Silly Season…Why My Driver?!?

My brother is a huge Ricky Craven fan.
Throughout Craven’s career he was always in the middle of Winston Cup
"silly season." Rumors he was going here, or going there, flew almost
every year. Ricky now has a stable ride and his name is excluded from any kind
of speculation. Talk for the past several years was Craven’s career was over. He
put all of that to rest with his pole at Michigan and win at Martinsville.

Being a Casey Atwood fan, I now know how
annoying the talk can be. I’m sure, like my brother had been for years with
Ricky, that my driver is a guy who can win. I know that he has the ability, he
showed that last week with his first Bud pole award at Phoenix. He stayed in the
top 3 most of the day until circumstance out of his control sent him to the
pits.

Now I ask, why would Ray Evernham want to
replace him? Atwood moved to Cup hoping to win the 2001 Raybestos Rookie of the
Year award. Though he most likely will fall short of that, you must look at his
competition. Kurt Busch was the 2000 Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of
the Year, and finished second in the overall point standings. Kevin Harvick
stepped into a winning team which has been working together for years and
finished second to Bobby Labonte in the 2000 Winston Cup standings. Harvick
jumped into a ride that was already winning races and being competitive. Casey
Atwood, well, he jumped into a new ride. New team, new car, new owner, new
program.

If Evernham replaces Atwood I believe it
will display the lack of patience this sport has. Take the #4 Kodak ride for
example. This season that car started with Robby Gordon. Gordon was released
from his contract and the team picked up Kevin Lepage. Lepage is now gone,
replaced with Bobby Hamilton Jr. And next year Mike Skinner will be taking over
behind the wheel. Whew, I’m outta breath. Why so many driver changes? Well, why
do these guys race in the first place? To win.

Winning in Winston Cup is a hard thing to
do. The sport is ruled by money and sponsors. When Evernham was with Hendrick
Motorsports, he became used to winning. Starting up his own team he expected the
same thing. The only problem is, you cannot plant a seed and expect for a flower
to be in full bloom the next day. You must give the seed water, sunlight, and
time to grow. A race team is no different.

To date, Casey Atwood has been the highest
finishing rookie five times. He has two top-10 finishes, one pole, and is 29th
in points. With talk of Atwood being replaced, no matter where he goes, his fans
know it won’t be the last of him. Just ask a Ricky Craven fan.