My Thoughts: OffSeason Week #1

            Well, we made it a week. Only one week ago at Homestead, Jimmie Johnson took his sixth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. Matt Kenseth came home second in points in his first year with Joe Gibbs Racing while Kevin Harvick came home third in his final race with Richard Childress Racing. Mark Martin, Ken Schrader, Jeff Burton, and Dave Blaney possibly ended their long and storied careers in the sport. Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, and Kurt Busch also ended their tenures with their former teams. Finally, Denny Hamlin ended his tumultuous season with a win in the final event of the year. It is hard to believe it has only been a week. To me, it almost feels like months ago with the craziness that has happened. I actually watched some Formula 1 qualifying on Saturday. I enjoyed it, but I desperately need NASCAR back. But I have a ninety one day wait until the green flag waves at Daytona in 2014. There are plenty of events before that, but the season does not get officially started until the greatest race of the season gets underway. To make sure I don't suffer a complete withdrawal from NASCAR, I decided to do an edition of my thoughts for every week in the off season. This week's topics include three crew chief changes that could have an affect on next year, if I think a wonderful driver going into his second season with a new team will struggle, and if I think Jimmie Johnson is the greatest of all time. Let us not wait any longer and get the off season started with my thoughts.

1. Steve Addington Moving to Phoenix Racing: Will He Make the Team Great?
        A little bit of crew chief news came out for Phoenix Racing during the week. It was announced that Steve Addington would become the crew chief for the team in 2014. If you recall, Addington was the crew chief for the #14 for Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, and Austin Dillon in 2013. I actually like the move for Phoenix Racing. Addington is a very good crew chief and he has made some great drivers even better in his time in the sport. But the key to this situation is the driver. Phoenix Racing has not decided who is going to drive their car next year, but a lot of predictions have been made that Justin Allgaier will make his rookie debut in the series next year. Now, I wish they would go ahead and decide the driver. I mean, it is kind of like a blind date with this team. Addington is a great crew chief, but how can you prepare for a season if you don't know who is driving? That just doesn't make logical sense to me. I mean, you guys might have a different opinion than I do, but that is just my thoughts about it. Nonetheless, I still fell the team will be extremely successful next year whether or not Allgaier is in the car. Like I said, Addington is a great crew chief and I think he will prove it in 2014.

2. Chad Johnston Moving to Stewart-Haas Racing as Tony Stewart's Crew Chief: Will He Help the Team?
       Another piece of a crew chief news came out during the week. Stewart-Haas Racing signed Chad Johnston to be the crew chief for Tony Stewart in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2014. If you recall, Johnston was the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. in 2013 and was considered a part of the Michael Waltrip Racing scandal at Richmond. I mean, he wasn't a big player in it, but he will be remembered as the crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. when all that went down. To move past that, I think this is a pretty good move for Stewart and his team. Before Stewart got injured, Steve Addington, the previous crew chief for Stewart, really wasn't helping the team. I mean, Stewart would have made the Chase anyway. It wasn't like they were terrible, but they just didn't seem to be the usual dominators like in the past. Now, they have Chad Johnston, who has been a huge factor in making Michael Waltrip Racing a key player in the sport. Along with that, he made Martin Truex Jr. a very successful driver, if you ask me. I think he could really help Stewart. I mean, Stewart is all ready a really good driver with three titles, but he never really had that key crew chief since he started his own team. This signing will give him the key to great success, in my opinion, and the team will pick up next year in the highest division of the sport.

3. Mike Kelley Moving to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s Team in Cup For 2014: Will They Find Their Nationwide Series Success?
        A final piece of crew chief news came out during the week. Roush-Fenway Racing announced that Mike Kelley would move up from the number 6 Nationwide team and take over the controls for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in Sprint Cup. Kelley was the crew chief for Stenhouse during his two Nationwide Series championships and he led Trevor Bayne in 2013 in the Nationwide series. The question this put in my mind is will these two guys find the same success they had in Nationwide? I definitely think so. The first reason is Stenhouse's improvement in his first year in Cup. At the start of the year, Stenhouse struggled a little bit, but he picked it up at the end of the year and had some decent finishes. Stenhouse's crew chief, Scott Graves, did a good job all year, but they never really had a connection. Kelley and Stenhouse have a connection and a winning connection at that. I think that could make them great in the series. A second and final reason is Stenhouse has some experience in the highest division of the sport. I mean, it had to be very tough in 2013 to get used to the gen-6 car especially being a rookie driver in the sport. With this experience in the sport and a crew chief that he has that winning connection with, Stenhouse could be really formidable in 2014. I mean, he probably won't win a championship next year. That just isn't logical, but he might take a couple of wins with some backing from Kelley. All in all, I think Stenhouse will become a pretty good driver in the future and this move could just help him with that.

4. Matt Kenseth: Will He Suffer a Sophomore Slump with Joe Gibbs Racing?
        A pleasant surprise in 2013 in Cup was Matt Kenseth. Kenseth, who was a mainstay driver with Roush-Fenway Racing and a champion in 2003 before moving to JGR for 2013, was expected to perform okay and maybe win a few races for his new teams, but the team didn't expect the actual outcome. Kenseth took seven wins in 2013 and almost took the title away from Jimmie Johnson in the famous #20 for Joe Gibbs. It was a very unprecedented season for Kenseth and one that could have went down in the record books, but it does raise a question in my mind. Will he be as successful in 2014 with Joe Gibbs Racing as he was in 2013? Personally, I don't think he will. Now, I think he will be in Chase contention like he always is. I just don't think he can take as many wins as he did in 2013. The one and main reason is just that those wins and great finishes are just hard to repeat. Think about it like this. Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Tony Stewart, and many others had struggling 2013 seasons and didn't come up with as many wins or good finishes as they could have grabbed. With this many drivers battling for wins in 2014, it will be hard for Kenseth to take as many wins. In terms of being close to a championship, I think Kenseth could still have a chance in 2014, but he will have to do it without as many wins.

5. Is Jimmie Johnson the Greatest NASCAR Driver of All Time?
         I knew this question would eventually come up. Is Jimmie Johnson the greatest NASCAR driver of all time? After winning his sixth championship last Sunday, a lot of people have said that he is. I delved into this subject a little bit on the last round of my thoughts, but I will give even more backing behind my opinion. Jimmie Johnson will never go down as the best driver all time in NASCAR to me.  The main reason for this is a comparison between him and who I think is the greatest. I believe Richard Petty is the greatest of all time and the statistics tell this. How many Daytona 500s did they win. Johnson has won two and Petty won seven, which gives the advantage to Petty. How many races have they won? Johnson has won sixty six races while Petty won two hundred races, which gives the advantage to Petty. How many championships have they won? Johnson has won six titles while Petty won seven, which gives the advantage to Petty currently. Do I need to say more? Listen, Johnson is a great driver and I don't deny that. But he is not better than Richard Petty. I don't care if Johnson does take more titles than Petty. Just look at the wins, poles, top 5 finishes, top 10 finishes, and Daytona 500 wins to make your decision. Every time, Petty will come out to be the greatest of all time. Enough said. 

This ends week one of the NASCAR off season. I hope you guys enjoyed reading through my thoughts. If you have any differing opinions on the issues I mentioned today, let me know in the comments down below. We have only 91 days left to go before the 2014 Daytona 500, but it is so long to wait. I will continue to write for you guys over the off season and I hope you continue to read everything I write. I will sign off for today and until we meet again.





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