A scene like this in the garage late last year helped to fuel "silly season" rumors. Credit: Autostock
Marty Smith and Elliott Gordon, Turner Sports Interactive
October 15, 2003
7:45 PM EDT (2345 GMT)
We think it is pretty safe to say that there are some fans out there that never rooted for Tony Stewart harder than they did on Saturday night, just hoping to keep Ryan Newman out of Victory Lane.
Newman has either started first or finished first in seven of the last nine races, but continuing our "what if" points watch, he would currently be second in the points, a slim 96 points behind Matt Kenseth, if he had finished just 20 positions higher in races 8-11 (when he finished 38th or worse four straight times).
On to this week's topic ...
See if you agree with the "DIS" of what has been reported, or maybe you "BELIEVE" everything you read, because if it is printed, it is true ... right?
Plenty of Silly Season rumors
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Elliott: DIS
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Is anyone else out there sick of hearing about "silly season?" I mean, aren't we really just waiting around to hear who is going to be fired? That doesn't seem very cool.
Further, nothing earth shattering is going to come out of "silly season," period. It isn't like Jeff Gordon is going to announce he is moving over to the No. 49 car, or that Tony Stewart has decided to race for a Truck championship in 2004.
In retrospect, nothing much really came out of silly season last year that dramatically changed the landscape of Winston Cup racing. Just look at the results...
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| Chip Ganassi |
Ricky Rudd and Elliott Sadler swapped rides, and neither benefited. Rudd ended the 2002 season 10th in points with a win and eight top-5 finishes. He is currently 22nd in the points without a visit to Victory Lane in 2003 and has half as many top-5s.
Sadler? He finished 2002 sitting 23rd in the points with only two top-5s. Where is he now? Twenty-third in the points with only two top-5s. The needle clearly didn't move on his career.
Another "major" silly season move last year was Casey Mears replacing Jimmy Spencer in the No. 41 Ganassi car. Mears is currently 34th in the points without a top-10 finish. At least Spencer had two top-5s in that car last season, even if he finished the year 27th in points.
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| Michael "Fatback" McSwain |
Oh yeah, and Spencer is currently 29th in the points with only one top-5. Seems to me that neither Ganassi nor Spencer benefited from their offseason changes either.
On the other hand, it wasn't all bad. The best offseason move last year was by Joe Gibbs racing when they hired Michael "Fatback" McSwain to take over the crew chief duties for the No. 18 car.
Bobby Labonte limped to a 16th place finish in the final standings with only five top-5 finishes. That was his first finish outside of the top-10 since 1996.
Labonte pretty much has a top-10 standings finish wrapped up for 2003, and oh yeah, he has almost three-times as many top-10 finishes this season (14).
There is nothing silly about that.
Marty: BELIEVE
Thank you, boss, for handing me ammunition to tell you to shove it. I'll make certain to remember your aforementioned logic the next time you're all over me to scour the garage in search of who's driving the No. 1 car. I digress...
Personally, I think Silly Season has become a staple of NASCAR racing, and seems to evolve quicker with each passing season. The Sadler/Rudd car swap in 2002 set a new precedent for rumor mill rapidity, and this year's Jeff Green/Steve Park situation continued the trend.
Though often (more so than not) absurd, Silly Season garners interest in the sport and most certainly sets motorsports media coverage apart from its stick and ball counterparts. It's juicy, our own little soap opera, and part of what makes NASCAR so engaging.
Richard Childress was spotted in an in-depth conversation with Jeremy Mayfield last week? Could be nothing. Then again, it could be something big...
Drivers dig it. They ask me all the time for the low down on who's going where. They want every last tidbit of gossip, no matter how outrageous. Imagine how the fans must feel?
NASCAR fans demand more information about more subjects that any fans in professional sport. You can bet they want opinions on where Scott Riggs is driving next year. And they want it now.
The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writers.
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