Feud of the Week: JGR's leap, unqualified Chasing, open questions
CBSSports.com staff writers Charlie McCarthy and Brian De Los Santos provide analysis on three racing topics.
| 1. Is Joe Gibbs Racing making a mistake switching manufacturers from Chevrolet to Toyota? | |
| Charlie McCarthy | Brian De Los Santos |
 Absolutely not. As a Chevrolet (General Motors) team, JGR faced a yearly battle with Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Inc. for status as the automaker's top team. Next year and going forward, JGR clearly will be Toyota's signature team. And with Toyota having endured a disappointing -- and at times embarrassing -- first season in Cup, Gibbs Racing undoubtedly will get whatever it wants in terms of financial backing, technology and engineering. Of course, in this year's Chase for the Championship, JGR's Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin might be racing uphill as lame ducks getting little help from Chevrolet. But in the big picture, that means little. |  I guess JGR has never heard the mantra if it ain't broke don't fix it. Chevrolet has been the standard bearer in NASCAR for many years now and this season has been especially dominant. Chevrolet drivers have won 18 of 25 races this season. Toyota drivers, meanwhile, have managed a meager seven top 10s, total, for the season. Seven!#!@! So JGR sees that and goes, hmmm, it might not be a bad idea to change manufacturers? Ridiculous. Toyota must be throwing a boatload of money at the organization because otherwise it doesn't make a lick of sense to me. Don't get me wrong, with JGR on board I think Toyota will improve, but I can't imagine they'll jump from a handful of top 10s this year to championship contenders next year. That can't sit too well with fans of Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Maybe with the Car of Tomorrow, manufacturer doesn't really matter. Maybe a little JGR power is all Toyota really needs. I still say it's a gamble. Why go with the unknown and rebuild when you already have everything to be a success? |
| 2. Who do you like this weekend at Richmond? Will Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualify for the Chase? | |
| Charlie McCarthy | Brian De Los Santos |
| My pick to win at Richmond is native son Denny Hamlin, from Chesterfield, Va. Take away a last-place finish at Bristol two weeks ago, Hamlin owns three top 5s in four starts. In three career Richmond starts, Hamlin has two top 5s and a pole. As for Junior, he no doubt will run strong Saturday night. The problem is, Kurt Busch (11th place) and Kevin Harvick (12th) figure to do the same. Thus, Earnhardt won't be Chase-ing this season. | I actually like Earnhardt Jr. for the win this weekend. I think because of the mechanical failures it's easy to forget that he's actually been running in the top five week in and week out over the past several weeks. Saturday, though, I think he gets the deal done. In 16 starts at Richmond he has three victories, seven top 5s and nine top 10s, so it's a great track for him. I don't think he'll make the Chase though. To pick him to make the Chase is to predict that problems will befall Kevin Harvick or Kurt Busch, which is just out of my prognostication ability. Harvick needs to finish 32nd or better and Busch 36th or better to make the Chase. Even if one or the other totally misses the boat on setup -- and I don't think they will -- they should still be strong enough to finish in the top 25. Only a crash or parts failure could realistically knock Harvick or Busch out of the Chase. |
| 3. The IndyCar championship is going down to the wire. Did Scott Dixon intentionally back into Dario Franchitti last week at Detroit? Who will claim the title? | |
| Charlie McCarthy | Brian De Los Santos |
| Only Dixon knows for sure, though I doubt he intentionally backed in front of Franchitti. That would have taken some pretty fast thinking. I think Dixon did what he did while trying to control his car and, unfortunately for Franchitti, it meant landing in front of the No. 27 Andretti Green Racing vehicle. Although Tony Kanaan remains alive in the championship chase, it'll come down to front-runners Franchitti and Dixon. Let me flip a coin -- heads Mr. Ashley Judd, tails the Kiwi. It's tails. | Wow. Three points separate Franchitti and Dixon heading to the season finale at Chicagoland this week. This is the type of points race NASCAR dreams of (of course that dream would include Dale Earnhardt Jr., but that's getting off the subject). In any case, Dixon made things very interesting last week at Detroit. After wrecking while trying to pass Buddy Rice on the last lap, Dixon took out Franchitti, who was trying to scoot around the wreckage. Car owner Michael Andretti believed Dixon saw Franchitti and intentionally blocked his path and I tend to agree, it looked very suspicious. Franchitti though was a good sport and said he didn't think there any intention on Dixon's part to wreck him. I couldn't really blame Dixon if he did as it cost Franchitti anywhere from five to nine additional points. I don't think it's going to matter though as I expect Franchitti to finish ahead of Dixon at Chicagoland to claim the championship. |
