Everyone hear the gossip about the changes of drivers leaving teams next yr. It would be so COOL if The Mega Dream Team Happens. Imagine; #24 J.Gordon / #48 J.J. / #88 Dale Jr. /#5 T.Stewert / Team Hendricks would be about unbeatable. WoW!

Doug,

Everything I'm hearing says Mark Martin will drive the 5 next year. Don't get me wrong, I really respect Mark but DAMN!! Retire already. Wasn't it 3 or 4 years ago he announced his retirement? I think he should have to give back all those rocking chairs people gave him as a retirement gift.

Here are the players in what has been and will continue to be the craziest silly season ever.

Stewart
Newman
Truex
Martin
Mears
McMurry

Stewart is the wild card in all of this. I heard JD gibbs and Stewart say that he will honor his contract for next year. That was a month ago and things change very fast.

The HAAS/Stewart speculation is multiplied with the rumor that if Stewart buys in to HAAS, Newman may become the second driver or first and only driver until Stewarts contract with Gibbs is up and then Stewart would become the second driver. I don't think this is the case. See Truex for my opinion.

Newman has publically said he is not happy with Penske performance and if improvements are not made, he wants to move on. Something to keep in mind here is Penske and Dodge do not have the same relationship as Evernham and Dodge. One of those "improvements" could mean Penske changing to Toyos. That brings me to Mears.

The Mears family and Penske have had a relationship for 20 or so years. I wouldn't at all be surprised that if Newman leaves, Mears will take the 12 car.

Truex is kind of a strange deal. He is playing DEI like a fiddle. There really isn't a quality ride out there for him. Due to that fact, I think he will resign with DEI or because of his and Stewarts Bass Pro Shop relationship, he could be the one that goes with Stewart to HAAS if that move is made. For those that don't know, Bass Pro Shop and Chevy are Stewarts primary sponsors on his WOO sprint cars and Stewarts Non winged sprint. I feel because of the sponsor deal, this is the most likely case. Money talks and BS walks.

McMurry - If I was a team owner, I would rather take a chance on a new driver and grow him into the COT than hire McMurry who has proven, he can't man handle the COT. Just my $.02 on McMurry. I don't dislike the guy. I was a huge Sterlin Marlin fan when Sterlin got hurt (BTW, would have won the championship that year)so when Mc was in a Dodge, I was pulling for him. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he didn't end up with a cup ride next year.

Money money money. Sponsors are going to play a huge role in all this mess. UPS, Home Depot, Bass Pro to name a few. Catapillar has alredy signed with RCR and the 31. Home Depot has been rumored to be looking at Rousch. Ugly fact of today's NASCAR is, a driver with a big sponsor is more important than the drivers ability to drive when being hired by a team. In most cases, good drivers attract good sponsors.

One more thought to all of this. Budweiser is in finacial trouble. Will they stay on the 9 and if so, for how much longer. Miller and Coors have merged. What if that merger led to Penske running a Miller car and a Coors car or Mille/Coors going to another 2 car team. Maybe just sponsor 1 car and swap the paint scheme every couple weeks. BTW, Home Depot has closed several stores this year. Will they continue to be a sponsor?

All sorts of craziness going on behind the scenes. Keep in mind through all of this, it's not just about the drivers ability.

This is exactly why I don't buy driver gear any more. I'm not going to spend a couple hundred $$ on a driver just to have him jump ship a couple years later.

quote:

Originally posted by Doug E. Fresh:
Everyone hear the gossip about the changes of drivers leaving teams next yr. It would be so COOL if The Mega Dream Team Happens. Imagine; #24 J.Gordon / #48 J.J. / #88 Dale Jr. /#5 T.Stewert / Team Hendricks would be about unbeatable. WoW!

I totally agree...itd be a monopoly on race wins

Just want to see something change for smoke...its been a year since I had an exciting Sunday afternoon

I would like to see Truex in the 5 car.

the stock car dream team! here is a link to the story!
tony story!

All you guys that want Tony to go to HMS, let me ask you this. Why would he? The 5 car is nothing more than R&D and everyone knows it. Shrub left and look what he's done. Do you think he became a better driver in the month of off season? Every multi car team has a test car during the race. I pulled Edwards out of my fantasy line up because before the race when they actually said that who ever for Roush has the crappiest car after final practice is stuck testing different set ups during the race.

Just look at Shrub? IMHO, Stewart would be taking a step down if he left Gibbs for HMS. He has just had some really bad luck. I can think of at least 3 races off the top of my head that he would have won had it not been for something crazy. Think about Toyos dominance had he had them wins.

The best thing Tony can do is stay where he is until the end of the contract. That gives him 2 more shots at another title. I guarantee the only reason he is talking about buying into Haas is to set himself up for retirement as a driver. Look at his idol, AJ Foyt.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by CHEMIGO:
Doug,

Everything I'm hearing says Mark Martin will drive the 5 next year. Don't get me wrong, I really respect Mark but DAMN!! Retire already. Wasn't it 3 or 4 years ago he announced his retirement? I think he should have to give back all those rocking chairs people gave him as a retirement gift. [QUOTE]


Yep! I did hear that 1 as well. I agree w/ you though, I like M. Martin, but when u say ur gonna retire n then u dont. WHats up w/ that?

i dont want tony to go anywhere i am not one of his fans! but he is in it for the long run and his best way to go is to be a owner. so he can stay in nascar when he is done driving.

The media seems to think that there will be a couple announcements this weekend concerning Martin and Mears. I've heard from a couple sources that they Stewart think may be announced during the Brickyard weekend.

Well this should end all rumors of Tony going to HMS. Full time in 09 and part time in 10. I doubt Tony will share a ride in 10.

Taken from NASCAR.com

On Friday at Daytona International Speedway, team owner Rick Hendrick and veteran NASCAR driver Mark Martin announced a multi-year deal that places Martin in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 Chevrolet (watch video).

Martin, 49, who has 35 career Cup Series victories including four runner-up finishes in the championship -- as well as holding what is now the Nationwide Series' record for career victories with 48 -- will compete full time in 2009 and in a 26-race part-time schedule in 2010.

Mark Martin's in the #5 for 2 yrs. I wish he'd use the rockin chair that they give him a couple of yrs ago!

Well here it goes.

DEI is for sale. Theresa hired Bear Sterns to find a minority partner. If that doesn't work, she will sell it outright. Now before Jr nation comes unglued, keep in mind, Jr wanted 51% for free. He didn't want to pay a dime. His demand was give me 51% or I'm leaving. Well we know the rest of the story. BTW, I wouldn't have given it to him either.

The Tony Stewart news sparked up again today. It was reported that Stewart will become part owner in Haas, supposidly he wont have to pay a dime, just drive for the team. The second bit of news concerns the sponsors. He will bring Office Depot and Bass Pro Shops. The third link to this mess is that Newman will drive for Haas next year and will have Jack Daniels as his sponsor. Wow, just flippin wow.

The Sponsor go round is something like this. UPS goes to Boyer. UPS wanted Boyer not Burton because of Boyers age. Of course by now you probably know Catipillar is going to Burton. Jeff getting wards handmedowns.

Rousch is a mess. It looks like McMurry is the odd man out. All others will sign but there is talk of Kenseth actually driving for Yates. Wow, this is going to give us a headache watching the Cat in the Hat work against the rules.

Stremme and Mears are the top 2 in the running for Newman's job.

Robby Gordon is looking at a second car. Francetti is rumored as well as a couple more open wheelers.

Francetti is also rumored to take the 41 at Ganassi sending Sorenson packing. I kind of think that might happen since they pulled Reed out of the car at Infineon. If you planned to keep a driver next year, why wouldn't you want him to get as much track time as possible? Things are so bad, they had to bring in a dozen uniformed police officers to help escort fired employees out of the facility. It seems it wasn't just the 40 team that went. They cut 70 ish jobs from all 3 cars.


Stewart is still expected to make a formal announcement at the Brickyard.

Tony is expected to announce sometime today what his future plans are.

In other news and I find this one kind of alarming, the Navy has said they will not sponsor the Jr motorsports #88 nationwide car next season. Wow oh flippin wow! Would anyone like to retract their thoughts on how if Theresa would have GIVEN Jr the 51%, DEI wouldn't be in the trouble they are in? If Jr is in trouble with a sponsor, I think it is more of the sign of the times versus anything management has done.

Penske just announced Newman is leaving the company. This adds to the speculation that he will be joining Stewart.

Newman has verbally agreed to terms with Stewart Haas racing.