LOADED GUNS
Rookies gunning for Rookie of the Year title in 2006
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily
One of the biggest stories to watch in 2006 will be the biggest and arguably most talented group of rookie contenders in many years.
A total of seven drivers will be mixing it up for rookie honors. All bring credentials from other series that will make this years rookie battle one to watch. In addition six of the seven will be with high-profile teams in quality equipment.
At the head of the class is defending two-time Busch Series Champion, Martin Truex Jr. His Busch Series team Chance 2 Motorsports has shuttered its doors and he will devote all his energies to the Nextel Cup Series this year. Truex is teamed with superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. and combined with the backing of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated; Truex will no doubt be the person every other rookie is chasing.
Truex already knows how he wants to work with his talented teammate Dale Earnhardt Junior.
“We want to help each other win the race,” Truex said. “But we also want to beat each other to win the race. We both want to be 1st and we both can't do it, so one of us has got to get 2nd. As long as we're up there helping each other and having fun.
Hopefully it'll be able to work both ways and we can both run well and help motivate each other and keep each other motivated and learn new things and get DEI back where it should be, and that's running up front every week.”
Truex’s rival for last years Busch Series crown, Clint Bowyer also finds himself a rookie in the Cup Series this year. The Kansas native will pilot the No. 07 car for Richard Childress Racing. Bowyer lost the Busch Series title by only 68 points last year and no doubt will be gunning for Truex and looking for redemption.
“We raced each other really hard all year long,” Bowyer said. “Unfortunately we just come up a little short.
“I’m really looking forward to racing Martin and these guys for those Rookie-of-the-Year honors. That's kind of like a Championship all over again for me,” Bowyer added. “Just hopefully at the end of the year the shoe is on the other foot.”
“I'm sure he is gunning for me,” Truex said “ If he beat me, I'd be gunning for him, too.”
“He's a really cool guy and I enjoy racing with him,” Truex added. “I at least know what to expect from him on the racetrack, and he’s a great competitor that's a lot of fun to race with and that always races clean. I don't have to worry about it.”
Denny Hamlin is another to watch. A late model driver just a year prior, he nearly single handedly resurrected the No. 11 Fed-Ex Chevy at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005. After a mediocre season, the team released Jason Leffler from the ride late in the year and put in Hamlin, who went on to score one pole and three top ten finishes in just ten races, that’s the kind of experience that may just give Hamlin a leg up on his fellow rookie rivals.
“I think to be Rookie-of-the-Year this year it's probably going to take a Top-10 to top 15 points finish at the end of the year to be Rookie-of-the-Year, “Hamlin said. “You just can't slip up because you don't have one guy that you have got to beat. You have got to beat seven guys, so it's definitely going to be really tough.”
Hamlin also pointed out another strategy for the contenders this year, because the rookie field will not only be racing each other but will have to work hard to earn the respect of their fellow Nextel Cup competitors.
“It's going to be very important to not have any enemies, “Hamlin said. “Especially you got to respect these veterans that have been doing this for 20 some years, we're just the new guys trying to make a name for ourselves, so just trying to stay clean and don't make any enemies. They will come getcha'.”
“You don’t see rookies come in and have a chance work their way up like they used to,” one of those veterans Jeremy Mayfield said. “You come in now you better be ready. You have to produce, its not about ‘aw we’ll get them next week’. You’ve got to get them this week and every week.
It’s all about the pressure,” Mayfield said. “It’s all about how they handle it. In this sport only the strong survive.”
By Greg Engle - Cup Scene Daily
One of the biggest stories to watch in 2006 will be the biggest and arguably most talented group of rookie contenders in many years.
A total of seven drivers will be mixing it up for rookie honors. All bring credentials from other series that will make this years rookie battle one to watch. In addition six of the seven will be with high-profile teams in quality equipment.
At the head of the class is defending two-time Busch Series Champion, Martin Truex Jr. His Busch Series team Chance 2 Motorsports has shuttered its doors and he will devote all his energies to the Nextel Cup Series this year. Truex is teamed with superstar Dale Earnhardt Jr. and combined with the backing of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated; Truex will no doubt be the person every other rookie is chasing.
Truex already knows how he wants to work with his talented teammate Dale Earnhardt Junior.
“We want to help each other win the race,” Truex said. “But we also want to beat each other to win the race. We both want to be 1st and we both can't do it, so one of us has got to get 2nd. As long as we're up there helping each other and having fun.
Hopefully it'll be able to work both ways and we can both run well and help motivate each other and keep each other motivated and learn new things and get DEI back where it should be, and that's running up front every week.”
Truex’s rival for last years Busch Series crown, Clint Bowyer also finds himself a rookie in the Cup Series this year. The Kansas native will pilot the No. 07 car for Richard Childress Racing. Bowyer lost the Busch Series title by only 68 points last year and no doubt will be gunning for Truex and looking for redemption.
“We raced each other really hard all year long,” Bowyer said. “Unfortunately we just come up a little short.
“I’m really looking forward to racing Martin and these guys for those Rookie-of-the-Year honors. That's kind of like a Championship all over again for me,” Bowyer added. “Just hopefully at the end of the year the shoe is on the other foot.”
“I'm sure he is gunning for me,” Truex said “ If he beat me, I'd be gunning for him, too.”
“He's a really cool guy and I enjoy racing with him,” Truex added. “I at least know what to expect from him on the racetrack, and he’s a great competitor that's a lot of fun to race with and that always races clean. I don't have to worry about it.”
Denny Hamlin is another to watch. A late model driver just a year prior, he nearly single handedly resurrected the No. 11 Fed-Ex Chevy at Joe Gibbs Racing in 2005. After a mediocre season, the team released Jason Leffler from the ride late in the year and put in Hamlin, who went on to score one pole and three top ten finishes in just ten races, that’s the kind of experience that may just give Hamlin a leg up on his fellow rookie rivals.
“I think to be Rookie-of-the-Year this year it's probably going to take a Top-10 to top 15 points finish at the end of the year to be Rookie-of-the-Year, “Hamlin said. “You just can't slip up because you don't have one guy that you have got to beat. You have got to beat seven guys, so it's definitely going to be really tough.”
Hamlin also pointed out another strategy for the contenders this year, because the rookie field will not only be racing each other but will have to work hard to earn the respect of their fellow Nextel Cup competitors.
“It's going to be very important to not have any enemies, “Hamlin said. “Especially you got to respect these veterans that have been doing this for 20 some years, we're just the new guys trying to make a name for ourselves, so just trying to stay clean and don't make any enemies. They will come getcha'.”
“You don’t see rookies come in and have a chance work their way up like they used to,” one of those veterans Jeremy Mayfield said. “You come in now you better be ready. You have to produce, its not about ‘aw we’ll get them next week’. You’ve got to get them this week and every week.
It’s all about the pressure,” Mayfield said. “It’s all about how they handle it. In this sport only the strong survive.”
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home