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Why Jeff Gordon will not
win the 2006 championship-
Ryan Smithson from Nascar.com named Jeff
Gordon winning the 2006 championship as the number one
prediction for 2006. Obviously, with Gordon’s triumphant
history, it isn’t implausible by many means. But is he the best
pick? There are a couple of reasons why I believe that Gordon’s
fifth championship celebration will have to wait until at least
2007. While Gordon was able to vastly enrich his performance and
handle on the intermediate tracks, the reasons for their
struggles weren’t just limited to that. A lot of his lackluster
performances were due to the breakdown in communication between
him and his crew chief Robbie Loomis, which improved once Steve
Letarte was seated atop the pit box. Another reason why Gordon
didn’t run as well as in years past is the simple fact that he
was outran by a lot of immensely improved drivers and teams. The
competition is a lot closer now and it will be challenging for
Gordon to jump from an 11th place team to
championship form. And the close competition among today’s
competitors is a lot closer to home now for Gordon as he has
been a step or two behind Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie
Johnson and the #48 team for several years now, and then you
have Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers continuing to develop into
consistent front runners. Gordon may not win the championship
but I will almost guarantee that he'll qualify for the chase for
the championship.
Why Martin Truex Jr. will
not win Rookie Of The Year in 2006-
Martin Truex Jr. has won two
consecutive Busch Series championships, which is impressive, and
he has built up an unusually sizeable fan base for a driver
heading into his rookie season. Because of that, he has emerged
as the popular pick to win the 2006 Rookie Of The Year. Truex
will be among one of the most talented rookie classes we’ve seen
in a long while. He was well above mediocre in his seven Cup
starts in 2005, but even more impressive was Denny Hamlin. If
last year’s seven starts each was a preview of what’s to come in
2006 then Truex wouldn’t even come close. Hamlin accumulated 806
points and three top ten finishes, which was far superior to
Truex’s 589 total points and one top ten finish. I think that
the rookie race will be a close one between four drivers with
Truex finishing third behind Hamlin and Clint Bowyer. Reed
Sorenson will have some say in the rookie battle as well. I’ll
probably take some heat for this but if Busch Series
championships determined who wins the Rookie Of The Year, then
Dale Earnhardt Jr. would have defeated Matt Kenseth in 2000,
Greg Biffle would have prevailed over Jamie McMurray in 2003,
and Brian Vickers would have won the battle against Kasey Kahne
in 2004.
Why Dale Earnhardt Jr.
will not win the Daytona 500-
This is a simple one. Tony Stewart will bring
home the checkered flag in the Great American Race. Stewart is
well-overdue for a Daytona 500 victory as he has dominated the
previous two, only to come up short to Earnhardt Jr. in 2004 and
Jeff Gordon in 2005. Earnhardt Jr. will be tough to beat and far
more competitive than last year, but he’ll have to watch ‘Smoke’
climb the fence in February.
Why Roush Racing will not
have more than three drivers in the chase-
Roush Racing was able to place all five cars
in the chase for the championship in 2005 and it was no fluke.
It was simply Jack Roush’s year. Though he didn’t win the
championship, his drivers Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, and Mark
Martin swept the next three spots in the standings. Matt Kenseth
finished seventh while Kurt Busch rounded out the top ten. In
2006, expect Roush Racing drivers to once again compete for the
championship, but don’t expect the whole quintet. The
competition is bound to catch up and the verdict on the
performance of the Ford Fusion is still unknown. Roush Racing
will still be able to squeeze three drivers into the top ten in
September, it’s just a matter of which three. Greg Biffle and
Carl Edwards are pretty much a given. It’s a tough choice
between Mark Martin and Matt Kenseth as to who would complete
the Roush Racing trio. Sorry McMurray fans, but I believe that
he’ll have a difficult time making the cut for the chase. |
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