10 items of interest for 2010
OK, the slate has been wiped clean and we’re all anticipating the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Anything could happen. The one solid truth about racing is that it is unpredictable.
However, there are people and issues that have already drawn our attention and we’ll be eager to see how everything plays out.
Here’s one man’s list of 10 subjects that will receive due scrutiny in 2010.
1. Danica Patrick. OK, let’s get her out of the way first. Certainly she is going to receive a huge amount of attention as she makes her first entry into stock-car racing on the Nationwide Series with JR Motorsports. She’s already received a huge amount of hype – not unexpected because of her star power – but the real issue will be how she performs. Will she succeed or be a flop?
2. Jimmie Johnson. Hey, to use the old cliché, the 2010 season will be the “drive for five” for him and his Hendrick Motorsports team. He’s already made history with four consecutive titles and since there have been no major changes on the No. 48 team, it would appear it is well-equipped for a fifth. Will it make history again or will another team claim the crown?
3. Mark Martin. He was the sentimental favorite to win the championship in 2009. Instead he finished second for the fifth time in his career. He didn’t seem to mind. He won races and, as he told us many times, had a lot of fun. In 2010 can he continue to win races, have fun and – finally – reach the summit that has eluded him throughout his career?
4. Hendrick Motorsports. Unquestionably it is the strongest team in NASCAR. With Johnson, Martin and Jeff Gordon, it swept the top three positions in the final point standings – something that had never been done. There’s no question it will be the team to beat in 2010. Will that happen? There’s no reason to think Hendrick will be any less strong than it was last season. But other organizations may well step it up.
5. Denny Hamlin. He might have given Johnson a real challenge if he had established a better record of consistency during the Chase For The Sprint Cup. Three DNFs did him in – something he knows well and that disappointed him. Late in the Chase he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team were intensely competitive, so much so that Hamlin told us he thought 2010 could be his season. Will it?
6. Carl Edwards. It seems an eternity ago that he was proclaimed as the man who would unseat Johnson in 2009. There were nine good reasons for that since he won that many times in 2008. Trouble is, he didn’t scratch last season. He finished 11th in points, 534 behind Johnson. Come to think of it, 2009 wasn’t a particularly good year for Roush Fenway Racing. Greg Biffle didn’t win either and Matt Kenseth won the season’s two opening races but failed to make the Chase. Edwards, however, was the team’s biggest disappointment. Does he turn it around in 2010?
7. Juan Pablo Montoya. He was very likely no one’s pick to make the Chase in 2009. But he told us that he and his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team intended to do just that. It happened as Montoya finish eighth in points. Was that a fluke? Montoya doesn’t think so since it was his team’s goal since the start of the season. Can Montoya make it back into the Chase? More important, will 2010 be the season in which he wins his first oval-track race?
8. Richard Childress Racing. This team struggled throughout 2010. None of its drivers made the Chase. In fact, the highest it could get was 15th with Clint Bowyer, even after midseason crew chief realignments. There have been more changes at RCR and certainly the team’s goal is not to relive the disappointments of 2009. RCR showed significant improvement late in the season and that could indicate things could be better in 2010. The question is, will they?
9. Kyle Busch. Seems he was always in the headlines in 2009 – plenty of victories. He won the Nationwide Series title, his first-ever national championship. He won four times in Cup competition but, rather unexpectedly, he did not make the Chase, which obviously disappointed him. It’s one reason why crew chief Steve Addington was given the heave-ho and that Dave Rogers is now Busch’s crew chief. How will this combination work out? It’s likely Busch will continue to win but it remains to be seen if he can race his way into the Chase in 2010 – or even challenge for the title.
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. You just knew he’d show up here. Yes, he didn’t win with Hendrick Motorsports in 2009. Yes, his cousin Tony Eury Jr. was replaced as crew chief by Lance McGrew. Yes, he’s not done much on a team with which he said he had his best chance to win races and a championship. Yes, it was said he lost his edge and his confidence was shaken. Yes, Hendrick said it would do all it could to make Earnhardt Jr. more competitive in 2010. If that doesn’t happen what will that say about Earnhardt Jr.? We will definitely be watching him in the coming season.
The are many more subjects of interest in 2010 – how will Richard Petty Motorsports perform after a merger and a switch to Ford, will the new safer car finally race better, who will be first-time winners – but these 10 people should certainly pique our curiosity over the coming season.
