I disagree it was the fault of FMC for losing Jeff Gordon to Hendrick. No one new what Jeff Gordon could do in a stock car. FMC gave him experience in a stock car driving for Bill Davis. Once Jeff Gordon got hang of driving a stock car, he was snatched by Hendrick before FMC had time to move him up to Sprint Cup. Hendrick did not have the time to develop young talent on his own so he quickly snatched up a then proven young driver because he had more money than Jeff Gordon had ever seen.

 

Things were different in the early 90s. At that time it was unheard of to move a early 20something year old to cup with only a year or two of busch series racing. In those days it was rare anyone below the age of 30 was driving at the top level. Hendrick was willing to do something other car owners wouldnt. Had nothing to do with brand. That move while it was the right one for Gordon changed the sport and not in a good way.

Now every car owner throws a young driver to the highest level with a championship caliber team and if they can't win in 2 years they are out of the sport. Can you imagine how many drivers today if in those circumstances would have never made it. Dale Jarrett, Dale Earnhardt, etc those guys if judged on the first 30-40 starts might not have ever been given the chance to continue in the sport and we would have been robbed of seeing what they could do. Drivers dont spend enough time in the nationwide series today and the truck series is made of people that got kicked out the other two.

Look at Danica, is she really good enough for cup, NOOOOOOO. She needs at least another two years in Nationwide.

 

Jack Roush reveals Ford Racing alliance with Penske Racing: Jack Roush had been around long enough to know that something had to change for his Roush Fenway Racing program to be successful. Roush explained how the team had doubled its engineering efforts. After the race, Roush elaborated more on what had transpired to make the Ford Fusion Gen 6 car more competitive. "We had a summit meeting with the Penske guys last week, and talked about some of the strategies,'' Roush said of the launch of two Ford Racing teams working together. "We have had one cooperative wind tunnel test. We just scratched the surface. It will be great to have someone to share information with.'' Penske Racing, with drivers #2-Brad Keselowski and #22-Joey Logano, switched over to Fords this season. Roush identified aerodynamics and front suspensions as the areas the Ford Fusion needs to make up ground. "We have to find that last tweak in the front suspension or aerodynamics,'' Roush said. "When we started on Gen 6 (car development), it was a jump ball, and the car changed during its development to have more downforce than was anticipated to start with. We are on the path, and we have nice, light cars that I'm not the least bit unhappy about.''(Michigan Live)(6-17-2013)

 

I read Jeff Gordon's biography. He claimed he wanted to stay with Bill Davis Racing because Bill Davis gave him his big chance in NASCAR. He claimed he talked with Bill Davis before signing with Hendrick, but Bill Davis couldn't give him any long term deals. Basically Bill Davis told him that he wasn't sure if he can get him a full time Cup ride over the next few days.
Then Roush steped in and offered a ride to Gordon, but Gordon refused because Roush wouldn't hire Ray Evernham as a crew chief, who was like a second father to Gordon. I think that more than anything else played a biggest role in Gordon's decision to leave Ford.

Ford needs to move quickly with these young talents because they keep losing them. The latest example came from Bill Elliott's son Chase Elliott, who's driving for Hendrick now.

 

After losing Jeff Gordon,Kasey Kane, and Robby Gordon not working well for them, I don't think Ford is looking for young talent to represent them. I think Ford is looking for their contracted teams to find young talent. Look at Penske, he has picked up two future superstars. Petty has Almirola. Roush has Biffle ,Edwards, and Stenhouse who will all win after the Ford Gen6 car is sorted out properly. Shame to lose Chase Elliott to Hendrick, but not all superstars can drive Fords. That might be against NASCAR rules.

 

I wouldn't call Almirola, Biffle or Stenhouse current or future superstars. Almirola is running out of chances, Biffle is 44 years old and Stenhouse ... well, we'll see, he's still young.
I'm glad to see that Logano is doing well and he finally has the freedom he never got at Gibbs next to Hamlin and Busch.

 

The only thing Stenhouse ever won is Danica

 

He won 2 Nationwide championships over the past 2 seasons.

 

Keselowski in rare territory for defending NASCAR champ: #2-Brad Keselowski's 21st-place showing at Sonoma marked the seventh time in the past eight races that he has failed to crack the top 10. This comes after a blistering start to the season in which he had four top-5 finishes and seven top 10s in his first eight starts. Since then, he's dropped from third to ninth in the point standings and is only 10 points away from falling out of the top 10 entirely. In fact, the standings are so crowded that Keselowski is a mere 29 points ahead of 17th place #78-Kurt Busch. He's also only one early crash or mechanical failure away from dipping into territory rarely seen by a defending Cup champion.
Over the past 40 years, since NASCAR consolidated its schedule, no defending Cup champion has finished worse than 12th in the standings (not including 1992 champ Alan Kulwicki, who died in a place crash in April of 1993). In fact, only five drivers have finished worse than seventh. The average finishing position for the defending champion over the past four decades has been fourth place.(Sports Illustrated)(6-26-2013)

 

No reason to worry about Bad Brad. He will rebound as the Ford powered race cars become more competitive. Cant forget he lost quite a few points in penalties. No holding Brad back in the last half of the season. Dont take your eyes off of Brad or you will be surprised how quickly he gets back into the winners circle.

 

Never liked Brad. So I'm happy.