When the 2006 NASCAR Nextel Cup season gets underway at Daytona this February, the driver-team combinations that take the green flag will be significantly different from what they were just one year before. The retirement of two high-profile veteran drivers sparked unprecedented movement among NASCAR drivers and crew members to different teams, searching for the elusive chemistry that leads to success. While success can never be completely assured, it is pretty safe to say that the great number of the personnel changes will leave fans felling confused as they watch the first few races of the year. Hopefully, this quick overview of the new driver-team matchings will help make the adjustment a little easier.
First of all, the story surrounding the most newsworthy driver change of 2006 began more than a year ago, when 1989 Cup champion Rusty Wallace announced that he would be retiring at the conclusion of the 2005 season. As 2005 wound down, the rather surprising news came that reigning champ Kurt Busch would leave Roush Racing to take Wallace’s seat in the #2 Miller Lite Charger. (While the news that Busch would drive the #2 car in 2006 marked a big change for Penske Racing, yet another major change has occurred there as well. After two years of Penske fielding three cars, the #77 team has folded. Sponsor Kodak becomes an associate sponsor on Kurt Busch’s car, while driver Travis Kvapil moves to PPI to pilot the #32 Tide Monte Carlo.) After three full years with Ganassi Racing, Jamie McMurray will be replacing Busch at Roush, becoming the driver of the newly-numbered #26 Sharpie Taurus. Next year’s lineup at Ganassi will consist of Casey Mears (moving into McMurray’s #42 Charger), and new additions David Stremme (in the #40 Coors Light Charger) and Reed Sorenson (in the #41 Target Charger), both of whom are moving up from the Busch Series. Veteran Sterling Marlin leaves Ganassi after nearly a decade there to join with MB2 Motorsports, where he will become a teammate to Joe Nemechek. Marlin will drive the #14 Waste Management Monte Carlo; this seat had been vacated by Scott Riggs, who takes the #10 and sponsor Valvoline over to a new third team fielded by Evernham Motorsports.
Ricky Rudd, who holds the record for most consecutive starts in NASCAR’s top division (788 starts, to be exact), made big news at the very end of the year when he announced he wound be taking a break from racing and so vacating the #21 Taurus fielded by the Wood Brothers. Veteran Ken Schrader will take the wheel of the #21 car in 2006, bringing new sponsor Little Debbie with him; Schrader will drive the car for one year before cutting back on Nextel Cup competition himself in 2007. His departure from BAM Racing left an open seat; it was soon announced that Busch regular Brent Sherman will drive the #49 Charger for the 2006 season, with Serta as the new sponsor.
The start of the 2006 is significant in that it marks the end of some long-term driver-team partnerships. After joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 1995, 2000 champ Bobby Labonte will be leaving to join Petty Enterprises as the driver of the #43 Cheerios Charger; longtime Yates crew chief Todd Parrott will now be Labonte’s crew chief. J.J. Yeley will replace Labonte behind the wheel of the #18 Interstate Batteries Monte Carlo. This is not the only driver change on the Gibbs team—in addition, Denny Hamlin will become the permanent driver of the #11 FedEx Monte Carlo after driving the car in selected races towards the end of last season. Another major shift takes place at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated; Michael Waltrip, with DEI since 2001, will instead drive for Bill Davis Racing this year, piloting the #55 NAPA Charger. Martin Truex Jr. will move up to the Cup level as Waltrip’s replacement, driving the #1 Bass Pro Shops Monte Carlo. In addition, Dave Blaney will move from Richard Childress Racing to the Davis team for 2006; Blaney will drive the #22 Caterpillar Charger driven by Scott Wimmer for the past two seasons. For 2006, Wimmer moves to Morgan-McClure Racing, where he will pilot the #4 Auto-Exhaust Monte Carlo. The vacancy left by Blaney at RCR will be filled by Busch Series driver Clint Bowyer, who will compete for Rookie of the Year in the #07 Jack Daniels Monte Carlo. The 2006 rookie crop will consist, then, of Bowyer, Truex Jr., Yeley, Hamlin, Sorenson, and Sherman.
Some additional changes for 2006 must be noted:
- Mark Martin, who is making the 2006 season his last as a Nextel Cup driver, welcomes new primary sponsor AAA to the #6 Taurus this year
- both of the 2005 crew chiefs at Evernham Motorsports have joined Robert Yates Racing; Tommy Baldwin Jr. (who had been crew chief for Kasey Kahne and the #9 Dodge Charger) will be the crew chief for Elliott Sadler and the #38 M&M’s Taurus, while Richard “Slugger” Labbe (who had been crew chief for Jeremy Mayfield and the #19 Dodge Charger) will be the crew chief for Dale Jarrett and the #88 UPS Taurus.
- Jeff Green, formerly of Petty Enterprises, moves to Haas-CNC Racing, for which Mike Bliss had driven the #0 Netzero Monte Carlo in 2005. Word has it that Green’s number will be #66.
- the semi-retired Bill Elliott will pilot the #36 Monte Carlo for MB2 Motorsports in selected races this year, sharing the car with veteran road racer Boris Said. Elliott will drive the car in the Daytona 500; he recorded the fastest overall speed in the first week of testing at Daytona in early January.
The driver and team changes for the 2006 season prove that the domino theory is alive and well—with the retirement of Rusty Wallace and Ricky Rudd, changes have occurred throughout the garage area. It will be rather interesting to see which new combinations pay off in better results; with Daytona just a few weeks away now, fans should stay tuned.
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