That "only thing" is also the most important thing. There's a reason that even with all he did wrong along the way, and as the Cup series field gets younger, Kurt Busch is still hanging around at age 43.
Matt is seven years younger. Aric's win @ New Hampshire is as flukey as it gets. This year, Matt D. has the statistical edge easily.
The recent posts on the subject are assuming Smithfield walks away. Until we learn their plans, there's no open seat to fill.
Matt D. is not mediocre. He has had a very nice stretch since the playoffs started. Ford hasn't set the world on fire this year.
I don't put too much stock into stats. Almirola had the best equipment last year & didn't do anything with it, aside from a nice stretch of top 10's. He should've been in victory lane a few times.
Which should show teams and sponsors why he is marketable. Has a bigger fan base than their "guys".
About as disingenuous as it gets.
Matt and Danica’s NASCAR careers couldn’t be more diametrically opposed. What a joke. You’ve been reading more blog posts written by that 14 year old again.
Neither of them has ever won a NASCAR race, irrespective of their ”diametrically opposed” career paths.
From what I recall Denny was late getting there due to something running long on the cup side. They paid for Denny to be in the car not Aric.
and thats exactly why the “win or get out” logic isnt a 1 size fits all.
Danica didnt get kicked because she didnt win. She got kicked because she couldnt even squeeze a single top 5 and barely ran in the top 15. For her equipment that was inexcusable and her sponsors no longer saw the ROI and jumped ship.
Still trying to figure out how this made a fool of him? Now if he started the car and was so slow that he was 3 laps down, then Denny jumps in and makes up 3 laps and wins the race I'd agree.
He's held to a high standard as well, but I'm not pleading that he should have a seat anywhere.
I think it's a bad look for ANY driver to pulled out of the car in the middle of the race for any reason other than illness or injury. Once the race started, they should have just let Almirola run the whole race. Even if it's not not meant that way, it implies that you are removing a lesser driver to put a better one in.
Rockwell Automation had been around the sport long enough that they SHOULD have known better than to pull a stunt like that. Makes you wonder how hard anybody tried to talk them out of it.
Stunt? In reality the only one pulling a stunt was Denny by not showing up in time to start the race that Rockwell was paying him to run.
I get that, but Rockwell wasn't pulling anything. Denny wasn't fulfilling his obligations to them and they had to make the best of a bad situation. I can't see how Rockwell is somehow the bad guy in this?
At this point, I don't think a win changes much of anything. There isn't a whole lot out there unless somebody is willing to make a spot for him, about as unlikely as flying pigs when you don't bring money. I'm not sure what hypocrisy you are talking about.
Almirola earned the right to finish what he started. Rockwell sponsored Denny in that race KNOWING, that he couldn't qualify the car, and that he would have to fly to the race and there could be issues. The classy move would have been to stick with the guy already in the car. From a PR standpoint, it would have made a lot better story anyways.
It doesn't matter in that situation he was going to fail to fulfill obligations that were promised to someone.
