If you want some idea about how radical the changes have been among NASCAR teams during the offseason, just look back to the start of the 2008 season...
Tom Jensen
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Posted January 26, 2009
Harrisburg, NC
Tony Stewart stunned the racing world when he announced in July that he’d be leaving the powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing squad in 2009 to join perennial backmarkers Haas-CNC Racing. (Photo: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images)
Editor’s Note: Welcome to “Countdown To Daytona” and the first of 10 articles highlighting the biggest storylines going into the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. SPEEDtv.com will count down these 10 stories over the two weeks leading up to the Feb. 7 Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.
If you want some idea about how radical the changes have been among NASCAR teams during the offseason, just look back to the start of the 2008 season: Last year’s official Sprint Cup media guide listed a total of 19 different teams. Of those 19, 12 have folded, merged or cut back to part-time schedules this year.
- Bill Davis Racing and BAM Racing are gone from the Cup ranks, with BDR sold and BAM shuttered.
- Furniture Row Racing and Wood Brothers Racing each have cut back to 12-race schedules.
- Petty Enterprises and Gillett Evernham Motorsports merged to form Richard Petty Motorsports, in the process going from a collective five full-time cars to three full-time and one part-time car.
- Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates was formed by the union of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. DEI and Ganassi began 2008 with a total of seven full-time cars; they plan to field three this season.
- Yates Racing has formed an alliance with Hall of Fame Racing.
- Michael Waltrip Racing likewise is fielding a car for JTG Daugherty Racing.
- Haas CNC Racing became Stewart-Haas Racing.
The only seven Sprint Cup teams that didn’t restructure in one form or another were Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Robby Gordon Motorsports, Roush Fenway Motorsports and Red Bull Racing.
Not surprisingly, those seven combined to win 34 of 36 Sprint Cup races last year, take all 12 spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and 18 of the top-20 final positions in the 2008 Sprint Cup points standings. That’s about as clear a delineation of the differences between the haves and the have-nots as you’re going to find.
So which of these new partnerships — and in some cases, shotgun marriages — stands the best chance of working in 2009?
