Paul Menard’s sophomore season provided some slight improvement. After the struggles that marked the early part of his rookie campaign, 2008 brought continued steadiness for him that marked his second half of 2007.
From the outset, Jamie McMurray’s tenure with Roush was supposed to be a match made in heaven.
As MWR continued to fight to find its footing in the Sprint Cup Series, Michael McDowell found himself the odd man out.
There isn’t a whole lot to summarize for Chad McCumbee’s season, making it a difficult one to put a viable grade on. While the Pettys hoped to put a full-time Nationwide Series deal together for the young driver, nothing materialized, and that forced him to again run the Truck Series in the No. 8 Malcolmson Construction Chevrolet.
Johnny Sauter’s solid 2007 efforts with the No. 70 team proved that the car was certainly more competitive than the results Jeremy Mayfield was posting on the track through the first seven races of 2008.
On the surface, it may seem like this year’s part-time gig was not as successful as Mark Martin’s 2007 campaign, which saw him nearly win NASCAR’s crown jewel event and step out of the driver’s seat with the points lead four races in.
Following the lead of other aging veterans, Sterling Marlin chose to cut back to a part-time schedule in 2008, signing up to drive for one of the most powerful independent owners in the Cup business these days – James Finch.
As Joey Logano prepares to fill big shoes in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota next year, JGR officials had to be a little discouraged by what they saw in the youngster’s 2008 Cup Series debut.
Remember when Terry Labonte retired at the end of the 2006 season? Apparently, the part-time opportunities stemming from his past champion’s provisional are simply too much to pass up.
In his third season behind the wheel at P.E., this year was supposed to be the one where Bobby Labonte returned the No. 43 car to its former glory.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com