Feud of the Week: Owners' disservice, mergers, Pocono pick
CBS.SportsLine.com's Brian De Los Santos and Charlie McCarthy provide analysis on three weekly racing topics.
| 1. Which owner did his drivers a bigger disservice: Ray Evernham or Bobby Ginn? | |
| Brian De Los Santos | Charlie McCarthy |
 Ginn might have left Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin out in the cold, and yeah, only a week after promising a Cup ride to Regan Smith he sold out, but he was a novice team owner biting off more than he could chew. Evernham, on the other hand, is a veteran of the racing business. Didn't he give any thought to how his relationship with Erin Crocker could be perceived and possibly affect her career long term? As if it's not hard enough for a woman to succeed in a top-level racing series, now her credibility is officially shot. She'll be labeled as getting her opportunity in the big time because she was dating an owner (that is if she already wasn't, the relationship had long been rumored), not because of any talent she may have. It certainly won't help her cause that her Busch and Truck efforts have been disastrous. It's looking as if Jeremy Mayfield was actually right when he made waves after getting the boot last season; Evernham was spending too much time and focusing too much attention on Crocker that the rest of his organization suffered. |  Wait a second, who did the biggest disservice to WHOM???? Hey Brian, all Cup drivers get paid very well to compete at auto racing's highest level. Drivers are employees who signed contracts -- if they don't understand changes also occur at fast speeds then they shouldn't be driving in the first-to-last place. Owners have a right to do what they perceive to be best for their teams -- even if someone gets left "out in the cold." Now as far as the Evernham-Erin Crocker working relationship goes, it's another example of how love is blind. Crocker probably needs to drive elsewhere. Otherwise, as mentioned, it'll be perceived that she got her opportunity for one reason: her personal relationship with the owner. |
| 2. Will Yates Racing's merger with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing lead to success or flame out? | |
| Brian De Los Santos | Charlie McCarthy |
| The influx of money should be a plus and perhaps Paul Newman's celebrity can help lure sponsors, but I'm not sold that the engineering skills the Champ Car team brings into the mix means a hill of beans. Open-wheel success hasn't done much for the stock-car bottom line for the organizations that do both, most notably Penske Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing. Both of those organizations have had great success in IndyCar, but neither has been able to consistently replicate that success in NASCAR. If Sebastien Bourdais is part of the deal, we may have something, but by all indications he's heading for Formula One. I would like to see this merger succeed because the more strong teams there are in NASCAR, the better. But it's just such an odd pairing that I don't see it vaulting Yates back among the elite anytime soon. | Cup mediocrity plus Champ Car power will equal ... more Cup mediocrity. Look, I can't blame Robert Yates for trying. After all, it's hard to compete with the top teams such as those of Hendricks, Roush and Gibbs. Yates, owner of a one-time perennial Cup contender (57 overall series wins), previously merged his team's engine program with that of Roush Racing and put his son, Doug, in charge. Now he's hoping this latest merger can help his organization catch up. And can they please do something about the company’s name? Yates-Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing will have headline writers cursing. YNHLR looks like computer spam. |
| 3. Who is your driver to beat at Pocono? Who is your sleeper? | |
| Brian De Los Santos | Charlie McCarthy |
| Nothing happened last time at Pocono to make me think that Denny Hamlin isn't the driver to beat at that track. He won his first two trips to Pocono, but rain and a poor pit stop proved his undoing back in June. I'd bet the house that at the very least he'll lead the most laps Sunday. My sleeper is Kurt Busch. He had finished first, second and second at Pocono, before a lackluster 16th-place run in the last go-round. However, his Penske Racing teammate, Ryan Newman ran strong, finishing second. I think this weekend, the No. 2 team returns to form and competes for the victory. | My choice to win is Jimmie Johnson. I know, I know, Johnson has struggled lately -- finishing 37th and 39th the past two races; 42nd at Pocono in June -- and is putting his emphasis on the Chase. But you know what? Johnson has fallen to ninth in the overall standings and needs to stop the leaking. This is where it happens. In 11 starts at Pocono, Johnson has two wins, three top fives and six top 10s. Six races remain before the Chase begins, and Johnson will start getting into gear. You want a sleeper, how's this: Bill Elliott. The five-time Pocono winner certainly knows how to get around the tri-oval. Can the Wood Bros. No. 21 do the trick? Probably not, but if anybody can get it to Victory Lane in the Poconos, it's Elliott. |
