2008 - Rookie of the Year

Take your pick:

Patrick Carpentier, #10
Dario Franchitti, #40
Sam Hornish, #77
Regan Smith, #01
Jacques Villeneuve, #

Regan Smith or Dario Franchitti.

I think that it will be Dario Franchitti, though I would like it to be Sam Hornish.

pity marcos ambrose's name wasnt on that list... quite a good list of names there - i'll go for dario :beer:

Villeneuve, a World Champion, has the most talent behind the wheel of anyone on that impressive list but, unfortunately, he also will drive by far the weakest equipment of any of the 2008 rookies. Hornish has the best equipment but has struggled the most of these drivers in stock cars so I will vote for the driver in the second best equipment (as well as second most talent, imo), Franchitti. The fact that his team already went through this transition with JPM will also be a plus for Franchitti.

My prediction:

1) Franchitti
2) Villeneuve
3) Carpentier
4) Hornish

Smith is hard to assess so I excluded him, although I will say that I do not think he will win the rookie of the year award next year. Judging by his performance this year he will be mediocre in 2008, despite strong equipment, but it is hard to rank him with the others because the open-wheel drivers are largely unknowns.

My picks:

Regan Smith
Patrick Carpentier
Dario Franchitti
Sam Hornish
Jacques Villeneuve

Except for Regan Smith all open wheelers. Are there no Busch drivers who step up to a fulltime Cup season?

I don't think so. Part of the problem with the cup driver's hostile takeover of the Busch Series is that it robs young drivers of a chance in the limelight. It is easier to get a cup car owner's attention when you are running 3rd instead of 13th behind 12 cup drivers. Some cup drivers came raced in the BGN series for cup teams, i.e. Harvick and Biffle, but with cup teams relying more on cup drivers to race in the Busch Series that further reduces opportunities for new drivers to make it to the cup series. There is considerable whining about open-wheelers "taking" seats from traditional stock car drivers but none of these people complain about how the path to cup has numerous road blocks for drivers who go from the short tracks to the BGN series....

There is considerable whining about open-wheelers "taking" seats from traditional stock car drivers but none of these people complain about how the path to cup has numerous road blocks for drivers who go from the short tracks to the BGN series....
I gotta strongly disagree. Go to almost any forum and you will find fans constantly complaining about the Bushwackers taking away opportunities from the up and coming drivers. Nascar created this situation and they now have a big problem on their hands and they don't know how to fix it. Read a little more about the problem here............

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/business/11/27/afitz.nationwide.series/story_single.html#page2

my pick

regan Smith
Dario Franchitti
Sam Hornish
Patrick Carpentier
Jaques Villeneuve

You are right on that, Muggle. I was unclear in what I meant. The difference is fan disapproval of Buschwackers does not extend to the drivers who engage in it, whereas too many NASCAR fans are hostile to open-wheelers because they haven't "paid their dues." Does anyone boo Harvick for what he does? Do people cheer when Carl Edwards crashes in the cup race? The real problem is the death of NASCAR's second-tier series as a feeder series, not proven race winners from other forms of racing who are helping fill the void. The notion that Juan Montoya, for instance, hasn't paid his dues is ludicrous. The irony is that the most vehement proponents of this happen to be fans of Earnhardt Jr. (his father gave him a championship winning ride in the BGN series and then a winning ride in the cup series), Jeff Gordon (someone who still faces similar complaints from many "old school" fans), and Tony Stewart (a former open-wheeler from the very series that Hornish and Franchitti are coming from!!!!), since these drivers account for most of the NASCAR fanbase along with Kasey Kahne.

I agree that NASCAR has a huge problem now. The cat is out the bag. They have to make either wholesale changes are watch the BGN/Nationwide series essentially die and become just a Saturday playground for cup teams and cup drivers. An outright ban on cup drivers in the BGN series would be going too far but limiting the number of starts cup drivers could make in that series, or alternatively, doing what Fitz says but going further and limiting the field to only 6-7 cup drivers per race would improve things. If you allow 13 cup drivers in a race they will still sweep the top spots. All that would do is allow a few more backmarkers into the race.

This problem is unique to NASCAR. You don't see Fernando Alonso racing in GP2 on Saturday or Lebron James playing in minor league basketball games in his spare time.

Regan Smith or Patrick Carpentier.

Dario sucks in NASCAR.

Hornish is getting better slowly. JV I'm undecided on.

1) Regan Smith
2) Dario Franchitti
3) Sam Hornish
4) Patrick Carpentier
5) Jaques Villeneuve

Smith has the most stock car experience and he was running very well in the Busch Series until his team closed down. I think he has more talent than people give him credit for and he was hand picked by Mark Martin to be his successor. I think with better equipment (which hopefully DEI will give him) he can improve this year.

Dario has the best team out of the remainder of the group and after watching him win the IRL championship this year he has talent. That is despite Andretti-Green looking like they were there own worst enemy most races he handled him self with class and worked to win. He also has a team mate who has made a similar transition and can help him out.

Hornish is third. I remember his last season at Panther when the Chevy engines were really disadvantaged most of the season he didn't give up and still finished well. I expect he'll carry that to NASCAR as well. He also has a lot of oval experience which helps over guys like Villeneuve and Carpentier. His main disadvantage is that his team may not be top-35 in points, but he improved in qualifying towards the end of this season.

Carpentier and Villeneuve are both somewhere at the bottom. Mostly because their teams will pose a disadvantage to them. Evernham-Gillet has serious issues judging from their performance the last couple years and I don't think that is going to change (at least right away) next season. The #10 is also out of the top-35 in points.

Villeneuve has tons of experience, but Bill Davis racing has been a weak performer since 2002. But he has the following going against him: team out of the top-35, no sponsor yet that I know of, the team owners side business going bankrupt, team ownership possibly changing, and Toyota focusing more on Joe Gibbs. He has some major disadvantages. If he was driving for someone else I'd put him higher on the list. He's done extremely well moving into new series in the past.

J.D.

Bragging..................Regan used to come to the shop and help my son work on his car. Recently my son ran into him in a grocery store and Regan expressed his appreciation of being able to work with Martin. Regan is one heck of a nice youngster and I really hope he does well as he has been patient and has taken everything one small step at a time. He has been racing since "like" 6 years of age and his parents moved to Mooresville when Regan was young to get him the right exposure.

Bottom line....a good young kid that has talent and deserves a shot at the big time. Just my prejudiced opinion. :)

That story about Reagan leads me to wonder...aside from Robby Gordon and Big Smoke, is there a single NASCAR driver that's an *******?