Waiting On Tony

By Mark Young

Well my friends last week I shared with you all about my weekend camping in the infield at Michigan International Speedway about all the fun I had, things I saw, and people I met.  Another cool thing that happened was that I had the honor of representing That's Racin' as a member of the media with credentials.  This gave me a chance to roam the garage and pit areas, take pictures, and sit in on some interviews that drivers like Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson held before practice on Friday.  But it also gave me a chance to visit with some people I know who are "in the know" regarding our favorite sport.  Boy did I get some good stuff!!  Drivers leaving, drivers staying, teams being sold, none of it solid but from good sources.  The common denominator with all that looms for Silly Season 2008........Tony Stewart.

Everyone has known for weeks that Tony is testing the waters and looking at other opportunities beyond Joe Gibbs Racing.  We also know that JD Gibbs has made it clear that they expect Tony to drive for them in 2009.

There have been other drivers who are at the end of their contracts.

* LaBonte is re-signed with Petty.
* Biffle is all but renewed with Roush-Fenway, likely to be announced this weekend in Loudon.
* Truex could be available but DEI holds an option for 2009.
* Newman is looking at other teams and Penske is looking at other drivers.
* Childress has a 4th ride available with a high profile sponsor already on board.
* Montoya is pissed about the rotating crew-chief situation.  But he says he is sticking it out with Chip.
* The CNC-Haas Automation team (#66 and #70) is supposedly for sale.

That is a pretty impressive list of free agents....or potential ones.  Then on Sunday night ESPN broke out a story saying Mark Martin could be replacing Casey Mears and run an entire season in the #5 car.  That is a really interesting story to break because it is the opposite of what I have been hearing.

Now, I am just a guppy in this pond we call NASCAR.  I am not one of the big-time guys who travel from race to race.  They have their connections as well, likely further up the food chain than the few that I have.  But let me run down what I have heard and combine it with my gut feel for what is about to happen.........very soon.

1. Tony Stewart is going to leave Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of the year.
    - He is going to buy CNC-Haas Racing.  I figure Chevy is going to buy him out of his contract to get him back into the fold.
    - CNC-Haas is basically a satellite Hendrick team.  I bet Rick has some sort of vested interest in this deal.......

2. Martin Truex Jr. will leave DEI and Bass Pro Shops, his sponsor, will go with him.
    - Truex will drive either the #66 or the #70 for Tony Stewart.
            - Bass Pro Shops is heavily involved with Tony Stewart in his open-wheel ventures and we have all seen the commercials with Tony AND Martin.  Sponsor find a driver they like to represent them and they tend to stick with them.

3. Ryan Newman will either go to DEI and become their big wheel OR he will go to RCR and drive the 4th car.
    - I have a feeling that Ryan is tired of playing second fiddle at Penske (first behind Rusty and now with Kurt Busch).  I am more inclined to think that he will go to DEI to be BMOC (big man on campus) rather than fight for attention at RCR.

4. Mark Martin will NOT replace Casey Mears in the #5 car and drive full-time.
    - I have learned that when Mark agreed to come back to racing after his "retirement" he had to agree with Jack Roush to not run an entire schedule of events.
    - I am willing to bet Mark Martin goes to RCR to split time with either Scott Wimmer or a Young Gun, thus keeping his word with Jack Roush.

5. David Stremme will replace Ryan Newman in the #12 car.
    - David has had a great season in the Nationwide Series driving for Rusty Wallace and recently signed a contract to be their test driver.  I bet David walks in and replaces Ryan full-time in 2009.

6. Casey Mears will leave the #5 car and drive the other Tony Stewart car (either #66 or #70)
    - Rick's influence, and likely financial support, of Tony's new organization will have Casey go there leaving room for a higher profile driver for the #5 car.

7. TONY STEWART WILL DRIVE THE #5 IN 2009.

You can call me crazy, that's what I did to my radio show co-host Dave when he mentioned this a while back.  This just makes total sense.  Rick Hendrick gets financial interest in another Chevy team and in return gets a two time series champion to drive his often under-performing fourth team.  Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians you say?  That's what I thought at first but now it makes perfect sense.

As you can see, this all centers around Tony.  Something like going to Hendrick to become another link in the chain is almost like George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees.  People are going to freak out but I think that if this happens it will be a bigger deal than Junior leaving DEI.......

What do you guys think?