Diverse '08 rookie class ready for NASCAR challenge
By Rea White
Monday, December 17, 2007
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Call it the open-wheel invasion if you will, but this season's rookie class enters NASCAR with a lot more racing success - and a lot more championships - than the traditional group.
Instead of a crowd of eager freshman thrilled just to have a chance to race in a major series, the majority of the drivers are seasoned veterans from other series cautiously eying a transition to the heavier, less agile stock cars. They're stepping from the glowing spotlight of success in other arenas into the harsher light of a NASCAR rookie.
Their expectations are realistic and wary as well.
No matter what they do, many 2008 Sprint Cup rookies will be in the headlines all season. The class includes three-time Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr., former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, defending Indy Racing League champion Dario Franchitti and open-wheel sensation Patrick Carpentier. NASCAR newcomer Regan Smith, who spent last season sharing the Dale Earnhardt Inc. No. 01 with Mark Martin takes sole possession of that car this season and will also compete for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year honor.
It could be the highest profile class in years. Two have won the Indianapolis 500 and three are former champions in major racing series. The transition for these drivers will be intriguing, especially since none are taking over top rides with a recent history of winning, a few do not have a locked-in position in the opening five races and only one is joining an organization that had a team in the Chase For The Nextel Cup this season.
All of the drivers raced in some Sprint Cup events in 2007 as they prepared to make their moves. Hornish (No. 77 Penske Racing Dodge), Franchitti (No. 40 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge), and Smith (No. 01 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet) will each be in the top 35 in owners points for the first five races of the season, meaning they will be locked into the field. Hornish is there by virtue of a points swap with teammate Kurt Busch.
Villeneuve, in the No. 27 Bill Davis Racing Toyota, is with the team that replaces the No. 36 in the standings, and that team is outside the top 35, as is Carpentier, who joins the No. 10 Valvoline Evernham Racing Dodge in place of Scott Riggs, who has joined another team.
These men face a daunting task - qualifying or racing their way into the Daytona 500, the season-opening premiere event. Beyond that, though, they carry the expectations of success from fans of other racing series, the hopes of drivers everywhere who will attempt to transition into NASCAR racing and the cautious eye of the men who expect the open-wheel faction to be contenders in the sport. While that may not immediately happen, it is expected in the long run.
These drivers know that. They've been quietly testing, honestly assessing the difficulties associated with a move of this nature while steadfastly focusing on figuring how to adapt to these cars. Franchitti has done so under the watchful eye of Juan Pablo Montoya, the former Formula One driver and Indianapolis 500 winner who joined NASCAR this season and won at Infineon Raceway en route to finishing 20th in the points standings.
That performance both sparks hope and caution in the minds of this new group taking a shot in NASCAR's elite series.
Learning the language of NASCAR is one of the key components to finding success in the Cup ranks. Prior to running in his opening NASCAR - he debuted in the Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway in October - Franchitti said there were some key differences between the terms one uses in open-wheel racing and the ones in NASCAR that define the same feel.
So not only do these drivers have to learn how the stock car maneuvers, but also how to tell a crew chief when it is not, and how, exactly, it feels. To do that, one must first understand how the car is supposed to feel, so many of the incoming rookies both spent time behind the wheel late this season and have logged hours at non-Cup tracks in the offseason preparing for the coming season.
"That's what I wanted and that's what they're going to do. It's what I need, there is no other way about it," Carpentier says. "Otherwise, I won't be able to race with these guys next year. That's what we are prepared for and I think that's what we'll do."
These men obviously feel they are up to the challenge - and that's what attracted some of these team owners to them. When he first started talking about adding Carpentier to the team lineup, team founder and CEO Ray Evernham outlined what made Carpentier an attractive addition to the team, despite his lack of stock-car experience.
"You don't want a guy that is so humble [that] they are scared to death of it," Evernham says. "He is not intimidated by it, but he knows what he has got to do. He is working and focusing on the right things."
The same could be said of the entire group. Villeneuve says that he's looking forward to the challenge, Franchitti says that he was searching for a new one as well. It is that which has brought them to NASCAR.
And while they certainly lack experience in stock cars and on many of the type of tracks that NASCAR offers, each of these men see that not only as a chance to learn something, but as part of the reason he decided to test himself by shifting into this series.
"You have to learn sometime," Franchitti said earlier this season. "I think it is going to be a heck of a challenge. I'm not underestimating that challenge at all. But this is the path that I've chosen."
© 2007 Street & Smith Sports Group. NASCAR Scene is published weekly, 50 weeks per year. Visit www.scenedaily.com for more information.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Dario Franchitti
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