Word on the street has Tony Stewart leaving Gibbs after this season, which would be a season earlier than his contract lets him. Of all the things Tony has done in his career I think this would have to garner the most "huhs?" Not only because he's leaving a proven winner in Gibbs, but because he is rumored to be going to Hass/CNC racing. I bet you can't name who is currently driving for them without googling it? There's my point.
First, Tony Stewart is getting the best Toyota equipment out there. I don't think it's any coincidence that both of his teammates have won races this season and all three of them are sitting at the top of the Championship table. They're getting awesome equipment. The only direction I see Toyota going is up, despite the protests from all the ignorant fans of NASCAR. Why would you leave that? To come fourth in Chevy's hierarchy? This is how is looks at Chevy: 1.Junior 2.Junior's teammates 3.RCR 4. Tony. I don't care how good you think Tony is or how much money he might bring to the table, it wouldn't be any comparison to what the spotlite that the Hendricks boys bring to the table. So he's leaving a proven team who is definitely getting the best equipment the manufacturer has to offer to go to an unproven team with not the highest equipment for what? To own a piece of the pie? To have some kind of connection to Hendrick (CNC is a Hendrick satellite team)? For a challenge? That last reason would be the only one I would buy because if he's just looking to go back to Chevy he's dumber than I thought.
Plus, would Home Depot go with him? This has been the first season Home Depot has ever let anyone else take primary sponsorship of his car for a race? Are they fazing themselves out? With the economy are their priorities some place else? I'm not a fan of multiple sponsors so if Tony had to find another sponsor I'm sure he'd wind up with two or three primary sponsors which I personally think is stupid.
One of the articles I linked said the fact that teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are doing so well and winning races have nothing to do with it. I can't believe that's totally the case. Tony's been the big dog at Gibbs for so long that I can't imagine it's easy handing over the title to a 22 yr old. Kyle and Denny are fantastic young drivers who have every ability to carry the reins of JGR without breaking a sweat. Maybe it's better to leave and be replaced than to stay and be replaced.
Coincidentally enough, this news all came out around the same time people started speculating about my boy Martin Truex Jr's future. The boy has talent. That's undeniable. He did the right thing with sticking with DEI for the 2008 season. It showed that he's just not Junior's boy and that he was willing to take on the challenge of being the number one driver on a team. Unfortunately, his team wasn't willing to meet him half way. They're still giving him crap equipment and it just seems like business as usual at DEI. You can't blame the boy for wanting to look elsewhere. He did his time and didn't abandon the team that gave him his start in racing, but he deserves better. Rumors have him going to RCR as the fourth car. Considering RCR is currently the number one car in the Sprint Cup table, I can't see that as a bad thing. All three teams made it into the chase last season and they're just quality up and down. What I would like to see, though, is for Martin to jump on board a team who looks like they're going down to a two car team....that's right. I would be besides myself if Martin went to Gibbs. What a fleet of young talent they would have. As I've already stated, I'm a fan of Toyota and think highly of what they're doing. For Martin to get involved with that would be amazing. Whatever Martin does, though, it's only going to be for the better of his career because I don't really think he can go down with the options that will be available to him. Unless he joins that CNC/Hass racing team.;)
Silly Season starts earlier and earlier each season!
In "that's a bummer" news, Kyle Busch isn't going to run the truck race this week. It makes sense because the truck race and the Nationwide/Sprint races are in two different states. I think that's quite unfortunate because I was kind of really looking forward to seeing Kyle contend for all three titles. The thing is, I don't think him not showing up to a race is going to take him out of contention. We'll see. I don't know when I became such a fan of Kyle, but I've certainly come around on him. It seems like he's been getting on my nerves for years now but he's only 22! I think that's the reason I'm so high on him. He is STILL so young and he has so much experience already and is just now coming into the peak of his career. It's going to be incredible to watch his career because I think he's going to be a major force.
Talladega this weekend! I'm excited! Who would have thought a week off would cause so much commotion?
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