Fast Facts: Car Owners

First of all, I neglected to say in my post about new team owner Tony Stewart that he won two championships, in 2002 and 2005. Very big omission. Also, he is now in the Bud Shootout, the field for which is selected by manufacturers by owner ranking, because of a newly-added wildcard spot. It's confusing, but I'm glad he's in it, because he is the top seed based on his record over the last 5 and 10 years of this race. 

As far as other owners, the recession has really changed the look of many teams. The biggest news is that Richard Petty's name will continue in the sport as a result of a complicated merger with Gillette-Evernham Motorsports, now named Richard Petty Motorsports. If you've ever seen the animated movie Cars, the iconic blue King was Richard. As far as I know, they will be racing with a 4-car Dodge team. The lead car will still be the #9 Budweiser car driven by Kasey Kahne.  This merger was a classy move that respects the history of the sport. 

Other important teams include Hendrick Motorsports, with 4 Chevrolets driven by an all-star cast of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and this year veteran Mark Martin. The top Ford team is Roush-Fenway racing, whose most-successful driver recently is Carl Edwards, but the whole stable is talented. The top Toyota team is Joe Gibbs Racing, looking to see if Kyle Busch can resume his winning ways this year. And another key Chevrolet team is Richard Childress Racing, with Jeff Burton in the lead there. There are many other teams, including the newly merged Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing in Chevrolets and Penske Racing in Dodges, but it's an expensive sport and in hard economic times sponsors are hard to come by. You'll see a full field at Daytona, but some of the smaller teams are underfunded and won't be able to keep up the weekly grind for long without sponsorship. 

I think knowing who the team owners are is important because it gives you a feel for the culture of the shop and what is tolerated (or not) from drivers and crew, beyond what NASCAR mandates. When I'm at a race, if I'm lucky enough to get to pit road, it's almost as exciting to see an owner as a favorite driver, and it makes me feel more a part of the sport when hardly anyone else recognizes them. Plus, if the team owner is a successful one, that success will filter down to your driver in equipment which will make his winning races more likely. Which is all we really want, to go fast and win, right?

Finally, a quick word about manufacturers. The NASCAR Car of Tomorrow, or Today now, is rigorously inspected within very narrow tolerances so they are almost identical among manufacturers. The bodies are not like those of cars on the street. The real difference is under the hood--Chevy, Toyota, Ford and Dodge still have different engines. Also, manufacturer support helps maintain teams as well. We'll see how much this year, with the Big Three crying bankruptcy and even Toyota posting its first-ever yearly loss. But even with all the changes and challenges, they're still going to start their engines in February, ladies and gentlemen!