The time is now for a driver change at Penske Racing
The time has come for Penske Racing to pull the trigger and replace David Stremme with Justin Allgaier in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
While Stremme has made each race this season, he is currently 31st in the Cup standings and has crashed out of four races and didn't finish the road course event at Sonoma, Calif., because of overheating.
How Stremme stays employed at Penske Racing is remarkable considering that he is driving for one of the top organizations in NASCAR and hasn't finished in the top five or even the top 10 all year.
Granted, Stremme did achieve success during his six years racing in Nationwide. In 133 Nationwide starts, Stremme recorded 20 top-five and 49 top-10 finishes. But to compile 94 starts during his Cup career and not record either a top-five or a top-10 finish is just inexcusable.
Allgaier, meanwhile, has proved that he is ready to make the jump to the Cup level by his consistency this season in the Nationwide Series. In 18 starts, Allgaier has posted three top-five and nine top-10 finishes while competing against an array of Cup drivers in addition to the series regulars. He has also proven to be pretty easy on equipment, finishing all but two races in 2009.
Add Stremme’s current pit boss, Roy McCauley, as Allgaier's crew chief and make his Nationwide crew chief, Chad Walter, his car chief, and you've got the perfect formula for a possible future Chase For The Sprint Cup contender.
