NASCAR’s Struggling Teams Should Make The Ultimate Change
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
NASCAR has several teams that compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series but it’s clear that not all of them are equal in 2015.
You can’t help but take Richard Childress Racing’s accolades into consideration. RCR has countless wins and titles to their name, as well as a couple of Daytona 500 victories under their belt. Keep in mind that this is the organization that Dale Earnhardt Sr. put on the map while making the No. 3 Chevrolet a NASCAR icon.
Yet, despite RCR driver Ryan Newman’s runner-up points finish in 2014, RCR hasn’t won a race in the Sprint Cup Series since Kansas in the fall of 2013. The victor? A departing Kevin Harvick.
These days, RCR hasn’t had too much by way of success in the Cup Series. Newman is still relying solely on consistency to get into the Chase for the Sprint Cup while Paul Menard has been spotty with the results at the very least. As for Richard Childress’s grandson, RCR driver Austin Dillon, this photo sums up his Sprint Cup career perfectly:
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The same could be said for Roush-Fenway Racing. Once upon a time, Roush was able to place every one of their entries into the Chase of the Cup in 2005. Every year they churned out one or more championship contenders like Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, and Matt Kenseth.
Now, in 2015, to say that RFR is struggling is putting it kindly. With their stable now at three entries, they’re left lacking on race weekend. Biffle, who finished second in the points in 2005, is now a mid-field performer while Trevor Bayne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. often find themselves at or near the bottom of the speed charts.
However, for both RCR and RFR, their Xfinity performances have been stellar. RCR has some of the best equipment in the Xfinity Series, as drivers Brendan Gaughan, Brian Scott, and Ty Dillon are consistently at the front of the field while Austin Dillon has won three times in a fourth part-time entry.
RFR has had similar fortunes in Xfinity, as they field machines for Darrell Wallace Jr., Elliott Sadler, Ryan Reed, and Chris Buescher. Despite being winless, both Wallace and Sadler are in the top-10 in points while Reed scored his first Xfinity win in Daytona in February. Meanwhile, Buescher has won twice this season and currently leads the points.
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Both teams are declining in the Sprint Cup Series while their successes seem to be growing in the Xfinity Series. This begs the question: Should these teams be refocusing their efforts in order to stay competitive?
It seems like an absurd notion at first. Should RCR and RFR, both championship-winning organizations in the Sprint Cup Series, really consider scaling back their efforts and focusing on a division that’s considered a feeder series that places focus on driver development? If they did that, their exposure would take a hit. However, on the other side of the coin, their exposure is already going downhill.
Take Stenhouse for example. He’s a two-time Xfinity champion. If given a ride in Xfinity, one with plenty of backing, he can win. That’s good for his stock, because with the way RFR is going, it doesn’t look like Stenhouse will be winning in Cup anytime soon. Same with Dillon. A former Camping World Truck Series champion and an Xfinity champion who is a top-20 driver in Cup at the very most. He’s underwhelming in the No. 3, yet in Xfinity he’s been winning or finishing in the top-five in 2015.
Why continue to suffer in performance when there are other divisions where a driver can stay relevant? Sure, one can look at the Hendrick Motorsports camp in 1999-’00. They suffered through both years, yet are now the top Chevrolet team, so all hope is not lost for Childress and Roush. But they can also take Robert Yates Racing into consideration.
For the record, where is RYR these days?
Which would be more important at this point? Exposure or relevance? To stay relevant, good finishes need to be the standard. That being said, they can’t have exposure unless they start posting strong runs.
Neither RFR or RCR show signs of improvement. They’re lacking in both driver skill and equipment quality. RCR is going south; RFR is already there. Yet in Xfinity, they have a capability of exercising a stranglehold over the competition just like Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing.
It’s a tough call. On one hand, it’s strange to think that if this option were taken seriously there wouldn’t be a Daytona 500 with either RCR or RFR equipment on the grid. But then again, Hendrick Motorsports is the top Chevrolet team while Team Penske now has Ford’s unconditional support. Neither RCR nor RFR can hold a candle to the teams that currently hold all the cards in the Sprint Cup garage. Therefore, why bother.
Refocused efforts towards the Xfinity Series along with a somewhat minimal approach to the Sprint Cup Series would be in the best interested for those teams that may have once been dominant but are now irrelevant in Cup.
What do you think? Should struggling teams refocus their efforts on the Xfinity Series or the CWTS? Weigh in and comment below.