August 28, 2009
By Nick Blake
About a year ago, 11 months ago to be exact, Scott Lagasse Jr. thought he had found a home in CJM Racing, A team that was on the rise. It was supposed to be a breakthrough for him, and the team, since they took a huge risk in dumping veteran driver Jason Keller, for the younger but unproven Lagasse Jr., forming an alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing and switching to Triad (Toyota) power. The latter risk paid off, CJM can now be considered among the most respected and solid teams in Nationwide competition, after a few years of struggle simply trying to make Cup races. (Note, CJM is the team that gave David Gilliland his Cup debut one week after his breakthrough Kentucky Nationwide win in June 2006.) The driver didn’t really get them all the way there however.
Lagasse never came into his own in his time with CJM. In the final 7 races of 2008, he didn’t achieve higher than 13th at Lowe’s, and that race was the only one he finished on the lead lap. Starting off ’09 at Daytona wasn’t exactly a great beginning either, finishing, 43rd. Ouch.
Don’t get me wrong, Scott’s a talented racer. He was bounced around In the Truck series for a bit, but he learned from and drove for one of the best there ever was, the late Bobby Hamilton Sr. While the stats weren’t pretty, He gained valuable experience in NASCAR, and took it with him back to the ARCA series, in an attempt to rejuvenate his career. Mission accomplished, he earned his 1st career win at Kansas in 2007. One year later, this time driving for Billy Venturini, he won at Chicagoland Speedway. That led to his signing at CJM.
As for his demise this season, the results just weren’t adding up for a team that obviously thought the equipment was better than what the driver was giving it. But Scott believed he was doing just fine. He rebounded from a rough start to jump up from 13th to as high as 8th in points. He was a serious player for the Rookie Of The Year until Talladega, the season started to unravel just a bit. After an 8th place finish there, Lagasse never finished higher than 11th, and was stuck 12th in points, fourth in rookie points. Lagasse would plead his case that he had good runs going, only to be ruined late in the going. He had trouble closing the door on the race. He’d be running in the top ten, then get dumped out of nowhere by Michael McDowell, as was the case once. Or in ORP, he was given the notice that he was out after Iowa, and unfortunately was wrecked early in the race, racing for third with Brad Keselowski. When Iowa came, he earned what was only his fourth top ten of the season, and maybe his last, finishing 9th. Still, it couldn’t save his ride, he was out, Denny Hamlin was in.
This is where my curse theory begins. Hiring Hamlin for Watkins Glen and Michigan was a brilliant idea for both sides, as Hamlin only had once previous start for the whole season back at Las Vegas, where a late race wreck relegated him to a 21st place finish.
At Watkins Glen it appeared that CJM was closing in on its best ever finish, running third with less than 20 laps to go when a suspension part failed. Hamlin dropped out of the race, and finished 34th.
It gets worse, the very next week at Michigan, Hamlin had another stellar top ten run going, but late in the race the shifter broke. Really? The shifter? The team was able to replace a broken bolt, and get Denny back on track. The damage had been done, and even though he finished, it was in 32nd place.
And I’m still not done; Bristol was sort of a high and low point for the post Lagasse Jr. era. With Camping World Truck Series regular Brian Scott behind the wheel, broken wrist and all, Scott was running in the top 15, without a scratch on his car, when he pretty much wrecked himself trying to give Peyton Sellers the Bump and Run. The result? 30th. At least they can say it’s their best finish since Iowa.
These results for the most part seem like an odd rarity, but I know this has to be hurting Scott Lagasse Jr. It’s not easy seeing the car you used to drive in finish in the 30’s on back to back to back weekends with winning drivers. Maybe it is too early to say that taking Scott out of the car wasn’t the right decision for owners Bryan and Tony Mullet. Right now it sure doesn’t look that way.
Next up for CJM will be Andrew Ranger at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Québec. Ranger drove in this race last year For Fitz Motorsports, and drove his, and everyone else’s for that matter, rain soaked race car to 28th place when the race was called after just 48 laps. That’s not what Lagasse Jr. wants to hear, but Ranger is an accomplished Canadian road racer who won the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve last year, as well as the season championship. That’s where the appeal lies. Here’s funny stat. Despite his road racing background, Ranger’s best NASCAR finish came at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he placed 19th last Summer.
If Andrew can put together a solid run and finish on the lead lap, then he would have been successful in shutting me up. For now, if this team comes home with another 30th or so finish, it’s only going to continue baffling more people that letting Scott Lagasse Jr. go is turning out to be the wrong call.
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