2015 NASCAR Thread - And then there was 1

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GTPorsche
David Ragan will drive the 55 after this weekend for the remainder of the season. Erik Jones will take over the 18 until Kyle Busch returns. Chris Buescher will drive the 34 at Talladega, and future plans for the 34 will be announced at a later date.

Source: Various twitter accounts.
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I expect Ragan to drive the #55 next season as well if I'm being honest.

Not looking good for Vickers future, only solution I could see is maybe part time in a third MWR car, providing they can get sponsorship.
 
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Source: http://www.toolorders.co.uk/blog/2015/04/evolution-of-nascar/​
 
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Depending on what happens the next two months, Hamlin to the 55 following this season is being talked about.
 
I can't imagine why Hamlin would leave JGR for MWR. The gap between the top two Toyota teams is about the same as the gap between Team Penske and Roush-Fenway Racing, the top two Ford teams.
 
She's not going to be gone. They're looking for a new sponsor.

Edit: For clarification: She won't be gone if they find a sponsor. This is the final year of her contract, so no sponsor = no seat next year.
 
I seriously doubt anyone will want to replace godaddy once they leave. Sponsors are so hard to get these days and she hasn't exactly done anything to get any of them to consider it.
 
GTPorsche
She's marketable... the one thing sponsors will like.
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As far as I can tell, the only sponsor I seem to see any marketability to is Peak and even then, they got Clint Bowyer and that whole contest to select a MWR driver so she doesn't exactly have a sponsor that's solely hers like godaddy.
 
GTPorsche
Jeff Gordon is doing the double this year... by driving the pace car for the start of the Indy 500.
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I was pumped until I read the second sentence. Way to crush many of our hopes. :grumpy:
 
GTPorsche
She's not going to be gone. They're looking for a new sponsor.

Edit: For clarification: She won't be gone if they find a sponsor. This is the final year of her contract, so no sponsor = no seat next year.
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Ryan Newman knows this all too well. He was allowed to walk from SHR after winning the Brickyard 400 because the team couldn't line up enough sponsorship for the following season.
 
MustangRyan
Ryan Newman knows this all too well. He was allowed to walk from SHR after winning the Brickyard 400 because the team couldn't line up enough sponsorship for the following season.
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I think Newman got canned so Stewart/Haas could afford Harvick.
 
Blood Eagle
I think Newman got canned so Stewart/Haas could afford Harvick.
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No, they were absolutely going to keep Newman if he could get together enough sponsorship to stay. He couldn't, so most of his partial sponsors (Outback, Aspen Dental, State Water Heaters, Code 3 Associates, Haas) moved over to other SHR cars after it was announced the Newman was leaving at the end of the season. Quicken Loans and Wix did follow him to the RCR #31 car.

Keep in mind that SHR had not yet put together the Kurt Busch deal, so they could have kept Newman and signed Harvick to be the 4th driver, if enough sponsorship had existed for both cars. After Newman was announced as leaving, Gene Haas surprised everyone (including Tony Stewart) when he agreed to fund a 4th team out of his own pocket just to get Kurt Busch.
 
Haas could have sponsored Newman because Kurt Busch wasn't on the team yet. Hiring Kurt Busch was Gene Haas' decision and Newman got canned to make room for Harvick and Kurt. I think Newman kind of got the shaft but it has worked out pretty good minus the penalty.
 
Blood Eagle
Haas could have sponsored Newman because Kurt Busch wasn't on the team yet. Hiring Kurt Busch was Gene Haas' decision and Newman got canned to make room for Harvick and Kurt. I think Newman kind of got the shaft but it has worked out pretty good minus the penalty.
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In a dream world, Stewart and Haas would have kept Newman, hired Harvick as planned, and started a new team for Kurt Busch. But, they are only allowed four total teams, and Danica's sponsor dollars were more important than Newman's talent.
 
MustangRyan
In a dream world, Stewart and Haas would have kept Newman, hired Harvick as planned, and started a new team for Kurt Busch. But, they are only allowed four total teams, and Danica's sponsor dollars were more important than Newman's talent.
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Truth.


Ganon83
Depending on what happens the next two months, Hamlin to the 55 following this season is being talked about.
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MustangRyan
I can't imagine why Hamlin would leave JGR for MWR. The gap between the top two Toyota teams is about the same as the gap between Team Penske and Roush-Fenway Racing, the top two Ford teams.
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Aaron's wants a big name driver and both JGR and MWR want to work closer together to combat SHR. It all really depends on how Jones does in the 18.
 
GTPorsche
GoDaddy is ending their sponsorship at the end of the year.
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GTPorsche
She's not going to be gone. They're looking for a new sponsor.

Edit: For clarification: She won't be gone if they find a sponsor. This is the final year of her contract, so no sponsor = no seat next year.
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No way in boogeyland (or this universe either, FYI) is she getting another sponsor. Her contract is up, her performance has been so unbelievably awful that its literally become a source of attention in and of itself. How is that grounds for a full or even partial season deal?? however, she could reemerge in an NXS team later on as a one-off, but effectively her NASCAR career is over. Goodbye and good riddance.
GTPorsche
She's marketable... the one thing sponsors will like.
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The only sponsor I can see REMOTELY showing up on the 10 car is Playboy/Maxim/ "those" magazines. But then again, Playboy aint rich (now, anyway), NASCAR would never allow it, and it would actually decrease her number of fans
Ganon83
Aaron's wants a big name driver and both JGR and MWR want to work closer together to combat SHR. It all really depends on how Jones does in the 18.
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Yeeeahhhhhh right man. MWR already has Ragan, and no way Hamlin's leaving JGR unless they literally tear up his contract and force him out.
 
http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/...-hamlin-signs-extension-with-joe-gibbs-racing

According to that article (dated June 2012), Hamlin had signed "a multi-year extension" with JGR, extending his contract that was set to expire after the 2013 season. JGR never releases contract details, but I have a really hard time believing it was only a 2-year extension expiring after this season. Hamlin even said that the extension was "for a long time," though that is still intentionally vague.

Whether or not Hamlin is still under contract after this season, it makes zero sense for him to leave JGR in either scenario. It doesn't even make sense for JGR to let him leave, as there is no chance they have a better driver lined up to replace him in the #11 car for next season.

MWR would be thrilled to have him, I'm sure. But unless JGR is going to open up a real technical alliance with MWR, Hamlin would be taking a huge step back by making that move.
 
Denny has been JGR's most consistent driver over the years so I doubt they would let him go unless FedEx left and they had to shut the team down.

AMPMROCKETFANN
No way in boogeyland (or this universe either, FYI) is she getting another sponsor. Her contract is up, her performance has been so unbelievably awful that its literally become a source of attention in and of itself. How is that grounds for a full or even partial season deal?? however, she could reemerge in an NXS team later on as a one-off, but effectively her NASCAR career is over. Goodbye and good riddance.
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Can we please stop with the constant trashing of drivers? (It's hardly just you)

I really wish this forum would adopt the motto of a forum I used to visit.

Talk your driver up, not others down.
 
I don't think she will get a sponsor that will pay for a full season at SHR in the Cup series.
 

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