<\/b>What do Michael Waltrip and
\nMike Skinner have in common? Neither has won a points paying race since their
\nrespective entries into the Winston Cup stock car wars. And…that\u2019s about
\nwhere it stops, the similarities. Yet it was Waltrip that got the nod to take
\nover the plum ride in the third car that will run out of the shops of Dale
\nEarnhardt Incorporated in 2001. With the departure of Larry McReynolds to the
\nbroadcasting seat, the future looks bleak for Skinner at Childress Racing and
\nhis seat in the 31 car. I suspect we will see \u201cHollywood Handsome\u201d Kevin
\nHarvick in that car flying the ACDelco colors as that team, like the 99 NCTS
\nteam with Kurt Busch, moves into the top series way too soon. Heck of a way to
\ntreat your former champion Mr. Childress. No, that hasn\u2019t happened yet, and I
\nadmit my assessment of that situation may be a might premature. We\u2019ll get back
\nto Skinny later.<\/p>\n
Back over at DEI, we have to wonder what
\nit was that Ron Hornaday did to raise the boss\u2019s ire. He brought a fat
\nsponsor, NAPA, to the DEI stable when fat sponsors save for Goodwrench weren\u2019t
\npaying attention to the Truck series. That isn\u2019t the problem. Maybe it\u2019s
\nthose two NCTS championships he brought home to DEI. Nah, that ain\u2019t it. Could
\nit be those wins in the Busch Series in the NAPA Chevy? Nope. Maybe it was the
\nburnout, (yea, Dale Jr. never did that!), following his first BGN win? Yeah!
\nThat must be it! That MUST be why Dale Earnhardt hired a racing legacy over a
\ntwo time champion and loyal employee to drive his third Cup car. It makes
\nperfect sense. Cast adrift a guy who brought you a sponsor, program development,
\nand championship hardware in favor of a guy who is real good at mugging for the
\ncamera. Waltrip couldn\u2019t win with the Wood Brothers, he couldn\u2019t win with
\nMattei, a team whose roots were built by Alan Kulwicki, so what makes Ironhead
\nthink he\u2019ll start winning in a DEI car? Hornaday has won. Repeated times. And
\nhe\u2019s looking for a job. Makes perfect sense.<\/p>\n
The current buzz has Hornaday landing in
\nthe #4 Kodak Cup car vacated by Bobby Hamilton, or in the #2 Ultra Motorsports
\ntruck Mike Wallace has run well with. No doubt, the OTHER two time NCTS champion
\nJack Sprague wants to see Ron get the job in the #4 so he doesn\u2019t have to go
\nthrough that hell again-playing second fiddle to the man who wrote the NCTS
\nrecord book at his expense. The bottom line is that Hornaday is far too talented
\nnot to land on his wheels.<\/p>\n
Now what of Mike Skinner, the first NCTS
\ngraduate to leap frog BGN straight to Cup? He has done well running largely with
\nteam #3 re-skins. Not that he gets bad cars, or used up cars, just cars that
\nare, for the most part, not built for him. A subtle but critical difference, and
\nwithout Larry Mac setting those cars, team #31 looks to a rebuilding year in
\n2001. Financial pressures dictate that Childress just elevate a Busch team
\nrather than start from scratch with the #31. And that can only mean a driver
\nchange.<\/p>\n
Much like Johnny Benson rising from the
\nashes of his debacle at Roush Racing, there is a bright spot for both Skinner
\nand Hornaday, but, like Benson and Aaron\u2019s Rents, it\u2019s going to take some
\ninsightful sponsorship help. The NAPA sponsorship was taken by DEI fair and
\nsquare, and Skinner\u2019s Lowe\u2019s sponsorship may be tenuous as well. Lots of
\nhigh profile teams looking for paint on the panels in the heat of the Silly
\nSeason Shuffle. No doubt Lowe\u2019s will land on a car they hope will be dueling
\ndoor to door with that orange #20 car. What are established, yet aging talents
\nlike Horny and Skinny to do?<\/p>\n
Join forces! Is there nobody with dollars
\nand racing sense to see the incredible opportunity here? Team Trucking invades
\nWinston Cup. Yellow Freight has been dipping its toes into racing over the last
\ncouple of years, and they have sponsored the BGN efforts of both Mike and Jamie
\nSkinner. There\u2019s a natural connection. Much as everybody loves Dick Trickle,
\nit\u2019s time for Schneider National to realize that their car just isn\u2019t going
\nto get to the front any time soon. Throw those colors to a Hornaday piloted
\nride.<\/p>\n
We have the sponsors in place, so now we
\nneed somebody to build the cars for these two \u201cold guys.\u201d Who knows better
\nhow to make an old guy win better than Bobby Hamilton? He has put new life into
\nthe Ruttman effort in the NCTS. He also has the BGN efforts of his son. Nothing
\nto write home about there, but it is people and equipment in place to build race
\ncars. And what of Jimmy Spencer\u2019s BGN effort with the previously mentioned
\nDick Trickle? Again, people, equipment, and experience in place to go racing,
\nand maybe a little help from Travis Carter to boot. Hmmm. All that talent and
\nexperience would make one think that Hamilton, Spencer, and Carter could join
\nforces with Skinner and Hornaday and have a Victory Tour that actually has
\nvictories.<\/p>\n
We can wish Michael Waltrip nothing but
\nthe best as he plays third fiddle to Little E and Steve Park at DEI. When
\nIronhead gets Cup title #8 and goes out on top unlike Petty and DW, the RCR cars
\nbelong to Harvick and Mike Dillon, and we wish then well as well. Though in
\ntheir forties, Skinny and Horny are far from used up. What they need is
\nopportunities that are focused on them exclusively. That\u2019s what\u2019s worked so
\nwell for Greg Biffle and the Grainger team in the NCTS. They don\u2019t have that
\nnow, so perhaps, no matter how unceremoniously they are dismissed from their
\ncurrent rides, these are blessings in disguise. These guys are tested and ready
\nproven champions. Who, in the Winston Cup Racing Hierarchy, will come forward
\nand give Team Trucking a chance? Perhaps no one? Admittedly, two former NCTS
\nchampions in the same racing stable IS a scary thought to most of the current
\nCup drivers. You see, those truckers know what those bumpers are for…Lead,
\nfollow, or be moved outta they way! The way Cup racing used to be, and can be
\nagain in the stables of Team Trucking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What do Michael Waltrip and Mike Skinner have in common? Neither has won a points paying race since their respective entries into the Winston Cup stock car wars. And…that\u2019s about where it stops, the similarities. Yet it was Waltrip that got the nod to take over the plum ride in the third car that will […]<\/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-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-original-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","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=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racindeals.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}