Open Wheel Oops
This year's crop of open wheelers trying to make their way in NASCAR has - as predicted - been pretty much a big flop.

When Juan Pablo Montoya made things look relatively easy in his 2007 Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year campaign, the door was open for a variety of former non-fendered drivers to try their hand at stock car racing.

Now most if not all are heading back to the land of open cockpits.

Dario Franchitti's announcement he'll take Dan Wheldon's seat at car owner Chip Ganassi's IRL team ended the former Indy 500 and Indy Car champ's NASCAR experiment. Franchitti actually showed signs of improvement this year but his injury in the Nationwide Series race at Talladega and Ganassi's NASCAR sponsorship problems ultimately shutting down the No. 40 ride ruined Franchitti's hopes of making it as a stock car driver.

Patrick Carpentier also has demonstrated flashes of brilliance but he too has been caught up in a sponsorship numbers game and Reed Sorenson's move from Ganassi to GEM has the Canadian trying to figure out his driving future.

Jacques Villeneuve's NASCAR foray ended before it really began and Sam Hornish, Jr. - although hovering around the coveted Top 35 mark - hasn't grabbed any headlines in his first full stock car year.

Scott Speed may have a future after what he's done in ARCA and the truck series but the parade of open wheel drivers into NASCAR has ended. It was a trend that Montoya's success sparked but ultimately burned out.
Posted: 9/3/2008 10:01:59 AM
Comments:
Actually, if you look at Tony Stewart's pre-Cup stock car resume you'd see it is not much different that what the current group of rookies have accomplished. Stewart (and I am a big fan) raced 3 years in the Busch series for a total of 36 races before coming to Cup. In that time had a record of 0-wins, 6-Top 5s, 7-Top 10s, 2-poles and only 8-Lead Lap Finishes.
Remember, that was in the Busch or NNWS series!
Now is that really that much better than what Hornish, Allmindinger and Carpantier are doing?
Look at the Bristol NNWS
Carpantier led laps.
Hornish had a great run ruined by a last lap wreck that he didn't cause.
Villeneuve is getting experience running full bodied stock cars in a Middle East series. I would not be surprised to see him return.
It takes time to adjust to any form of racing at the top level. I would not call this year a failure for any of the remaining drivers. I wouldn't say that they set the Cup worl on fire, but I think all showed they can run in cup. You also have to take into account the quality of the rides these guys have been given. Not one of the owners has a car in the chase. The closest was Khane. Except for the opening race at Daytona Penske has had terrible cars.
Posted On: 9/8/2008 8:17:09 AM
It is no surprise that drivers like Franchitti and Hornish have failed in NASCAR. Franchitti left the IRL becuase he was afraid of racing on ovals, why would anyone expect him to do well in the oval-based NASCAR series? Hornish was in the IRL because he could not make it in ChampCar. If NASCAR truly wanted to put the 43 best drivers on the track each weekend they would work to get open wheel greats like Tristan "The Flying Frenchman" Gommendy or Robert "Bad Bobby D" Doornbos behind the wheel of a quality NASCAR ride (Hendricks, Gibbs, or Roush).
Posted On: 9/4/2008 10:13:21 PM
Juan Montoya hasn't exactly lit the track on fire either. Granted his 1 win was impressive and instantly puts him in a different category from all the drivers who will never achieve a win in the series. But he's clearly not the next Tony Stewart. The rest have all flopped, with the exception of Almendinger who is starting to show some promise after two seasons. Agreed that Scott Speed is also showing promise, they're doing the right thing by not throwing him in a Cup car immediately. I never had high hopes for any of the open wheelers, but I was a little surprised that none of them really had a big impact.
Posted On: 9/3/2008 10:42:33 AM

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