As silly season continues, nothing is surprising at this rate.
No one should be shocked Matt Kenseth, who isn’t fully sponsored, was sent packing at Joe Gibbs Racing. Who was stunned that William Byron got a Cup ride replacing Kasey Kahne, especially when Byron comes with money? No one.
So it shouldn’t come as a breaking news moment when any one of the many free agents lands a ride. Not only is it a hyperbole when people make the biggest deal of Kenseth being jobless, but it is misleading to those who follow his career and are hoping he lands somewhere that he can compete for wins.
Q: What are potential landing spots for Kasey Kahne? – Justin L., Seattle
A: Look, Kahne is still a viable option for many Cup teams. At 37, he is still a valuable driver at the Cup level.
Not only did Kahne win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one of the biggest — if not the largest — triumph of his NASCAR career, but he is still someone who is well-respected in the garage area. While he has struggled at Hendrick Motorsports, it doesn’t mean he will do so at another organization.
When Kahne first arrived at HMS in 2012, he won a pair of races and finished fourth in the standings. That was a mere five years ago. But since then, Kenny Francis stopped working with him and Keith Rodden took over as crew chief. When Rodden took over, the No. 5 team went from a contender to a pretender.
In two and a half years with Kahne, Rodden led him to just eight top fives and 27 top 10s prior to the 2017 Brickyard 400. That is simply unacceptable for HMS. It’s amazing that Rodden and Kahne didn’t get the boot sooner with that performance.
However, with a fresh team and a different crew chief (maybe a reunion with Francis for the third time?), Kahne can compete for a title once again.
Rumors say GMS Racing is going to Cup, putting Kahne in one of its cars with help from Hendrick. That option is one that has been floated around since June, but GMS has yet to confirm or deny any truth to it.
Should Kahne compete for GMS next year, it could be a major step down, just like Clint Bowyer working with HScott Motorsports in 2016. Even with Hendrick support, it is going to take a while for GMS to build a solid team at NASCAR’s top division. This is the top of the mountain, and to get to the top, you need to do well in the middle first.
Clearly, GMS is not ready for the Cup level. Its XFINITY Series team is struggling. Lead driver Spencer Gallagher, the team owner’s son, sits 20th in the standings behind drivers like Jeremy Clements and Joey Gase, who have a fraction of GMS’ budget. Yeah, it’s not too impressive.
Ben Kennedy, who runs the team’s second part-time car, has three top 25s in five starts. That is not promising enough to bring the organization to Cup unless HMS makes GMS a true satellite team like Joe Gibbs Racing has done with Furniture Row Racing.
For Kahne, the opportunity to race for GMS could be there. However, with openings at Richard Childress Racing, Furniture Row and possibly Roush Fenway Racing, it would make sense for him to take them up on an opportunity should he be offered one.
At this point in time, though, it seems like GMS is his best bet if he wants to stay at the Cup level.
Q: The Bristol truck race is on Wednesday night. What are the benefits of having weeknight races? – Sara M., Louisville
A: It’s really great to see NASCAR holding multiple weeknight events for the last few years, but there needs to be more of them.
Friday night races don’t fly for the demographic NASCAR wants to hit, which includes ages 18-35. Who is going to sit home to watch a NASCAR event on a Friday night? No one I know, that’s for sure.
It’s 2017, folks, and people aren’t willing to give up their entire weekends anymore for NASCAR. How nice is it to get home from work, watch qualifying, crack open a beer and watch a good ‘ol NASCAR race? Yeah, it’s pretty sweet, and that’s what the sport experiences each year when the Camping World Truck Series heads to Eldora Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway in the summer.
Not only is it a nice change of pace, but it enables people who normally wouldn’t watch a Truck Series race to do so. With a great start time of 8:30 p.m. ET and qualifying being held at 4:35, there aren’t many excuses for you to miss an action-packed race at a short track, something fans always ask for.
Bristol’s race this week not only has a stacked entry list with 34 trucks attempting to qualify, but it also has a plethora of young guns aiming to become the next big thing. Holding this race on a Wednesday evening rather than Friday night could be critical, with the potential of gaining more exposure to people who are actually home rather than being out and about.
Considering Bristol is known to put on thrillers, fans understand that it’s fun to watch and are willing to stay home for a Bristol race no matter what. However, ratings for Wednesday evening’s Truck Series race might be higher than Friday’s XFINITY Series contest, and that could be a sign NASCAR needs to add a few more weeknight races into the mix.