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1. Todd Parrott Hired As Crew Chief For Tommy Baldwin Racing's #36; How Will the Team Perform?
A rather surprising and interesting piece of news came out during the week. Tommy Baldwin Racing announced that the team had hired Todd Parrott to be the crew chief for the team's #36 entry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. If you recall, Parrott was the crew chief for Aric Almirola, driver of the number 43 for Richard Petty, before Parrott was indefinitely suspended by NASCAR for failing a drug test. The failed drug test left Parrott out of the sport for the moment and, subsequently, a job at Richard Petty Motorsports. Since he was reinstated, he has been actively searching for a job and now he is the crew chief for Tommy Baldwin Racing's #36. Honestly, this move has good and bad parts to it. The good parts are pretty easy to find. Parrott won a Cup championship with Dale Jarrett back in 1999 and those championship abilities don't leave a crew chief. Plus, Parrott knows what it is like to face speculation and questioning due to his recent problems. He can easily deal with all the speculation he has as the season starts and that should help the team a fair bit. The one bad thing about hiring Parrott could be the thing that takes TBR down. Parrott could be a second time offender with failing a drug test and TBR could be in loads of scrutiny. Let me first say this. I respect Todd Parrott and I don't expect him to fail a drug test again because he is a pretty stand up guy and I just don't see him making the same mistake. Still, this is a point the team had to consider. If Parrott fails another drug test, that will pretty much end his crew chief career along with having huge ramifications for TBR. They would have to deal with the questions about why they would have hired him in the first place along with losing a lot of money from the deal. It might lead to people not wanting to be a part of the organization and that would be devastating. Nonetheless, I see this move working for the whole Tommy Baldwin Racing team and it might just help them in the very near future.
2. Reed Sorenson to Drive Tommy Baldwin's #36 in 2014; How Will the Team Adapt With a New Driver?
Another piece of surprising news came out from the Tommy Baldwin Racing camp this week. The team announced that journeyman driver, Reed Sorenson, would take over for the team in its #36 car in 2014. If you recall, Sorenson has been running a lot of Nationwide races the past few years including a stint with Turner Motorsports in 2011 and a stint for the injured Michael Annett last year for Richard Petty Motorsports. I really like this move for a good many reasons. First, Sorenson is an extremely capable driver. Some forget he took a win in 2011 in the Nationwide Series along with running pretty well in the series. He also performed alright in his time in Cup a good many years ago with Richard Petty Motorsports. Second and finally, Todd Parrott and Reed Sorenson seem like a pretty formidable duo. I mean, the two have never worked together, but they have something in common. They both have had to deal with media scrutiny the past few years in terms of their career and that could set them on the right path. Chemistry and things in common is the perfect thing for a team in Cup competition, honestly. Just look at Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson along with so many others. I could see those two working together well in a few years with a great sponsor and a great alliance with a major team. It also helps that Tommy Baldwin Racing has really made great strides in the past few years to gain sponsors and become extremely competitive in NASCAR's highest series. I applaud Tommy Baldwin for doing so much for the sport he loves and I hope this new tandem of Reed Sorenson and Todd Parrott is able to take the team to new areas of greatness.
3. J.J. Yeley Says He Has a Cup Ride; Could It Be Great?
Now, to the other part of the Tommy Baldwin Racing saga of this week. With Reed Sorenson being hired to take over the ride, this leaves J.J. Yeley, the previous driver of the #36, without a ride. Well, at least not an announced ride. Yeley posted on his Facebook page this week that he had an opportunity in Cup this coming year and he would release the details in the coming weeks. If you recall, Yeley has been a journeyman driver of sorts the past few years in Cup competition and in select Nationwide races. I feel pretty bad for Yeley. I mean, he can drive the wheels off a sprint car and anything on dirt, but he just hasn't had the perfect opportunity on asphalt or in stock cars yet. He just needs that perfect opportunity to take off and maybe become a great driver in Cup. This brings me to my question for today. Could this ride J.J. Yeley has lined up for 2014 be a pretty good ride? Honestly, I don't see it as being a great ride. The main reason is just the fact that all the other great rides seem to be taken as of right now. The Hendrick rides, the Gibbs rides, and all the other great teams seem to have all their rides filled. Teams don't just come into the sport, assuming this ride Yeley has is with a new team, with the perfect people and the perfect setup to win. It takes a lot of time to build up a team and I don't just see this team with Yeley coming into the sport and setting the world on fire. Maybe I am wrong and Yeley comes into 2014 with a great opportunity, but it will be interesting to see how this ride works.
4. NASCAR Makes Significant Changes to Penalty System; Will It Work?
NASCAR made pretty big changes to an important aspect of the sport for the second week in a row. The sanctioning body announced that they had made significant changes to the penalty system. I will try to explain it in as much detail as possible without making it a page long. The penalty ladder will consist of six different levels. Small warnings will be the first part of the system with no action while the next six levels have certain consequences that differ with each stage. As the penalty moves up to levels four through six, the amount of penalties become great. Stage six results in a large fine, suspensions, and a lot of media scrutiny for the team. Plus, if a team has more than one offense in levels four through six, the penalties could be increased based on NASCAR's decision. If you would like more information on the inner workings of the system, please check out NASCAR's website, which is in the credits below. I absolutely love this new system and believe it will work well. The main reason is the system will prevent the cloudiness of NASCAR suspensions. If you take a look at the past, it seemed like some teams were fined a lot for something simple while major infractions didn't receive heavy suspensions. One situation that comes to my mind happened this past season. The entire talk of the weekend around the July Daytona races in 2013 was concerned around possible penalties for illegal roof flap spacers. It seemed like everybody was expecting some sort of penalties, but there weren't any penalties for anybody. That didn't make sense to me. I didn't understand why everybody had talked about the significance of the penalties when they ultimately didn't happen. Now, I feel like the new penalty system will make it clear why the penalty was handed down and what the penalties are instead of them being come up with by the sanctioning body. Hopefully, this keeps crew chiefs from crossing the line and penalties become a very clear part of the NASCAR weekend.
5. Morgan Shepherd to Attempt Daytona 500 and Become the Oldest to Do So; Can He Make It?
I love these kind of stories just a couple of weeks before the running of the Daytona 500. Morgan Shepherd and the Support Military Foundation announced that Shepherd would attempt to race in the 2014 Daytona 500, which would make Shepherd the oldest to ever make the race. The effort will be backed by BK Racing along with Randy MacDonald, who owns MacDonald Motorsports, and Dell Hamilton, who is a part of the Support Military Foundation. If you recall, Shepherd is currently the oldest driver to race in a Cup race after he started the July race at New Hampshire last year at the age of seventy one. I am extremely excited about this race attempt because Morgan has been one of my favorite NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers for a good many years. My question for this topic is this. Can Morgan Shepherd make this Daytona 500? I honestly think he can, but it will be very difficult. For one, I feel like a lot of guys are going to attempt the race this year. It seems like we could have at least forty seven of forty eight cars attempt the 500 this year just based on the amount of drivers who have tested at Daytona along with the amount who have declared they have an opportunity to race at Daytona. That means Morgan would have to fight hard for a spot in the Duels along with qualifying, assuming he isn't locked in based on points. Still, this could be a very historic moment for Morgan and I am excited to cheer him on during the race itself.
Well, week #12 of the 2013 NASCAR offseason has drawn to a complete close. In only two weeks, my thoughts will no longer be named based on the offseason week number, but, rather, the name of the race track where the Cup Series is competing. I can not wait until I can type that out instead of what offseason week it is. I also can not wait until cars head on track in just a short two weeks for practice, then qualifying, and, finally, the major race of the season: the Daytona 500. It should all be great like it is every single year for NASCAR. I hope you guys enjoyed reading through my thoughts once again. If you have an issues with the topics I mentioned today, let me know in the comments down below. I don't have anything else planned before cars get on track for the first time, but expect something about the ARCA Racing Series race at Daytona on Saturday after the race finishes. I can not wait for the first race related post of 2014. Well, that does it for me today and until we meet again.
Credits:
-Image:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Daytona_International_Speedway_2011.jpg
-Penalty Announcement From NASCAR:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2014/2/4/nascar-penalty-structure-revamped-with-specific-sanctions.html
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