January 6, 2010
By Chuck Abrams
Several drivers are on the hot seat this coming year and here is my look at some of them and my thoughts on what is coming for them.
Elliott Sadler
ESad has not had much to write home about in quite some time. He has not won a race wince 2004, the same year he finished in the Chase, and has only three Cup wins to his credit. The 2009 season showed him with only one top ten and five top five finishes and another finish buried in the 20s.
Sadler joins Menard, Kahne and Allmendinger – the driver who was supposed to replace him last year before a lawsuit by Sadler ended that little team adventure.
The newly formed race team from the dregs of the Yates and RPM organizations will be the making or breaking of several race careers. Kahne is all but gone from the team and Sadler needs to do much better than another 20+ finish to save his seat in the newly formed company. Success has been a fleeting muse at RPM and a forgotten experience at Yates. Unless the new team can somehow manipulate Kahne’s wins with Allmedinger’s limited success cross all the teams, Sadler is toast. He will wind up in a ride for 2011, but not a premo ride.
David Ragan
What happened to the Anointed One? OK, so a lot of the Roush teams had an off year, but Ragan was one of the drivers to fall the farthest. Finishing in 27th place with only two top ten finishes was not what many were expecting of Ragan after narrowly missing the Chase in 2008. Ragan has talent, has his youth, and has hope for the future. But if you can’t make it at Roush where money is plentiful, where would one go to do better? There are only a handful of teams that fit that mold and none of them have openings right now. He is supposedly signed with Roush and UPS until 2011, but….
Casey Mears
Mears followed up his lackluster career at Hendrick with another yawner at RCR. His last, and only, win came in 2007 and he had a paltry 4 top ten finishes last year. Mears is still with RCR, but they are lacking sponsorship for the 07 and Mears could wind up running a limited schedule at best if Richard Childress can’t find a sponsor willing top pony up millions for a 24th place team. Mears is obviously running on borrowed time and all it will take is the next Joey Logano to drop him from a premium ride.
Kevin Harvick
Harvick has already made noise about wanting out at RCR and unless things turn around dramatically at the once proud shop, he will be gone in 2011. But Harvick has had an up and down Cup career and has other interests in his Camping World and Nationwide series teams. 2009 was his worst season since 2002 and he has not had a win since 2007. The team’s productivity fell off precipitously this past year and while no one can deny he is a fiery competitor, he may have worn out his welcome at RCR.
Sam Hornish, Jr.
How long will Roger Penske keep with the Hornish Experiment? Granted, he has improved every year and has only been in the series for three years, he is not showing a lot of success. But, Juan Pablo Montoya did not show much either until his fourth year in the series either. So if Sam does not have a JPM-like year in 2010, what will his fortune hold? And if he is not as successful as JPM in his fourth year, what will it take to keep Penske hopeful? I say somewhere between 14th and 18th place in 2010 or I have to question the good sense of keeping Sam on.
Kurt Busch
Rumor has it that he is a free agent at the end of 2010 so take this with a grain of salt if that is not true. Kurt is a winner and finished the year in fourth place with 2 wins. Not too bad and many drivers would take that. But Kurt has had some, ahem, personality clashes with his team and team owner. Many of his tirades made for some interesting audio clips during the season and he threw his departing crew chief under the bus at the end of the season in a classless move. They say winning can cure all, but one has to wonder just how much longer Roger Penske will put up with the Mouth.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
OK, his ride is not on the line this year, but if he wants to be taken seriously by the fans again he will need to step it up big time in 2010. Hendrick has never had a strong 4 car team with one of the 4 always being the red-headed stepchild. Perhaps that is what has happened to Earnhardt, perhaps not. In any case, Hendrick has said he is dedicated to making the 88 team successful -- plus I don’t see Rick Hendrick abandoning Jr. and the family ties are too close for that to happen. Jr. needs a winning season in 2010 to keep the faithful content and the naysayers in check.
Let me know your thoughts.
Drive fast, turn left and keep the shiny side up.
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