It is over, it is all over!<\/p>\n
Now we know who is in the AFC Playoff picture after 13 teams came down to the
\nfinal game – and it even came down to multi-tasking, simultaneously watching the
\nPatriots rally against the Dolphins, the Panthers sack the Saints out of the
\nplayoffs, and the Browns show Michael Vick’s Falcons what the Dawg Pound means.
\nThe clearness of the playoff picture became more crystal than Martina McBride’s
\nlovely eyes when the Jets sacked the Packers after cheering the Patriots’ win
\nover Miami – didn’t the Pats likewise cheer the Jets’ final-game win last year?<\/p>\n
So, with the NFL playoffs – uh, p-p-p-PLAYOFFS???? to coin a famous Jim
\nMora-ism – now clear, we watch more football while preparing for the second
\nSuper Bowl, NASCAR’s big show on the East Coast. With testing less than two
\nweeks away, team lineups are (mostly) set, and everyone enters the new year
\nlooking to build on success and overcome failures.<\/p>\n
Hazarding to guess how teams will do this coming season is always a risky
\nproposition, but it’s always worth trying. A team-by-team glance at the field
\nshowsa number of changes, and also a worrisome paucity of the field:<\/p>\n
JOE GIBBS RACING<\/b> – Chevrolet<\/p>\n
#20 Tony Stewart
\n#18 Bobby Labonte<\/p>\n
JGR makes a big switch, going back to Chevrolet after six seasons with
\nPontiac. They go into 2003 as defending champions, their second title in three
\nseasons. JGR won four times in 2002 and nabbed $8.4 million.<\/p>\n
Tony Stewart is atop the racing world this off-season, and many expect him to
\nwin the title again. Given the level of parity in NASCAR, though, it is an
\nuphill task defending a title, and there is the prospect of JGR finding that
\nbeing small fish in a big engineering pond may not be as effective as their
\nprevious status as big fish in a smaller engineering pond.<\/p>\n
The big question revolves around the #18 of Bobby Labonte. With a new crew
\nchief in Michael McSwain, Labonte enters 2003 after collapsing from title
\ncontention after winning his first career short track race in April. There are
\nalso questions about McSwain, who won with Ricky Rudd but also saw some notable
\nstruggles in his tenure with Robert Yates.<\/p>\n
I expect JGR to win some races, but not approach the domination of 2000.<\/p>\n
ROUSH PERFORMANCE RACING<\/b> – Ford<\/p>\n
#6 Mark Martin
\n#16 Greg Biffle
\n#17 Matt Kenseth
\n#97 Kurt Busch
\n#99 Jeff Burton<\/p>\n
Ford will have to depend on Roush Racing more than ever now, with its fleet
\ndepleted due to several years of defections. Roush Racing is the hottest team in
\nthe sport right now, off ten wins in 2002 and with the momentum on its side. But
\none may have to keep an eye on rumblings that the Ford lost the most front down force
\nin the switch to aero-matching by NASCAR; if true, it could hurt their title
\nhopes.<\/p>\n
Kurt Busch is the real favorite for the title, with four wins and third in
\n2002 points. Busch did show some childishness at times, but his consistency grew
\nas the year elapsed and he wrapped it up with two wins in the final three races.<\/p>\n
Matt Kenseth won the most races – five – but was a surprisingly poor eighth
\nin final points; finishing higher in races he doesn’t win is a goal for the Rob
\nReiser team for 2003.<\/p>\n
Mark Martin won once and really wasn’t a serious threat for additional wins,
\nbut he hung tough in points all year and hasn’t shown any deterioration of
\nconsistency.<\/p>\n
The collapse of this outfit was Jeff Burton, winless for the first time since
\n1996 despite 14 top ten finishes. A change of crew chiefs gave Burton his first
\nnew wrench since his days with Bill and Micky Stavola, but consistency is hard
\nto find for anyone and getting more of it is what the #99 can use to get back to
\nvictory.<\/p>\n
The newest member of the Winston Cup team is Grand National and Truck
\nchampion Greg Biffle. Curiously, in his occasional Winston Cup starts in 2002
\nBiffle tended to struggle in Roush’s then-unsponsored #16 Fords (Grainger joins
\nthe team with Biffle this coming season) but showed some real moxie in Andy
\nPetree’s #55 Chevrolet and the Petty #44 Dodge.<\/p>\n
Kenseth and Busch will lead the Roush fleet, while Biffle will likely be top
\nrookie<\/p>\n
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS<\/b> – Chevrolet<\/p>\n
#5 Terry Labonte
\n#24 Jeff Gordon
\n#25 Joe Nemechek
\n#48 Jimmie Johnson
\n#0 Jack Sprague (Pontiac)<\/p>\n
GM’s designated champions, Hendrick Motorsports faltered from 2001 but still
\nwon six races and $7.7 million. The most wins for Chevrolet will again come from
\nJoseph R. Hendrick Jr’s garages.<\/p>\n
One who won’t win in 2003 is likely Terry Labonte, ignored within Hendrick
\nsince 1998-9 and managing only four top tens in 2002.<\/p>\n
Jeff Gordon’s "marital misconduct" squabble made the tabloids but
\nhe still wound up with three wins and a wildcard title shot before the Autumn
\n500 at Talladega; he fell to sixth in points but wound up fourth in points after
\nHomestead.<\/p>\n
Jimmie Johnson was the hot newcomer of 2002, bagging three wins and briefly
\nleading the title chase. The sophomore boost hit Tony Stewart in 2000, Dale
\nJunior in 2001, and even Kevin Harvick in 2002 won a race, so Johnson will
\nlikely win some more this season.<\/p>\n
Joe Nemechek was the surprise of the team, showing honest-to-goodness muscle
\nin his late-season with the #25. But this team had hopes raised with Jerry
\nNadeau’s tenure and they wound up falling apart, typifying the bad karma of this
\noutfit.<\/p>\n
A quasi-fifth Hendrick team will run Pontiacs in 2003 with Jack Sprague as
\ndriver. Sprague has struggled to make Winston Cup races and managed only three
\n2002 starts without anything to show for it. Sprague showed to be overrated in
\nGrand National despite a win, and will likely struggle in Winston Cup.<\/p>\n
Gordon and Johnson will be the winners for Hendrick Motorsports in 2003,
\nthough there is an outside chance Joe Nemechek could win as well.<\/p>\n
PENSKE RACING SOUTH<\/b> – Dodge<\/p>\n
#2 Rusty Wallace
\n#12 Ryan Newman<\/p>\n
The rookie of the year despite having just one win to Jimmie Johnson’s three,
\nRyan Newman bagged more top fives than Johnson and won more money – $4.3 million
\nto Johnson’s $2.8 million. He’s also rejuvenated Penske Racing via his
\nengineering background and looks to be easing toward first-team status within
\nthe organization.<\/p>\n
Rusty Wallace, meanwhile, failed to win for the first time since 1985 –
\ngetting punted out of the win (again) by Jeff Gordon at Bristol hurt the most –
\nbut still had a good season, seventh in points. He and Newman now face the task
\nof running Dodge Intrepids after nine seasons with Ford; at least this
\nmanufacturer switch isn’t as rancorous as the switch from Pontiac to Ford. The
\nacquisition of Penske Racing and its vast engineering empire was a goal of
\nDodge, to give its fleet an engineering shot in the arm.<\/p>\n
So Penske Racing should have both teams back in victory.<\/p>\n
ROBERT YATES RACING<\/b> – Ford<\/p>\n
#38 Elliott Sadler
\n#88 Dale Jarrett<\/p>\n
Ricky Rudd’s rancorous divorce from Yates was the running soap opera of 2002
\nand the team suffered as a result, despite always-solid numbers from both
\nefforts – a combined three wins, 15 additional top fives, and 12 additional top
\ntens. Yates appeared beginning to ease out of team ownership, with his son Doug
\nlooking like the heir apparent.<\/p>\n
Dale Jarrett gets a new crew chief with Todd Parrott’s elevation in the
\norganization, while the team immortalized by Davey Allison and Ernie Irvan
\nbecomes a whole new effort, with a new sponsor and new number as well as new
\ndriver with good credentials – though reports that Michael McSwain quit because
\nof a poor test session with Elliott Sadler should be kept in the back of the
\nmind.<\/p>\n
Overall there should not be much different from 2002 here.<\/p>\n
EARNHARDT INCORPORATED <\/b>– Chevrolet<\/p>\n
#1 Steve Park
\n#8 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
\n#15 Michael Waltrip<\/p>\n
Junior had no shot at any title in 2002, and frankly I doubt his fans
\nparticularly care if he never wins a title. He wins races, and that’s what
\nmatters most. He swept Talladega in 2002 and ran well most other tracks, and is
\nthe big favorite for Speedweeks, though the switch to aero-matched Chevrolets
\nmay take a few races to adjust to.<\/p>\n
His teammate Michael Waltrip had what turned out to be a mini-banner year –
\non the chopping block even early in 2002, Mikey and Richard Labbe suddenly got
\nin gear at the World 600, and Mikey crafted a surprisingly consistent season,
\nultimately winning the Firecracker 400 under rancorous circumstances. Having
\nbroken the fourth wall, Mikey is under pressure to break the fifth wall, and win
\nsomeplace other than a restrictor plate track.<\/p>\n
Steve Park was the comeback story of this team’s season, and also the biggest
\nletdown after taking the lead at the Rebel 400. Given his 2001 injury, a poor
\nseason was hardly unexpected. He did manage two top tens, including a stellar
\nsixth at the Autumn 500 at Talladega.<\/p>\n
Unlike a lot of people, I expect DEI not to dominate the plate tracks this
\nyear, but instead to win at places like Atlanta, Charlotte, and the short
\ntracks.<\/p>\n
RAY EVERNHAM MOTORSPORTS <\/b>– Dodge<\/p>\n
#9 Bill Elliott
\n#19 Jeremy Mayfield<\/p>\n
ULTRA MOTOTSPORTS <\/b>– Dodge<\/p>\n
#7 Casey Atwood (2002)<\/p>\n
Team ownership sure isn’t like the 1990s, is it, Ray? Evernham nonetheless
\nbagged two victories, including a third Brickyard 400, thanks to primary driver
\nBill Elliott. The team’s consistency, though, was spotty; Elliott was timid at
\nthe plate tracks again and was too low in points to finish in the top ten. He
\nnonetheless had a season few would trade.<\/p>\n
Not so effective was the perennial stepchild #19 team. Jeremy Mayfield
\nfinished second at Vegas but only four top tens total showed how little this
\nteam gets compared to the main #9; it also raised some questions about Mayfield,
\nwho reportedly clashed with his teams in his previous engagements.<\/p>\n
The mini-scandal was the treatment of the Jim Smith #7 team, an Evernham
\nsatellite effort in 2002; given weak engines (and one can guess also inferior
\nchassis) by Evernham, Jim Smith, already embroiled in an unrelated scandal in
\nCalifornia, dumped Evernham late in 2002 and used Petty Enterprises engines
\nbuilt by Mike Ege’s shop; this may yet lead to some kind of Petty-Ultra
\nMotorsports alliance, as Smith’s team needs such to be competitive. A driver has
\nnot yet been named, though Jimmy Spencer is the rumored choice.<\/p>\n
Elliott should win again in 2003; Mayfield is on the bubble and may wind up
\ndriving another car by the Firecracker 400.<\/p>\n
PPI MOTORSPORTS<\/b> – Pontiac<\/p>\n
#32 Ricky Craven<\/p>\n
Ricky Craven wanted another win in 2002; he didn’t get it. He did have a
\ncompetitive season, by far the best of the sport’s small number of solo-car
\nteams, and reunites with General Motors with Cal Wells’ switch to Pontiacs and
\nthe opening of an in-house engine program; PPI will likely be the main
\ndevelopment team for Pontiac with JGR gone to Chevrolet. Of Pontiac’s outgunned
\nsquadron, Craven may have the best shot at a win.<\/p>\n
RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING ENTERPRISES<\/b> – Chevrolet<\/p>\n
#29 Kevin Harvick
\n#30 Jeff Green
\n#31 Robby Gordon<\/p>\n
On paper a win, all three teams in the top 21 in points, a combined ten top
\nfives, and $9.8 million in winnings are positive numbers. For RCR, they are an
\nominous slide. Only Jeff Green cracked the top 18 in points, and RCR’s attempt
\nto recruit Green’s former crew chief Harold Holly was a failure. Kevin Harvick’s
\nbullying approach (a natural given the Goodwrench legacy) won him a tardy and
\ninsufficient one-race suspension and appeared to take some fire out of him.
\nRobby Gordon, meanwhile, had the poorest numbers of the team, just one top five
\nand four other top tens. RCR can certainly win more in 2003, but their slide
\nfrom 2002 may not be over.<\/p>\n
GANASSI\/SABCO RACING<\/b> – Dodge<\/p>\n
#40 Sterling Marlin
\n#41 Casey Mears
\n#42 Jamie McMurray<\/p>\n
This was one of those "You’ve got to be kidding!" stories of the
\nseason. Jamie McMurray replaced Marlin after two bad wrecks left a cervical bone
\nwithin a disturbing distance of paralyzing Marlin, and ended Marlin’s strongest
\ntitle shot ever, coming after two March wins and a pile of top tens. McMurray
\ndid a Kevin Harvick of 2001, driving the same car the well-loved veteran drove
\nat the same race where he won the year before, and won himself. McMurray also
\ngot himself a pretty and pretty official fan in the outgoing Miss Winston.<\/p>\n
Ganassi\/SABCO is obviously the Dodge team on top. McMurray managed only one
\nother top ten after the National 500 win, so the grind of the season started to
\nwear down the adrenaline high of the early success. But obviously McMurray is
\nanother up-and-comer streaking to success in a bolt of lightning. Marlin, for
\nhis part, has something to prove after his injury, while Casey Mears is the
\nquestion mark, driving the #41 car that under performed all season and has under performed
\nbasically its entire career with Ganassi.<\/p>\n
JASPER MOTORSPORTS<\/b> – Ford<\/p>\n
#77 Dave Blaney<\/p>\n
Now let me see if I have this straight – this team will still get its engines
\nfrom Penske’s engine shop even though it is still a Ford and Penske is now
\nrunning Dodges. I’m not sure how this will work out, so this team, a scrappy
\ncomer despite lack of resources, may have some trouble looming.<\/p>\n
PETTY ENTERPRISES<\/b> – Dodge<\/p>\n
#43 John Andretti
\n#44 Christian Fittipaldi
\n#45 Kyle Petty<\/p>\n
Consider this – Kyle Petty had one top ten, and in the points finished well
\nahead of two drivers who ran the full season, had multiple top fives, and had
\nwon races. This best displays how Petty Enterprises’ stats don’t tell the whole
\nstory of how much this team has improved in the course of a season. Kyle’s
\nefforts curiously petered out after the Dixie 500 at Atlanta, but the major
\nchanges after 2001 began bearing fruit for him and his teammates.<\/p>\n
John Andretti became a silly season target but will stay with the #43 and
\ngets a new crew chief in Gary Putnam, formerly with the #4 outfit. One of a
\nhandful of drivers who isn’t afraid to pass three wide up the middle, John
\nnearly won Sears Point and was stout at Daytona and Talladega and several other
\ntracks.<\/p>\n
The #44 started with Buckshot Jones and began to roar forward rather
\ndramatically at Vegas, Atlanta, and Darlington, but was swatted out of top tens
\nby other circumstances. Jones’ release proved a mistake, as the #44 never got
\nthe stability needed, though Jerry Nadeau’s tenure got much of it back.<\/p>\n
The Petty team should win a race in 2003, and maybe more than one. CART
\ncastoff Christian Fittipaldi will run a mixed ARCA and Grand National tour with
\nfive or seven Cup starts, but may wind up with more, as short fields may make
\nNASCAR "persuade" the Pettys to field the #44 to fill out 43 starters;
\nsuch would certainly help Christian get much-needed seat time.<\/p>\n
WOOD BROTHERS RACING<\/b> – Ford<\/p>\n
#21 Ricky Rudd<\/p>\n
The Wood Brothers team finished second twice in the first five races, but
\nmanaged only five other top tens – this despite some spectacular moments such as
\nleading late at NHIS. Ricky Rudd takes over the #21 after some trash-talk about
\nprevious driver Elliott Sadler, looking for another win after three such the
\nlast two years.<\/p>\n
BILL DAVIS RACING<\/b> – Dodge<\/p>\n
#22 Ward Burton
\n#23 Kenny Wallace<\/p>\n
He won the Daytona 500 and the New England 300 – and Ward Burton had a dismal
\nseason, at least to a lot of observers. Burton had a total of eight top tens and
\nby the Autumn 500 at Talladega had a "new" crew chief, who wasn’t new
\nto the family, since Frank Stoddard had won a lot of races for Jeff Burton.<\/p>\n
Hut Stricklin drove the #23 for the majority of the year and was instrumental
\nin getting BDR’s short track program competitive. Kenny Wallace replaces him
\nwith Stacker 2 sponsorship, but this is a mistake, as Herman The German is not
\ncapable of Winston Cup success (timidity in traffic is his forte and that won’t
\nwin anything), and will likely be replaced by season’s end by Scott Wimmer,
\ngroomed for Winston Cup by Bill Davis in Grand National.<\/p>\n
Ward should win another race, but the ace in the hole may be Wimmer.<\/p>\n
MORTON-BOWERS-VALVOLINE RACING<\/b> – Pontiac<\/p>\n
#10 Johnny Benson
\n#01 Jerry Nadeau<\/p>\n
Johnny Benson got hurt at Richmond and missed five races, but broke through
\nto his first win, at Rockingham in November. Benson proved to be the only spark
\nfor the team, as Ken Schrader led handily at the Daytona 500 and was basically
\nnever heard from again; he did, though, start nickel-and-diming top fifteens in
\nthe final half of the year.<\/p>\n
This is the only Pontiac team that is only changing body styles from 2002;
\neverything else stays intact. Jerry Nadeau’s up-and-down 2002 sees him land with
\na superspeedway-only sponsorship package from the Army; that it does not cover
\nthe full season (though it may wind up doing so anyway) is a disturbing sign for
\nthe future.<\/p>\n
Nadeau nonetheless is the likeliest to win in 2003 on this team.<\/p>\n
MORGAN-MCCLURE MOTORSPORTS<\/b> – Pontiac<\/p>\n
#4 Mike Skinner<\/p>\n
Believe it or not, Mike Skinner actually had a top ten finish in 2002. That’s
\nabout all that can be said of a dismal effort and a driver effectively
\neliminated from Winston Cup victory hope. The team will run Pontiacs, the first
\ntime since July 1990 it will run something other than Chevrolet, but it is
\nimpossible to envision any kind of competitive consistency here. This team had
\nan opportunity in 1997 to form a second team, and refused to do so; now it is
\nfar too late.<\/p>\n
ANDY PETREE RACING<\/b> – Chevrolet<\/p>\n
#55 Bobby Hamilton (2002)<\/p>\n
In all but the legal sense, 2002 was the year Andy Petree Racing died. Bobby
\nHamilton managed three top tens but the team was all but stillborn in February,
\nthin on resources, its #33 team disbanded after the Carolina 400, and Petree in
\nover his head on team ownership, His negotiations with Dallas Cowboys owner
\nJerry Jones were an embarrassment and blew up in his face, and there is no
\nrealistic prospect of this team lasting beyond the Daytona 500.<\/p>\n
BRETT BODINE RACING<\/b> – Ford<\/p>\n
#11 Brett Bodine<\/p>\n
Brett failed to make four late-season races; thus is his team all but dead.
\nBob Brooks may purchase it, and Brett may not even be its driver anymore.
\nWinston Cup obviously does not want a driver like Brett; a tour in the USAR
\nshort track series Brooks’ companies sponsor may be what he needs to rejuvenate
\nhis racing.<\/p>\n
TRAVIS CARTER RACING<\/b> – Ford<\/p>\n
#26 Todd Bodine<\/p>\n
KMart’s bankruptcy destroyed this team, but Todd Bodine still managed a top
\nfive and three other top tens. Discover Card jumped on board, but could not
\njustify staying (another ominous sign for the sport; a company that can’t
\njustify a Winston Cup effort?) and no sponsor is on any horizon.<\/p>\n
AJ FOYT ENTERPRISES<\/b> – Dodge<\/p>\n
#14 Larry Foyt<\/p>\n
A.J. jumped in way over his head in NASCAR, and it still shows. 2001 was a
\nrespectful year as Ron Hornaday showed muscle, but since then Foyt’s team has
\nbeen terrible, even though Mike Wallace did manage a superb top ten at Bristol
\nand also shone at Homestead. Larry Foyt takes over, with Harrah’s sponsorship,
\nbut there isn’t much reason to expect big things here.<\/p>\n
BAM RACING<\/b> – Dodge<\/p>\n
#49 Ken Schrader<\/p>\n
NOL expressed surprise that Shawna Robinson was not given more races with
\nthis team; the surprise is that they ever considered her at all. Ken Schrader
\ntakes over, but this is a desperation move, as this team does not have anything
\nto run up front.<\/p>\n
Thus do we have the lineup for Winston Cup’s 2003 season. Only 40 teams
\nlisted have any realistic chance of running the full schedule, so short fields
\nwill become a problem at points in 2003 as in 2002. Aero-matching and stricter
\nbody-placement rules add another wrinkle to things, so with testing coming, the
\nfirst clues for 2003 should come our way as we wait out the interregnum before engines
\nfire at Daytona.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It is over, it is all over! Now we know who is in the AFC Playoff picture after 13 teams came down to the final game – and it even came down to multi-tasking, simultaneously watching the Patriots rally against the Dolphins, the Panthers sack the Saints out of the playoffs, and the Browns show […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}