Feud of the Week: EGR or RPM? Will Smoke make Chase? Blackouts
CBSSports.com's Brian De Los Santos and Pete Pistone provide analysis on three weekly racing topics.
If you have a question or hot racing topic you'd like to see discussed, post it here .
| Pete Pistone | Brian De Los Santos |
| Which merged organization will enjoy greater success in 2009: Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing or Richard Petty Motorsports? | |
 The answer to that question lies in the manufacturer of each team which gives the clear advantage to EGR and Chevrolet. The new Richard Petty Motorsports group is saddled with Dodge and despite the manufacturer's pledge it will stick with NASCAR during the current economic hardships coupled with the introduction of the new Sprint Cup power plant, the Dodge teams are still way behind Chevy, Ford and Toyota. EGR's Chevy trio of Martin Truex Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Aric Armirola, who was assured at least a stab by the team of fielding a full-time ride for 2009, won't set the world on fire but will be ahead of the Dodge camp over at RPM. | Mergers or not, the perception that these organizations are a mess hasn't exactly changed. Both have managed to make public personnel blunders during the offseason with EGR getting stiffed by Bobby Labonte in favor of Hall of Fame Racing and RPM trying to oust Elliott Sadler from its No. 19 car before backing off after Sadler threatened a lawsuit. From a pure competition standpoint, EGR should blow RPM out of the water. I think Kasey Kahne is a great talent for RPM, but I'm not sold on the rest of its full-time lineup of Reed Sorenson in the famed 43 car and Sadler. On top of that, I have no reason to believe that Dodge has fixed what has ailed it. I think the talent is there at Chevrolet-powered EGR with Martin Truex Jr. and Juan Pablo Montoya. With a more reliable, powerful motor than he has ever had, this might just be the breakout year for Montoya. |
 COMMUNITY GUEST 'SECTION_725': Great question. So we are comparing two teams that used to be four. Looking at the drivers, they are pretty even as far as past performance goes, with RPM getting a slight nod for Kasey Kahne who can win multiple races in a year, but is very inconsistent overall. Reed Sorenson has shown signs of being a good racer, but has also been inconsistent in his career. Juan Pablo Montoya is coming off of a bad year and will probably want to prove that he belongs in NASCAR. Since the drivers seem to be pretty even, looking at cars might decide which team will do better this year. EGR is running a Chevy, and RPM is running a Dodge. Other than coming in 1-2 at the Daytona 500 last year, Dodge didn't do much. RPM might have a slight edge with the drivers, but EGR has the edge in equipment, so I say EGR will enjoy greater success, but not by much. | |
| Will Tony Stewart win a race with his new team in 2009? Will he make the Chase? | |
| Stewart and Ryan Newman will both win races this season with their new team and Smoke will have a berth in the Chase. It's really a new team in name only as Stewart-Haas Racing comes from the foundation of the old Haas-CNC team, which really wasn't all that bad at times last year given the underfunded nature of the organization. But now Stewart has bought in, brought solid sponsorship dollars from Office Depot, Old Spice and the U.S. Army with him and of course has a technical alignment with Hendrick Motorsports, which will supply the team with chassis and engine support. Stewart also did a great job bringing Darian Grubb from Hendrick over to be his crew chief and Tony Gibson from the former DEI to call the shots for Newman. It's a team that needs a good start at Daytona and I think they'll get it along with some momentum to carry into the rest of the season. |  The fact that Stewart managed only one win in his final season at Joe Gibbs Racing has tempered expectations among some about his first season as owner-driver of the former Haas-CNC team. But I think you can chalk some of his struggles last year to dumb luck and, well, the distraction of trying to make over his new team to his standards. He has put together a strong management team behind him at Stewart-Haas and will have the power of Hendrick motors under his hood. I don't see any reason Stewart can't have his typical season and that includes challenging for victories. A championship probably isn't in the cards, but he's among the 12 I predict will make the Chase in 2009. |
| COMMUNITY GUEST 'SECTION_725': While I am sure it will draw the ire of his fans, I have a hard time seeing Tony having instant success as an owner. He only won one race last year while driving for a successful team. Going to a team that didn't have the greatest success won't make things any easier for him this year. On top of that, the new no-testing rules that NASCAR implemented this year puts him at a further disadvantage. Toss in the extra duties of being an owner, and that puts him a little further back. As far as his Chase chances go, last year the drivers in the Chase were all part of the elite teams in NASCAR, and that most likely won't change this year. Sorry Stewart fans, I don't think he is making the Chase this year, too much going against him. | |
| Should NASCAR consider blacking out races in local markets to boost attendance as Bruton Smith suggested? | |
 Absolutely not. A local market television blackout would be a public relations nightmare for NASCAR, which needs as much goodwill among its fans as possible this season. NASCAR races aren't like NFL games since the majority of fans at each track don't necessarily come from the "home" city. Races are more regional draws than anything. You can't just wake up Sunday morning and say "Hey, let's go to the race today," although this season that may be a possibility with soft ticket sales. But taking a race off local television because it isn't sold out won't juice up attendance and force fans to buy a ticket. Implementing that kind of policy will do nothing but alienate more fans at a time when NASCAR needs every one of them. |  Quite frankly, I think the NFL's blackout rule is asinine, so one for NASCAR would be doubly so. A lot of fans are already starting to grow tired of NASCAR, a blackout could only be the final straw that drives them away for good. I never quite understood the idea of trying to force a fan's hand by blacking out an event locally. Sure some diehards will give in, but in this economy most fans have a perfectly good reason for not attending an event -- it's called LACK OF FUNDS. Of course NASCAR and track owners haven't helped themselves with an unwieldy schedule and a glut of similarly-styled tracks. Fans clamor for short-track races, yet keep getting force-fed "cookie-cutters." Until NASCAR makes its product special again, attendance and viewership will decrease and there's nothing that a blackout will do to change that fact. |
| COMMUNITY GUEST 'SECTION_725': Does Bruton Smith realize the country is in a recession right now? People are losing their jobs and can't afford to go to a race, and those who still have jobs are concerned they might lose theirs as well, and are cutting back on their spending. After giving us the Chase, the "Lucky Dog" rule, Green-White-Checkers finishes and mystery cautions, some of the old-time fans are starting to lose interest in the sport. Blacking out a race locally would just be another nail in the coffin for NASCAR, and might be seen to some as a precursor to having pay-per-view racing. NASCAR is making enough money from the TV contracts that they can suffer through a bad year this year with poor attendance, although that could possibly impact the next TV deal. | |
