|
BY DAVID POOLE
McClatchy Newspapers
Even though it was a season in which Chevrolet
once more claimed both the Sprint Cup Series
driver's championship and manufacturer's title,
it is accurate to say that 2008 was something
of a step backward for Chevrolet and its teams in
NASCAR's top series.
Chevrolets won 11 races last season, tying Ford
for the most. But that was Chevy's lowest season
win total since 2002, when it won only 10. In the
five seasons since, Chevrolets had won 19, 22, 17,
23 and 26 races.
Chevrolets provided 32.3 percent of the entries
in the 36 Cup races last season, but won just 30.6
percent of them. Jimmie Johnson, who notched his
third straight championship and Chevrolet's fourth
in a row, had seven of the 11 wins with only Jeff
Burton (two), Clint Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
joining Johnson in the win column.
But even amid financial challenges for its parent
company, General Motors, Chevrolet appears to
have bolstered its 2009 Sprint Cup lineup.
After running partial schedules at Dale
Earnhardt Inc. the past two seasons, Mark Martin
competes full-time in a Chevrolet for the first time
in his career as he joins Johnson, Earnhardt Jr. and
Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports.
Tony Stewart, the last driver to win a title before
Johnson went on his current roll, also returns to the
Chevrolet fold this year along with Ryan Newman,
the defending Daytona 500 champion, at Stewart-
Haas Racing. Juan Pablo Montoya also moves into
Chevrolets as part of DEI's merger with Chip
Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
But the Chevrolet discussion starts with Johnson
and the No. 48 team.
GREGG ELLMAN/MCT
Tony Stewart, left, and teammate Ryan
Newman will drive Chevrolets this season.
Johnson, crew chief Chad Knaus and their team
have won 22 races during
their three-year
reign as champions. But
each season, Johnson
said, has offered its own
challenge.
"If you look at our three championships, in 2006 was the old car, '07 was a split, and then last year was the new car, and we were obviously out to lunch at the start of the season," Johnson said. "We haven't been able to sit back and say, 'This has worked for three years, we're just going to stay the course and it's going to work out for us.'
"The past three years have really challenged this race team, and we've had to really get in the habit of forgetting things and forgetting technology and forgetting certain things that worked because it's just always changing. That's one thing I'm very proud of for this race team."
No driver has ever won four straight titles in the Cup Series, and Johnson knows it's going to be a stern challenge for him to change that.
"I look at the guys that won multiple races last year and think that they're going to be awfully tough," Johnson said. "It's hard to ignore what the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) did.
I know you mentioned him, but I think he has the ability to do anything he wants in the sport if he can
|
just focus in on it and keep his eye on the ball and make it happen.
Carl (Edwards) has his eye on the ball and is refining his game week to week, track to track."
While Edwards and Busch would seem to be the likely primary challengers to Johnson's bid for four
in a row, other Chevrolet drivers might have something to say about that, too.
Gordon went winless in 2008 for the first time since his rookie season in 1993. Earnhardt Jr. won only once and was never a factor in the Chase.
Martin joins the Hendrick team to replace Casey Mears in the No. 5.
But Mears stays in the Chevrolet camp, sliding over to aChildress team that has put three cars in the Chase in each of the past two years.
Kevin Harvick also endured a winless 2008, but he finished fourth in the final standings but had 14 top-10 finishes in the final 18 races last year.
"Last year was one of those years where we weren't ever really the strongest car on those particular weeks where we felt like our strengths were," Harvick said. "Just getting that last little bit is what I'm talking about in every category. It's not just one point, but it's not a lot, either, and everybody is doing a good job. It's just a matter of
everybody picking up that little bit."
Burton has had 56 top-10 finishes the past three seasons, making the Chase each time, while Bowyer now has topfive points finishes in his past two seasons. But Mears is now with the team led by crew chief Gil Martin that has worked with Bowyer while Bowyer moves to the new fourth team in the RCR stable, the No. 33.
Martin Truex Jr., took a step back last year after
making the Chase in 2007, fighting through contract
issues while DEI fought to solidify its future.
He returns to the No. 1 Chevrolets with Montoya
now as a teammate. Aric Almirola is also scheduled
to drive the No. 8 Chevys for that merged
operation.
Stewart's two-car team is one of the most intriguing operations for the new season. The two-time champion had a decade of success at Joe Gibbs Racing and now he and Newman, who won the Daytona 500 with Penske Racing in 2008, turn to new pages in their careers.
"It seems like it's been another chapter, but I've been more excited this off-season, I think, than I've ever been, other than coming into my rookie year," Stewart said. "Any time that you do something different, you're always excited about it."
|
>
