November 13, 2009
By Nick Blake
As the 2009 NASCAR racing season comes to a close, before celebrating any champions or looking toward the 2010 Daytona 500, it doesn’t hurt to look back to a few big announcements and plans made by teams in late 2008 and even during the 2009 season that never came to fruition.
Several teams made big decisions that were suppose to help their respective organizations either improve their performance, or help a young driver along on their way to the top of the NASCAR ranks. Quietly though, those plans fell by the wayside.
For instance, take the case of Nationwide Series team Rick Ware Racing. In March, the team announced the signing of father and son duo Kerry Earnhardt and Jeffrey Earnhardt. It seemed a big deal at the time, with Kerry slated to make his debut with the team at Texas Motor Speedway for the O’ Reilly 300. Problem was, that debut never happened. Kerry was among six cars that missed the show. Kerry didn’t make his first start with the team until The Aarons 312 at Talladega. His next start with the team didn’t come until the series return to Daytona almost 3 months later. A dismal 38th place run after being caught up in an early race crash turned out to be Kerry’s last start with Rick Ware Racing.
The junior Earnhardt, and I’m talking about Jeffery, not Dale Jr. has had an even more disappointing 2009 season. In late 2008, before Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged with Chip Ganassi Racing, the plan was to run the team’s #8 Chevy in the Nationwide series with three drivers. Martin Truex Jr., Jeffrey Earnhardt, and DEI’s other development driver, 18 year old sensation Trevor Bayne. When those plans folded with the merger, both youngsters were left without a ride.
After a one off ride with Jimmy Means Racing at Bristol, Bayne found a temporary home with Michael Waltrip Racing in the team’s flagship Nationwide car, the #99.
Jeffrey wasn’t as lucky unfortunately. Scheduled for up to seven starts among various lengths of tracks, he too missed his first attempt with Rick Ware Racing at the may race in Dover, and was never in the car again. Earnhardt didn’t make his NASCAR Nationwide series debut until late August, when he drove the #40 entry for Curtis Key Motorsports at Watkins Glen, and then got his second and to date, final start of the season when he drove the same car at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. He did become the first Earnhardt to race in Canada, but it’s been almost 10 years since three Earnhardts raced each other at the same time, in the same race. (Dale Sr. Dale Jr. Kerry) (Michigan, 2000)
Jeffrey, Kerry, and Dale Jr. were supposed to make that happen a few weeks back in the Degree V12 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but Jeffrey was never in the #31 Rick Ware Racing Chevy. Neither was Kerry in a second RWR Chevy. Dale Jr. finished third after a perfect fuel strategy nearly won him the race.
A season that could have given us a better introduction of Jeffrey Earnhardt went for nothing. DEI, and I do mean Dale Earnhardt Inc., not Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, is hoping to piece together a Nationwide team out of their own shop for Jeffrey to run full time in 2010. But he’s not the only youngster with a rollercoaster 2009 and a rough outlook on the future.
African-American driver Marc Davis is the youngest team owner of all in NASCAR. He and his father Harry have had a steep ownership learning curve, and it happened fast.
After being bumped out at Joe Gibbs Racing, Marc wasn’t about to let his career wither away by sitting on the sideline. So Davis came up with a plan. Run a limited Nationwide schedule, but most of all, make his Sprint Cup debut and run a few races over there too.
Davis ran three races with his #36 Toyota in the Nationwide series, then two in the Braun Racing #10 car before suddenly falling off the map after the Nashville race. He didn’t run the Kentucky; Nashville, Gateway and ORP races for Braun as scheduled, and his Cup schedule never happened either. Scheduled to make his debut at Infineon Raceway in the Toyota Save Mart 350, his #15 Toyota was never on the entry list. Same with New Hampshire, The Davises announced that would be their next race, but it simply didn’t come together. Then, later in July, the team announced that it would run no more Nationwide races, and just focus on Cup. Unfortunately, not enough sponsorship was found, and the only NASCAR sanctioned race Davis has run since his ill fated Nashville race was the Truck race this past weekend at Martinsville, where he finished a modest 18th.
Davis hopes to run the Phoenix Truck race, but like everything these days, its sponsor pending.
Take Sean Caisse for another example. Given a chance to race at Nashville by Richard Childress, he was optimistic that the race would turn into a chance to run a couple more 2009 races, and a possible 2010 part time schedule in a RCR car paired with another driver.
But Caisse hasn’t been seen since.
It’s not always the drivers that get shuffled around. Lakeville, Minnesota based Win-Tron Racing is an ARCA team that decided to go truck racing in 2009. The team is backed by Wolfpack rentals and planned to run their #31 Chevy in three to five races. They only ran one, their debut at Dover with Scott Wimmer. They ran in the top ten in most of the race until mechanical problems resulted in a 24th place finish for the Win-Tron Racing truck debut.
Oddly enough, Scott Wimmer is returning to the #31 Wolfpack rentals Chevy at Texas Motor Speedway next week, but under the ownership of Turner Motorsports, a new team looking to run the full 2010 season with 19 year old James Buescher.
Catch my drift? You should. These types of situations happen every year. It’s frustrating for the fans of the drivers and teams to have no clue what happens when they go missing for a long period of time with no news as to when their next race will be.
In NASCAR, it’s always said that out of sight is out of mind. It’s up to the sponsors out there to take a chance and keep all these guys, and many more in business. Or more else teams and talented drivers will just keep disappearing.
P.S, I’ve got a shameless plug for you all today. I need more Twitter followers, so help me out! @NickDizzle is the name. We can talk racing and anything else on your mind.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
Comments or suggestions are encouraged. 
