Go back to this time last year, when Chip Ganassi and Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged, and you see a world of change since then. Go back just one year more, or better yet two, and it’s hardly recognizable.
2009 did produce a glimmer of light in one Juan Pablo Montoya. In very un-Montoya like fashion, the Colombian- once he began to catch the vision of making the Chase- parlayed a consistent, conservative approach into the Top 12.
A lot of credit goes to Brian Pattie for steadying the volcanic Montoya. Granted, you want that passion from your driver, but at times, JPM has tended to use a jackhammer, when a scalpel would have done just fine. In his third full year of NASCAR racing, after years of open wheel success, Montoya started showing signs of fulfilling the potential envisioned for him. The owner of one career Cup win at Sonoma, Montoya was a pit road speeding penalty away from his first win on an oval at Indianapolis.
Knowing that Richard Childress and Jack Roush are looking to rebound in 2010, the “42” will have to keep ratcheting up their game if they want to keep in front. It will no doubt help, that after several seasons of tinkering and tweaking, there’s some sense of familiarity on this team.
It will also help to have the addition of Jamie Mc Murray in the fold. After a run of unfulfilled promise at Roush Fenway, Mc Murray returns to where his career began. It seems like a million years ago since Jamie Mac won in his second career start in the #40 Coors machine as a sub for the injured Sterling Marlin.
Mc Murray did slip into a win at Talladega, the third of his
career, but otherwise 2009 was a reflection of his overall career. It’s been one of coming so close, but a flat tire here, a tactical error there, thrown in with a dash of bad luck- all adding up to missing it in the end. For Mc Murray and his fans, one has to hope a sense of homegoing, and not being lost in a five-man shuffle will help further the fortunes of the likable Missourian.
Within the nation of NASCAR, there have been horsepowering honchos and hangers-on- and then there’s those teams that have been tossed by the waves and still manage to hold together. Earnhardt- Ganassi Racing has been one of those teams trying to survive the perfect storm of sponsorship uncertainty, driver changes and economic stress.
What does 2010 hold in store for EGR? Can Mc Murray breathe life back into his career in the #1? Can Montoya build on his 2009 successes? These are the questions waiting to be answered.
PHOTO CREDITS- Jamie Mc Murray, courtesy of Getty Images. Montoya by Jamie Squire/ Getty Images for NASCAR.
