NASCAR Season Offer Failed Expectations
There are some excellent racers that have left quite an impression during the 2009 Sprint Cup season following thirteen races. NASCAR news has highlighted a few bright talents. Drivers, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, are two that have exceeded preseason expectations. One of the Michael Waltrip Racing drivers David Reutimann, a recent winner at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, is having an fantastic season. Reutimann is very close to reaching top twelve status.
Brad Keselowski, a part-time Spring Cup driver, became a first-time winner in 2009. As a driver for Phoenix Racing, the independent team owned by James Finch, he gained an outstanding victory at Talladega.
There were other pleasant surprises, such as the improvement of Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr over their 2008 season performances.
Now, despite these pleasant surprises, there have been other drivers and teams that have performed worse than expected.
It appears that Dale Earnhardt Jr holds the top spot for disappointments of 2009. When Earnhardt Jr joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, he was, by far, the best race car driver out of the team's four drivers. However, as the season progressed, other teams caught up, and Earnhardt Jr began to lag behind. Neither he nor Tony Eury Jr have managed to recapture the power of the early months of the 2008 race season. Rick Hendrick removed crew chief Tony Eury Jr and replaced him with Lance McGrew. For the time being, McGrew will be Earnhardt's interim crew chief.
Even when his performance is great, Earnhardt Jr is trying to hold up to serious expectations;when he struggles, it is almost impossible to meet them. As the most well-known racer in NASCAR, Earnhardt needs to make a fast comeback in order to head off further bad publicity.
Driver Kevin Harvick qualified for the coveted Chase for the Championship every season from the years 2006 through 2008 and won six races within the same timeframe. Now, he is struggling to salvage what's left of a season that has proved just about as bad as his 2002 sophomore slump. At this point, Harvick, who hasn't had a victory since the 2007 Daytona 500, has enormous odds against a fourth appearance in the Chase for the Championship.
Harvick is not the only racer from his group that is drowning weaker track performance. The other drivers that make up the Richard Childress Racing team have all underperformed during the last year, particularly Clint Bowyer. After an impressive start to the 2009 season, Bowyer has finished below the top ten in each of the previous seven races leading up to the Pocono 500. Jeff Burton has kept up his consistency, but it is clear that the team's performance as a whole is off-kilter . Casey Mears encountered a sluggish start to the season, but he has scored two top ten finishes in the last four races.
As ineffective as the performances of Harvick and Earnhardt Jr were, Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan gives them a run for their money. It seems the NASCAR news is getting grimmer. Ragan was possibly the most improved driver in 2008, but he has fallen back into obscurity. After finishing thirteenth in the championship standings in 2008, many NASCAR news groups and analysts project that Ragan would be one of the twelve drivers vying for the Sprint Cup championship. Unfortunately, for Ragan, he only scored one top ten finish in the first thirteen races. It brings the status of the team into question.
Ragan's teammate Carl Edwards won a Sprint Cup series-high nine races back in 2008. Now, with thirteen races over, Edwards has not won another race. Regardless of the fact that Edwards is currently numbered among the top twelve in the championship ratings, most enthusiasts were expecting more from him and others in the No. 99 group.
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Let's Get The NASCAR Party Started: The Engines Are Ready To Rev It Up! by Susan Alvis
Let's get this party started; the Engines are ready to rev it up! NASCAR is in full swing now, which means it's time to get the grills out and the campers ready. Why is this year going to offer more than last season? What's in store for NASCAR fans? This year should be a memorable one for enthusiasts across the nation as drivers compete for the Nextel Cup.
This is the second year NASCAR is using a new point system, which allows drivers to position themselves for a final push down the stretch. Last year, due to the new point system many of NASCAR's top drivers were left out of the point chase, but with a year under their belts, more drivers will know what it takes to win the Cup. Considering that only the top-ten drivers have a chance at the Nextel Cup, there's not much room for error. Drivers have to make sure each race counts in order to ensure they are not left in the infield at the end of the season.
Most of the drivers and fans are unsure if they like the new point system; year two will give them a better idea of its strengths and weaknesses. If the drivers and the fans continue to complain about the new format, NASCAR may be forced to make some changes in the way it awards the Cup. The new format was supposed to make things more interesting, and although some thought it did there are still those that like the old system better.
NASCAR fans should enjoy an excellent year in 2006 as most tracks aim to become friendlier for attendees. Many of the tracks around the country are adding extra events to get people more involved. One thing the racing organization is attempting to do is make drivers and their crews more accessible to the general public.
NASCAR has also accelerated a more family oriented atmosphere and has more events that everyone can enjoy. In the early years, stockcar racing was seen as a redneck sport and a place to drink beer. But with the continuing growth in popularity, NASCAR executives have identified a more diverse demographic to capture. NASCAR fans include your average working people, business executives, doctors, lawyers, and just about any other profession of which you can think.
As NASCAR continues to grow, the demand for tracks will also increase. Smaller venues are what NASCAR was found on, but it is hard to ignore the calling of big markets and the money they bring to the table. If the smaller markets are not able to capitalize on what they have, they run the risk of losing one or all of their races to bigger cities. Hopefully NASCAR will not forget its roots and continue to be loyal to the communities that helped build the sport and its popularity.
There have already been instances where a smaller market has lost one of its races to a bigger one. If the sport continues to grow, it will be hard to tell the larger markets "no," because they offer the chance to make more money and gain even greater exposure. NASCAR may have to look at expanding the season to satisfy the increasing demand for races. This is a good problem to have and it is doubtful that you will hear one NASCAR executive complaining about it.
If all goes well, NASCAR will continue to grow into a bigger sport and bigger business. The road is wide open for this sport, because NASCAR is constantly tapping into new markets. As long as NASCAR is able to keep the fans happy, it will continue to grow. Thus far, NASCAR seems to have run the popularity race with aplomb; let's see if they can keep it up without any unnecessary pit stops.
By Susan Alvis sponsored by http://www.stubhub.com/ . StubHub sells sports tickets, NASCAR tickets, theater tickets and more to just about any event in the world. Please link to this site when using this article.
Article Source: http://www.earticlesonline.com/Article/Let-s-Get-The-NASCAR-Party-Started--The-Engines-Are-Ready-To-Rev-It-Up-/45929
