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1. David Reutimann Parts Ways with BK Racing; Will He Grab Another Shot in NASCAR and Is It Alex Bowman's Time?
A piece of rather surprising news came out around the time of NASCAR Preseason Thunder. David Reutimann and BK Racing announced that they had parted ways for 2014. If you recall, Reutimann ran 2013 with the team after his time with Michael Waltrip Racing ended in 2011 and he bounced around in 2012. It has been a rather tense offseason for the team and its drivers. Alex Bowman, a rookie in Nationwide competition last year, tested the car at Charlotte in December and tested the #83 at Daytona as well. Travis Kvapil, the other BK Racing driver, tested at Charlotte, but Ryan Truex was the driver of the #93 at Daytona. Before we move to the second part of this topic, I want to talk about David Reutimann's future in the sport. Reutimann's best option is to move to a lower series in NASCAR and try to win some races. Him trying to run Sprint Cup competition with a rather small team is definitely not working for his future. Just a few good runs in a smaller series could very well give him his next Sprint Cup Series option, which I wouldn't mind seeing because he has done a good job before. Now, the second part of this topic. Is this Alex Bowman's chance for a Sprint Cup Series ride? It definitely looks like it. He has tested the number eighty twice already and he could test it a good bit more as the offseason progresses. He seems to be the best fit for the team. I mean, Bowman took a rather secondary level car at RAB Racing in the Nationwide Series in 2013 to a lot of good finishes and races. He could do well in the BK Racing ride in Cup, but I would still want him to wait. He only has that one year in the Nationwide Series and he needs just a little bit more experience, in my opinion. Plus, he needs a better ride to showcase his talents. With David Reutimann leaving the number 83, Alex Bowman has a good shot to make his Cup debut, but I would rather see him run another year of Nationwide along with Reutimann moving to a smaller series to add some victories to his record.
2. Changes Coming to Qualifying in All Three Series; What I Want to See
A piece of very interesting news came out during the week for NASCAR. The sport announced that qualifying changes were coming to all three of NASCAR's highest series. If you recall, the sport runs single car runs for qualifying with the exception of the group qualifying session on the road courses. As of today, NASCAR hasn't announced what the new format is going to be, but I have some ideas if they want them. For one, I would love to see some heat races to set the field on race day. I mean, did you see those Eldora heat races in July of 2013? Man, those were great. Could you imagine sending a few cars out at Martinsville and tell them they are going to decide the lineup just based on a few lap race? There would be beating and banging for the ages. I mean, that seems like the coolest option for the sport in terms of making qualifying more interesting. I mean, there are other options like knockout qualifying sessions, group qualifying sessions, and just so many more other possibilities. Personally, I loved to see the single car runs because it was fun to watch cars beat others single handedly, but the thought of a heat race before an actual race is just so amazing to think about. I would love to see those heat races before the event and I hope NASCAR decides on the heat races instead of anything else.
3. Steve Letarte Joining NBC for NASCAR Coverage in 2015; How Will He Do and Is it the Right Time?
A rather interesting and possibly shocking piece of news came out during the week. Steve Letarte, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief, announced he would be heading to the NBC booth for NASCAR coverage in 2015 along with Jeff Burton and Rick Allen. Letarte will be the key crew chief for the booth along with Burton as the driver and Allen as the main broadcaster. Personally, I think Letarte will do a great job. With this signing, I started thinking about how good Letarte spoke and his knowledge of the sport. He seems to me like the perfect fit for the broadcast booth. He has that easy to listen to voice and he has an amazing knowledge of the sport and its inner-workings. I know that is definitely not a problem, but is it the right time for him to leave? Honestly, I don't see it as the right time. I mean, the opening for the broadcast booth was there and it might not come back again. I see that as the right time, but I don't see at as the right time on the racing side of things. Dale Earnhardt Jr., I believe, is on the edge of greatness. Yes, I have said this about a lot of drivers recently, but I see Junior and Kasey Kahne as having great years this year and even, possibly, championship winning seasons. I don't see how Letarte could leave such a great situation for something that isn't as obviously good as maybe the Hendrick Motorsports situation. Maybe he knows something we as fans don't know. Either way, I think he will do a good job in his new situation and we could be looking at the next great broadcaster in just a few years.
4. Chase Elliott Running Full Time with JR Motorsports in Nationwide; Is It Time?
Well, the news finally came. JR Motorsports, owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., announced that Chase Elliott would run full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2014 behind the wheel of the number 9. If you recall, Elliott won a Truck race in Canada last year and took an ARCA Racing Series win at Pocono. Along with those wins, he had great finishes every time he jumped in a race car and truck in 2013. Of course, the first thing that popped in my mind is the question pretty much everybody asked. Is Chase Elliott ready for this great opportunity? He is ready for this opportunity. I know, that sounds kind of hypocritical for me considering I said just a few months ago that I wanted to see some wins and championships from a driver before he started moving up to the secondary or even top series of NASCAR. Well, throw out the book for Chase Elliott. I mean, the kid can drive. I don't say that about a lot of drivers. There are only a few in NASCAR's two lower series along with Chase that I think have a future in the sport. Yes, Chase doesn't have the wins and full season runs that other drivers have, but he can drive and I feel like it is different with him. He just has so much ability and it may only take him a couple of years before he makes the jump to the Cup Series. This year is really going to be that test year for him and he looks really good in testing. With a couple of wins and maybe a championship in the next year or two, we could be talking about Chase Elliott running for rookie of the year in NASCAR's highest series very soon.
5. 2014 Preseason Thunder; How It Has Went Thus Far in My Opinion
Test time is always the time where rules are messed with and teams are trying to conform to those rules. Well, this test session can be described just as that. All the rule changes made this offseason were being tested and tried on the superspeedway of Daytona. Thus far, the test session has looked good for the future. When the test session finally began on Friday, we saw some single car runs and it seemed like everybody was stable and definitely fast. As the Cup session began to draw to a close for the week, the drafting began. A few cars were running in packs together and everything looked great. They could pass from just about anywhere and a good many people were able to switch around at the front of the field. I was enjoying it and it seems like the racing will be great in February. Then, the Nationwide Series began testing. NASCAR decided to ban tandem drafting from the Nationwide and Truck Series at superspeedways so a lot of teams were having to test their pack drafting package. The session began with single car runs, but it moved to a lot of drafting practice. Groups of cars began to draft and they looked great as well. Cars were able to pass on the outside and the inside along with being able to switch leaders around. The racing looked good even without the tandem drafting. The Trucks are on the track on Monday and Tuesday and I am sure they will have a great session. All in all, the season looks like it is going to be great just based on the amount of action in the test sessions.
Well, week #8 of the NASCAR offseason has drawn to a close. Testing is just about over with only the Trucks left to head out on track. The Nationwide and Cup test sessions looked promising, but the wait is now on for Speedweeks at the start of February. I can't wait to see some actual racing as we move ever so closer to the 56th annual running of the historic Daytona 500. The amount of news surrounding the race and the amount of great racing about to happen on track is just going to make this year's 500 so amazing to watch. If you have any issues with the topics we discussed today, let me know in the comments section down below. I thank you guys once again for reading through my thoughts every week. Expect some more stuff in this next couple of weeks. The 2013 recap is almost done. I just need to place the final touches on it before I put it up. I hope you guys are fairly impressed with it. That is all for me today and until we meet again.
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