pandr
01-22-2011, 04:22 AM
Chevrolet lineup looks familar, still strong for 2011 season
By Jim Utter - [email protected]
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
This is the second of a four-part preview of the confirmed entries each manufacturer – Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota and Dodge – will support in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Given the fact that Jimmie Johnson has now won a NASCAR-record five consecutive Cup championships and fellow Chevrolet driver Kevin Harvick finished third in points, the manufacturer should once again be in solid shape to compete for NASCAR’s biggest prize this season.
Almost the entire Chevrolet roster of drivers in Cup remains the same in 2011, the lone exception is the addition of Paul Menard as a fourth team at Richard Childress Racing.
Menard’s new teammates – Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton – all made the Chase for the Cup in 2010 and Harvick and Bowyer earned multiple wins. RCR will be looking to continue that success as well as challenge once again for the Cup title.
Johnson returns with his team intact for a run at title No. 6, but his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates – Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – all begin the year with new – but familiar – crew chiefs.
Gordon’s crew chief of last season, Steve Letarte, will now work with Earnhardt. Earnhardt’s former crew chief, Lance McGrew, will work with Martin and Martin’s former crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will be working with Gordon.
Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing also expects to contend for a title this season. While both of the organization’s drivers – Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya – won races in 2010, neither qualified for the Chase.
McMurray, however, had the most successful season of his career, winning both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 and won a career-high three Cup races.
After an enormously successful debut as a team owner in 2009, Tony Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing slipped a bit in 2010. The owner/driver qualified for the Chase, while Ryan Newman ended his 77-race winless streak with a victory in the spring race at Phoenix.
Regan Smith returns for another season at Furniture Row Racing and the team has taken another step to become more competitive, as it will use an over-the-wall pit crew employed and trained by Stewart-Haas Racing.
C/P Thats Racin
Read more: http://www.thatsracin.com/2011/01/20/54047/chevrolet-lineup-looks-familar.html#ixzz1BjbPuXta
By Jim Utter - [email protected]
Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011
This is the second of a four-part preview of the confirmed entries each manufacturer – Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota and Dodge – will support in the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Given the fact that Jimmie Johnson has now won a NASCAR-record five consecutive Cup championships and fellow Chevrolet driver Kevin Harvick finished third in points, the manufacturer should once again be in solid shape to compete for NASCAR’s biggest prize this season.
Almost the entire Chevrolet roster of drivers in Cup remains the same in 2011, the lone exception is the addition of Paul Menard as a fourth team at Richard Childress Racing.
Menard’s new teammates – Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton – all made the Chase for the Cup in 2010 and Harvick and Bowyer earned multiple wins. RCR will be looking to continue that success as well as challenge once again for the Cup title.
Johnson returns with his team intact for a run at title No. 6, but his three Hendrick Motorsports teammates – Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. – all begin the year with new – but familiar – crew chiefs.
Gordon’s crew chief of last season, Steve Letarte, will now work with Earnhardt. Earnhardt’s former crew chief, Lance McGrew, will work with Martin and Martin’s former crew chief, Alan Gustafson, will be working with Gordon.
Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing also expects to contend for a title this season. While both of the organization’s drivers – Jamie McMurray and Juan Pablo Montoya – won races in 2010, neither qualified for the Chase.
McMurray, however, had the most successful season of his career, winning both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 and won a career-high three Cup races.
After an enormously successful debut as a team owner in 2009, Tony Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing slipped a bit in 2010. The owner/driver qualified for the Chase, while Ryan Newman ended his 77-race winless streak with a victory in the spring race at Phoenix.
Regan Smith returns for another season at Furniture Row Racing and the team has taken another step to become more competitive, as it will use an over-the-wall pit crew employed and trained by Stewart-Haas Racing.
C/P Thats Racin
Read more: http://www.thatsracin.com/2011/01/20/54047/chevrolet-lineup-looks-familar.html#ixzz1BjbPuXta