2019 Robby Gordon Headquarters
Silly Season still going with 7 races left
From TURN 4 Reporter
Silly Season not slowing down anytime soon!
With 7 races left in The Chase, Nascar's Silly Season is still going strong. The major announcements have been made, Tony Stewart's departure from JGR, Ryan Newman will leave Penske, and Martin Truex Jr will give DEI,Inc one more year. Then the after shocks from the major announcements took place, Mark Martin will drive for Hendricks, Casey Mears will join RCR, and Reed Sorenson will head to GEM. Usually, that sets everything in place for the next season, however this year news and announcements are weekly. This week Paul Menard announced he's leaving DEI and joining Yates, Red Bull is dropping AJ Almendinger and will likely hire Scott Speed, Petty Enterprises is throwing Kyle Petty a retirement party, even though he still wants to stay and drive.
With 7 races left you would think there wouldn't be much left to announce, think again. There's still plenty of questions and very little time left to find the answers. Silly Season has gotten so bad that even this year Robby Gordon announced he was switching manufactures days before the season kicked off at Daytona. It takes teams months to prepare cars for the new season and Gordon switched in days and finished in the Top 10.
There's still some big questions left to be answered, the Charlotte race could beome a media frenzy.
Here's a look at some of the bigger questions yet to be answered:
Who will drive the #41 for Chip Ganassi? Ganassi has Target onboard for sponsorship, but finding the right driver will require some work. The list compiled by most rumor sites have the usual suspects looking for a ride: A.J. Almendinger, Patrick Carpantier, Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs. Currently, A.J. seems to be the front-runner, but Mayfield might be a dark horse.
Out with Petty, In with? It's no seceret the team wants an up and coming young driver and most believe it's down to two, Chad McCumbee and Michael McDowell, but Riggs could be a sleeper if he can bring sponsor State Water Heaters with him.
DEI distress? 4 teams (all locked in the Top 35) , 2 drivers signed, and 1 sponsor (Bass Pro Shop for Truex's team). It's obvious RCR will be interested in acquiring one of the teams for points from DEI, but the #15 team could be a great opportunity for an investor. There's also speculation Robby Gordon could bring his bag of sponsors and drive the #15 (likely to change to #7), or Riggs and State Water Heaters could be relief for the sponsor strapped organization.
Dodge ball? Dodge swears they're committed to Nascar's top two series, even though they're stopping support of the Truck series. Dodge's leading team,GEM, seems to be in position to buy BDR and move over to Toyota for next season. If GEM defects, look for Penske to rebound next season with tons of support from Dodge. Robby Gordon has recently been linked to Penkse as a possible satellite team or merger for 2009.
One Last Run...Mark Martin will pilot the #5 Kellogg's car next season in a last attempt to grab a championship for Hendricks, and although reports were denied, Rusty Wallace seems to have the itch to get back behind the wheel...for DEI. Past Champions Bill Elliott, and Terry Labonte have been busy all season helping bubble teams close to the Top 35 gain points by using there Champions Provisions to make races.
Expect announcement weekly through out the final 7 races, as Silly Season has become just Silly!
Silly Season not slowing down anytime soon!
With 7 races left in The Chase, Nascar's Silly Season is still going strong. The major announcements have been made, Tony Stewart's departure from JGR, Ryan Newman will leave Penske, and Martin Truex Jr will give DEI,Inc one more year. Then the after shocks from the major announcements took place, Mark Martin will drive for Hendricks, Casey Mears will join RCR, and Reed Sorenson will head to GEM. Usually, that sets everything in place for the next season, however this year news and announcements are weekly. This week Paul Menard announced he's leaving DEI and joining Yates, Red Bull is dropping AJ Almendinger and will likely hire Scott Speed, Petty Enterprises is throwing Kyle Petty a retirement party, even though he still wants to stay and drive.
With 7 races left you would think there wouldn't be much left to announce, think again. There's still plenty of questions and very little time left to find the answers. Silly Season has gotten so bad that even this year Robby Gordon announced he was switching manufactures days before the season kicked off at Daytona. It takes teams months to prepare cars for the new season and Gordon switched in days and finished in the Top 10.
There's still some big questions left to be answered, the Charlotte race could beome a media frenzy.
Here's a look at some of the bigger questions yet to be answered:
Who will drive the #41 for Chip Ganassi? Ganassi has Target onboard for sponsorship, but finding the right driver will require some work. The list compiled by most rumor sites have the usual suspects looking for a ride: A.J. Almendinger, Patrick Carpantier, Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs. Currently, A.J. seems to be the front-runner, but Mayfield might be a dark horse.
Out with Petty, In with? It's no seceret the team wants an up and coming young driver and most believe it's down to two, Chad McCumbee and Michael McDowell, but Riggs could be a sleeper if he can bring sponsor State Water Heaters with him.
DEI distress? 4 teams (all locked in the Top 35) , 2 drivers signed, and 1 sponsor (Bass Pro Shop for Truex's team). It's obvious RCR will be interested in acquiring one of the teams for points from DEI, but the #15 team could be a great opportunity for an investor. There's also speculation Robby Gordon could bring his bag of sponsors and drive the #15 (likely to change to #7), or Riggs and State Water Heaters could be relief for the sponsor strapped organization.
Dodge ball? Dodge swears they're committed to Nascar's top two series, even though they're stopping support of the Truck series. Dodge's leading team,GEM, seems to be in position to buy BDR and move over to Toyota for next season. If GEM defects, look for Penske to rebound next season with tons of support from Dodge. Robby Gordon has recently been linked to Penkse as a possible satellite team or merger for 2009.
One Last Run...Mark Martin will pilot the #5 Kellogg's car next season in a last attempt to grab a championship for Hendricks, and although reports were denied, Rusty Wallace seems to have the itch to get back behind the wheel...for DEI. Past Champions Bill Elliott, and Terry Labonte have been busy all season helping bubble teams close to the Top 35 gain points by using there Champions Provisions to make races.
Expect announcement weekly through out the final 7 races, as Silly Season has become just Silly!
Views: 15
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike/WC77 on
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Not DEI, it ain't hapenin. Listen closely Lance, Robby's ex-GM, John Story is the #3 guy at DEI. He's apparentely looking for a life raft as the DEI ship is sinking. John is not only Rob's former general manager, but he was a financial partner with Rob in the 2000 inception of Team Gordon. Is John's probable return to RGM a good thing? Depends who you ask....
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Permalink Reply by Bigzoom on
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Just my opinion...I think Robby wants to sell, but only for the right deal. The GEM deal was workable due to them buying his shop. With that said there's a lot that needs to play out. Does he end up indise the Top 35...then a Penske merger or even a satellite type team for Penske would be good. Robby repsects Roger. He could also do a similiar deal with Yates or DEI.
I know Mike says No DEI, but 95% of the time where there's smoke there's fire. I doubt he would turn down a DEI deal with a team locked in for next year if his falls out of the Top 35.
The biggest unkown is Robby's financial situation...did he get a payoff from the GEM settlement? If no, why would he let a $40 million deal go without a fight...unless something better was in the wing. Does he have sponsorship for next year? Jim Beam? Monster? Mapei?
My best guess is Robby is trying hard to stay inside the Top 35. If he succeeds he'll be back next year with some type of deal with Penske and big support from Dodge. Remember, part of the 4 year deal with GEM was sponsorship from Dodge in some sort of capacity. With GEM bolting for Toyota, this could be a huge benefit for Robby. I believe Dodge will be back next year, the've been devloping the new engine for some time and they won't just scrap the whole deal. They will move all that money from the Trucks to their Cup side. Remember, race on Sunday...sell on Monday! Nascar put Dodge back on the map when they came back to the sport, they'll focus alot on getting Dodge back into victory lane.
So, my prediction...Robby races for RGM as a satellite team under Penkse.
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Permalink Reply by TOG on
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The DEI smoke/fire is nothing more than John Story and Robby Gordon talking. Maybe John wants to come back to Robby,since DEI is sinking fast ? Who knows, but stay tuned !
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As they should. Most people who buy new cars know what they want, regardless if they have seen the ads or not.Besides, they can advertise on the internet much cheaper.
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Permalink Reply by FlyHiFlyLo on
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DEI has 4 cars and 1 sponsor... Ha Ha Ha !!!
Yates has 2 cars 3 drivers
RGM has 1 car and 3/4 sponsors
Penske has 2.5 cars and 2 sponsors.
Ganassi has 2.5 cars and 1.5 sponsors
Roush has 5 cars 5 sponsors 5 drivers but can only run 4 cars.
GEM has 4 sponsors 4 drivers and 2.5 cars.
RCR and Hendrick are the only balanced teams....
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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on
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Well, Roush has one more season where they can run five...
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Permalink Reply by James Lepich on
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Yates has 3 cars and 3 drivers Menard is their third team.
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