Still unclear what their NNS plans really are. Buescher and Patrick both doing limited schedules, with nothing else confirmed. I assume Allgaier comes back, but it's hard to say if there will be another car now that Great Clips is gone.

Also in NNS, Travis Pastrana has a full-time ride a Roush-Fenway in the #60. Trevor Bayne will be in the #6.

[Clive Brown]

Buescher and Patrick could of course both run limited NNS programmes in the same Turner Motorsports car, thus leaving a second Turner car for Allgaier in which to run for the Drivers' Championship....

Other news is that apparently Danica will definitely be running the #10, as opposed to the #7, in Cup, regardless of any plans Robby Gordon might or might not have. Sells fresh #10 merchandise, I guess.

Regan Smith will not now be running the #5 for Jr. Motorsports in NNS; the #5 will be run on the car to be shared between Kasey Kahne and Brad Sweet, in order to provide continuity with Kahne's NSCS ride. Regan Smith's car will instead bear the #7 left available by Danica moving up to Cup.

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Also in NNS, Travis Pastrana has a full-time ride a Roush-Fenway in the #60.

[gomick]

Guess he is s brand name driver... Good to see Bayne get a full time gig!

[Clive Brown]

The publicity shot accompanying the Pastrana announcement is truly nauseating. I guess it is an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic than the present core NASCAR market.

Surely Trevor Bayne's ride was confirmed some time ago, at the same time that Stenhouse Jr.'s move to Cup was announced? Over the past couple of seasons, it seems that Stenhouse has overtaken Bayne in the RFR/Ford pecking order, despite Bayne's Daytona 500 win.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by Clive Brown

The publicity shot accompanying the Pastrana announcement is truly nauseating. I guess it is an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic than the present core NASCAR market.

Please define that because I am not sure what that is anymore...

Surely Trevor Bayne's ride was confirmed some time ago, at the same time that Stenhouse Jr.'s move to Cup was announced? Over the past couple of seasons, it seems that Stenhouse has overtaken Bayne in the RFR/Ford pecking order, despite Bayne's Daytona 500 win.

I do like Bayne, and I wouldn't call the 500 win a fluke, but it has been his one defining moment while Stenhouse Jr has shown more potential and better results consistently in the same amount of time.

[MJ_N_09]

Cassill and Kvapil remain with BK Racing.

[Clive Brown]

I see the existing core NASCAR market as being predominantly white, male, middle-aged and blue-collar; Travis Pastrana's appeal is surely to a younger market.

I believe NASCAR would like to appeal to that younger, more affluent, market to attract more blue-chip partners and sponsors.

[gomick]

Originally Posted by MJ_N_09

Cassill and Kvapil remain with BK Racing.

What do we think of Cassill as a driver? He is only young & he never really came up thru trucks/nationwide did he?

[Jacques Rabbit]

Originally Posted by gomick

What do we think of Cassill as a driver? He is only young & he never really came up thru trucks/nationwide did he?

He's highly rated on certain Internet forums, but I don't buy it.

He didn't do much with Hendrick in NNS, didn't do much with Phoenix to make you think he was finishing anywhere better than the equipment should, and was outperformed by Kvapil last year. Don't see much there.

Cassill came up by being a test driver for Hendrick's Cup cars, so a different path. He hasn't made a huge case for that method of development, despite theories that the transition to Cup is too difficult without the experience in that particular car. Heard the same arguments about F1, that an F1 tester would be better than a GP2 driver...I guess it's all individualized, really. Some need one things, others another.

He's a good guy, though.

[Clive Brown]

I agree, he's a difficult guy to rate. I thought that he and Kvapil were much of a muchness last year, and Kvapil too is difficult to rate. Good in trucks, but hasn't really shone in Nationwide or Cup.

As Jacques Rabbit says, you need to feel that a driver is getting rather better results than his or her equipment merits in order to be confident in their deserving to progress up the ladder.

[MJ_N_09]

He and Kvapil are probably cheap to pay...and/or maybe the equipment is really bad and these two are getting better results than the equipment normally would. Kvapil did have some great finishes compared to the smaller teams/normal backmarkers would.

[NaBUru38]

Fox Sports 1 is taking shape.

This season is getting silly

[Clive Brown]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

This season is getting silly

Why, don't you think that Danica's results last season in Nationwide fully justify her promotion to a full-time ride in Cup with a top team?

[NaBUru38]

Clive, I wasn't talking about Danica.

Anyway, I'll reply: she scored 4 top 10s and no top 5s in 33 races in 2012. So I'd pick Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Austin Dillon, Sam Hornish, Michael Annett or Justin Allgaier if I had a mid-pack Cup team.