| | | | | |  | | CIA Stock Photo | Getting the Charger to handle has been an uphill battle all season. | | | | SEARCHING THE GROOVE | Frustration mounts as Dodge teams struggle to find groove | |
| | Pete Pistone / CBSSports.com A Sprint Cup season that began with such promise has quickly become a nightmare for Dodge.
Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch gave the manufacturer a 1-2 finish to kick off the year in the Daytona 500. But now 11 races into the season, no other Dodge team has scored a victory and not one driver resides in the top 12 of the Cup series point standings.
Reed Sorenson's team was singled out by owner Chip Ganassi for poor performance. (Getty Images)
After basically being MIA in 2007, the frustration has returned to the Dodge camp in full force.
The dissatisfaction level might be highest at Penske Racing, where Newman and Busch are both scratching their heads trying to figure out what has gone wrong since that scintillating performance at Daytona.
Busch hasn't posted a top-10 finish or led a lap since Daytona, a combination that has dropped the former series champion to 22nd in the series standings and a whopping 194 markers behind David Ragan for the 12th and final Chase transfer position.
Busch was able to score a 12th-place finish last Saturday night in Darlington but failed to finish on the lead lap in his previous five starts, which also included two DNFs after being involved in accidents.
"Honestly, I am really shocked at the horrible luck this Miller Lite team is having this year," Busch said.
But it's not all luck that seems to have stacked the deck against Busch and the rest of the Dodge drivers. The new generation of Dodge Sprint Cup machines is also a major problem. Getting the Charger to handle has been an uphill battle all season.
"We're just not getting our cars to turn," Busch said. "When you're not getting the car to turn you're running heavy in the pack. You're just not breaking into that top-five pack where things are a bit calmer. We are just struggling to get our car to turn and have been testing our rear ends off trying to come up with something."
Teammate Newman is in nearly the same boat at Busch, though he isn't as far down in the point standings, holding the 13th spot after Darlington.
But his struggles have been just as pronounced. Newman has won a pole and notched a couple of top-five finishes but hasn't been able to show the consistency of a couple of seasons ago.
The lackluster performance of both drivers, as well as the struggles of rookie teammate Sam Hornish Jr., has pushed Newman's contract status into the spotlight. A free agent at the end of the season when his Penske contract expires, Newman's name has been linked to several other teams who will have open seats in 2009.
"I haven't signed my contract yet," Newman said. "We haven't really even talked about it yet. There are some options out there. Obviously, people have gone public about wanting to start a fourth team and other teams are changing drivers and crew chiefs and things like that. It seems to be starting earlier than it ever has -- at least in the last couple of years."
"I'm sitting happy in my seat right now, but that doesn't mean that I can't be happy someplace else. Whatever happens with Tony (Stewart), he's a friend of mine, and I haven't talked to him about it. ... I haven't even gotten a phone call. Being at the top of the free-agent list hasn't gotten me anywhere yet."
The struggles of the Penske stable aren't the only Dodge troubles by any means. Chip Ganassi Racing has also experienced a rough opening stretch of the season with all three of its drivers -- Juan Pablo Montoya, Reed Sorenson and rookie Dario Franchitti -- almost hopelessly out of the Chase picture.
Despite swapping crew chiefs Donnie Wingo and Jimmy Elledge between the teams of Montoya and Sorenson a few weeks ago, Ganassi has not been able to find any answers to get his three-car team close to being competitive.
He called out his operation about a month ago, specifically singling out Sorenson's No. 41 squad for poor performance, but even that hasn't delivered any better results.
"The 41 team, it's the same old things that take them out," Ganassi said in April. "One week it's this, the next week it's that, and it's sort of this combination of all of the above. Everybody on the 41 team is going to have to take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are prepared for what's coming down the pike."
That sentiment can apply to nearly every Dodge team through 11 races of this Sprint Cup season. The manufacturer has clearly fallen behind Chevrolet, Ford and new powerhouse Toyota in NASCAR's top series with little reason to believe things will turn around anytime soon unless something is changed.
Something tells me those winds of change are about to blow very soon.
| | Posted May 14, 2008 , 9:10 pm EST
Last Updated May 16, 2008 , 3:41 am EST | | | | | | | | | | |
