In many ways Martin Truex Jr. couldn't have picked a better time to shine. Truex, 27 and a native of Mayetta, N.J., earned his first Nextel Cup victory last weekend at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. It was Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s first Cup win since May 2006, when teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in Richmond, Va. While much of the attention at DEI has been on Earnhardt Jr. and his recent decision to leave the organization at the end of the season, Truex's win helped show that he and DEI plan to remain a serious contender.
"It feels good to hush up all that (Earnhardt Jr. talk) and solidify the fact that we're here for real and we're going to win races and contend for championships in the future," Truex said. "It doesn't get any better than this, you know. This has been probably one of the biggest accomplishments for everybody on my whole team -- the biggest accomplishment of their racing careers. Championships in the Busch Series were great, but if you win at this level, you have beat the best of the best."
DEI will remain a serious contender.
The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated ... Mark Twain quotation after hearing that his obituary had been published in the New York Journal.
Reports of DEI's death have been greatly exagerated
The lady doth protest too much, methinks...William Shakespeare
I have been writing lately that NASCAR needs to consider offering franchises. My argument is largely that 43 teams a year should get a franchise and everyone else should go Busch racing. The franchised Cup teams drivers would not be allowed to go Busch Racing. That would be one way to end the Buschwacking. It also ends Cup teams having to go home.
I have argued give one year franchises to the top 35 in points from the previous season and fill the last eight slots through a qualifying school. My qualifying school would consist of Florida races leading up to Speedweeks. Races would be run at Homestead, Lakeland, the streets of St. Pete and at Daytona.
It is nice to see a serious writer has his own take on franchising.
Seven years ago, I was sitting in a hotel lobby in Richmond, Va., having breakfast when Ed Shull, who worked with Gatorade’s NASCAR sponsorship program, joined me. As usual, we launched into a broad discussion about the future of NASCAR. After that conversation, I wrote a column about how NASCAR might move toward franchising. Some of the ideas were Ed’s, some were mine and some were the product of our collective noodling over omelets and hash browns.
“One of the issues bubbling under the surface of stock-car racing ... is the question of franchises. Should NASCAR set a limit on the number of teams in the top circuits?
“There are those who dismiss the idea as being totally contrary to tradition, the idea that anybody who wants can try to make a race. But racing hasn't been like that for years. ... Without franchising, a team owner ... gets dimes to the dollar on something he has worked on for a lifetime. That's not right.”
Every word of that is still relevant today, and the basic framework of what we drew up would work even better now. Since I don’t know the ins and outs of the laws that govern such things, “franchise” might not even be the right word. But it’s one we can understand, at least in concept, so I will use it anyway.
NASCAR establishes 50 franchises for the Nextel Cup Series. That’s 50 seats at the stock-car racing grown-ups’ table. Companies – not individual owners like a car owner and his mother, uncle and lawyer – currently with more than one team competing full-time in the Cup Series each get two slots. Single-car teams get one franchise. By my count, that would fill 37 of the available slots – there are 15 full-time teams with two or more cars plus seven full-time single-car teams.
The remaining 13 slots would be sold by NASCAR via sealed bid. Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush could bid for two additional teams since the current maximum is four teams. Going forward, however, no company could own more than three franchises, and nobody now at three would be allowed to move up to four.
Each year for five years, owners pay a fee of $1 million for their first team, $2 million for a second team and $4 million for a third team. After five years, and a maximum payment of $35 million, the owner is fully vested and becomes the outright owner of his or her franchises.
Marlin part-time? Many drivers seem convinced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will accept an offer to drive for Bobby Ginn [Racing #01,#13,#14], even though Ginn, a Florida real- estate developer, is new to the sport, with less than a year on the circuit. Ginn has been spending lavishly to turn the Jay Frye-run Chevy team into a top-flight operation. Driver Mark Martin led the Nextel Cup standings early this season and even after missing three of the year’s 12 races he’s still 15th in the points. Martin’s teammate #14-Sterling Marlin is planning to cut back to a partial schedule, and Ginn said that would open the 14 car and its top-35 exemption for Earnhardt.(Winston Salem Journal)(6-1-2007)
My current take is Jr. to the 14. Jr. has a lot of respect for Coo Coo Marlin and Sterling and would be proud to make the 14 a number that was truly his. Mark and Sterling could share the 01. That leaves Joe Nemechek in the 14. Regan Smith would get the new team. Craig Kinser would move up to the Busch Series.
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