Trouble in Turn2

A few random thoughts and notes circling around my head like those cool motorcyclists that drive in cages at the circus.

• No surprise, but Lee Spencer writes that the cost of NASCAR is still climbing.

  For the midsize teams, $10 million was nothing. For an uber power like Hendrick Motorsports, the estimates were closer to $20 million.

  Because they want to win, the most solid teams will spend that extra dollar — or thousands of dollars — to pick up one-tenth of a second of speed. And that won’t change as the teams continue to acclimate to the new car.

  At some point teams and sponsors will reach the threshold of profitability. Sure it’s fun to go fast and win some trophies, but people like Jack Roush and Rick Hendrick didn’t become millionaires through whimsy. If sponsors decide the return on investment is no longer there, where does all the money for R&D and building cars come from? The problem is only compounded when sponsors can choose between sponsoring one car of being the official fill-in-the-blank of the sport.

• In the same article Spencer also notes that Kyle Busch’s success in the CoT could be attributed to his experience in the truck series.
  

  Many Sprint Cup drivers have concluded, perhaps prematurely, that there is nothing to be gained by driving the Craftsman Truck or Nationwide Series, given the dramatic difference between the vehicles. But with the splitters on the trucks, it’s possible that there is more to discover than originally thought.

  I am surprised more drivers, especially young or inexperienced drivers haven’t found their way over to the truck series for information and seat time. Besides the splitter, the trucks also have a higher profile than the old Cup or current Nationwide cars do. Maybe more drivers will take a flyer next weekend at Martinsville when there is no Nationwide race.

• Hall of Fame Motorsports dropped the first ax of the season this week. Crew chief Brandon Thomas was replaced by Steve Boyer. The car currently sits 31st in the points. Thomas presumably will get reassigned to another position within the organization, NASCAR-ese for “we don’t want you to work on our cars, but we also don’t want you to work on other cars.”

• And finally, it’s apparent that neither Roush-Fenway-Papelbon Racing nor Petty Enterprises will exercise their past champion provisionals. [Pardon me while I virtually wad up my Tuesday post] That’s good for the sport and will certainly be popular with fans. NASCAR has to be exhaling over another bullet successfully dodged. On the track, it doesn’t bode well for the #45. Jamie McMurray and the #26 can make up 4 points on the 35th spot, but Petty sits 60 points off the trail and four other drivers also stand in the way.