With the start of the 2013 NASCAR season a little more than a month away, there have been a number of changes among the established teams.
With the move of Matt Kenseth from Roush Fenway racing to Joe Gibbs Racing, there will be a number of questions to be answered beginning with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 24.
How will Kenseth get along with teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin during the year?
At Roush Fenway, Kenseth was the unspoken leader of the team, particularly when Carl Edwards struggled last year.
Taking Kenseth’s place at Roush Fenway is Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who is coming off consecutive Nationwide Series titles.
Stenhouse, who got his start in open-wheel racing, is probably the most talented driver to enter the Sprint Cup ranks in a number of years. He can be aggressive behind the wheel, which is normally a good thing, but will have to learn some patience to consistently post top-10 finishes.
This is probably the make-or-break year for Joey Logano, who left Gibbs Racing for Penske Racing.
Penske is coming off the championship year of Brad Keselowski and is also changing from Dodge to Ford for the new season.
When Logano entered NASCAR several years ago, there were big things expected of him, a promise of success that really was never obtained.
Logano has never made the Chase field and although he wins in the Nationwide Series, that has not been the case in Sprint Cup competition.
Unless Logano can show marked improvement with Penske, he could be headed back to a full-time Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series ride in the near future.
In many ways Juan Pablo Montoya is in the same position as Logano. Although Montoya continues to have the support of team owner Chip Ganassi, his performance in NASCAR has been mediocre at best. Montoya has to show that the team can compete for wins on a weekly basis or it might be time for a return to IndyCar racing.
Of course, everyone is going to watch Danica Patrick’s first full season in Sprint Cup racing with Tony Stewart-Haas Racing.
With the new qualifying format where the majority of the teams have to make a race on speed, there will be tracks that Patrick will struggle to make the field.
Patrick could be the odd driver out as the team concentrates on making Stewart a contender for the championship again and stepping up the program of Ryan Newman a notch.
In other racing news
• New Castle’s Caleb Armstrong recently tested an ARCA car for Venturini Motorsports at Daytona and set the fast time during one of the practice sessions.
Armstrong is a cousin of Dakota Armstrong, who is a past winner with ARCA and competed in the Camping World Truck Series on a limited basis in 2010 and 2011.
• After just one season with IndyCar, Rubens Barrichello is leaving to race stock cars in his native Brazil. Barrichello was never a factor for IndyCar that I anticipated when he signed with KV Racing.
KV Racing has signed Simona DeSilvestro to replace Barrichello in 2013. This will be the first time DeSilverstro gets the chance to compete in first-rate equipment.
She showed the talent to be competitive at times during 2010, but last year in an underpowered Lotus car was never able to showcase her talents.
Ken de la Bastide may be reached at ken.delabastide@kokomotribune.com or 765-454-8580.
Sports
Drivers to watch in 2013
NASCAR Sprint Cup season opens Feb. 24.
- Sports
-
-
GASKINS: Hibbert’s block was thing of beauty
For the better part of the NBA season, ESPN devoted all kinds of time on SportsCenter episodes to replays of two dunks. Anyone who watches any ESPN at all surely knows the two to which I’m referring: 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers posterizing 6-3 Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons, and 6-8 LeBron James of the Miami Heat hammering home a dunk over 6-2 Jason Terry of the Boston Celtics.
Day after day, ESPN commentators lavished endless praise, which quickly grew tiresome. The dunks were strong, but Jordan and James were much taller and heavier than Knight and Terry and the dunkers also caught perfect alley-oop passes with the defenders in poor positions to defend. Still, ESPN commentators loved these plays.
I kept wondering if a great defensive play would receive the same kind of love. -
Coons, Walker, Glassburn reach Victory Lane
When the dust settled Sunday evening at the Kokomo Speedway, a pair of drivers who have visited Victory Lane in the past at the local oval found themselves there once again while a talented up-and-comer hit the hallowed ground for the first time.
Jerry Coons Jr. had his way in the sprint car feature and Craig Walker seemed to get faster as the laps wound down to win the Street Stock main event, however Kokomo High School sophomore Kory Glassburn had to scratch and fight before scoring the first feature win of his career in the Thunder Car A-main. -
Field is set for Indianapolis 500
After being bumped from the starting field while sitting on the qualifying line on pole day, Josef Newgarden turned the fastest time on bump day, assuring himself a spot in the Indianapolis 500.
The field of 33 cars will have one final opportunity to practice on Friday before next Sunday’s 97th running of the 500.
One year ago the Sarah Fisher Racing Team withdrew Newgarden’s entry on the first day of qualifying and had to qualify on bump day. This year the team decided not to make another qualifying run and got bumped. -
Athlete of the week
Cole led the small-school Comets to the Kokomo Sectional title, their first title since 1998.
-
Kats regain tennis throne
At 10:51 a.m. Saturday morning, the bulk of Kokomo’s girls tennis team sprinted from the viewing hill to the east entrance of the tennis courts to mob No. 1 singles player Morgan Mohr as she came off the court following her 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Eastern’s Courtney Clark.
The No. 3 singles match was still raging, but the team match was already won. The Wildkats had reconquered the throne from two-time defending champion Eastern and were once again champions of the Kokomo Sectional. -
Eastern boys track claims first sectional title since 1998
The boys track and field coach at Eastern High School from 1987 until last season, Paul Nicholson’s parting message to his team was simple: “Don’t deny the gift.”
That motto left such a lasting impression on the Comets’ returning athletes that they had it screen printed on their 2013 season T-shirts.
With Nicholson in attendance to celebrate with them, new coach Austin Roark and the Comets outlasted host Kokomo to win their first sectional title since 1998 Thursday night, topping the Wildkats by 3.5 points, 124.5-121.
-
Eastern, Kokomo favored in boys track sectional
Some of the names and faces have changed, but the plot remains much the same.
The Kokomo boys track and field sectional, much like last year, will likely be a two-horse race between the host and three-time defending champion Wildkats and Eastern, a team looking to break through and win its first sectional title since 1998. -
Cole to jump at Miami University
Eastern athlete Grant Cole has only been a long jumper for two seasons, but being turned on to the event late in his career has landed him a scholarship to Miami University.
-
Comets roar to sectional title
As the old adage goes, it’s harder stay on top than it is to reach the top.
Eastern’s girls track and field team entered the 2012 postseason hoping to put in a strong enough effort to claim the program’s first sectional title.
Having done so, the Comets entered Tuesday’s postseason opener — the Madison-Grant Sectional — with a much larger bull’s-eye on their backs than in previous years.
Eastern proved up to the challenge, scoring a landslide victory to repeat as sectional champions with 125 points. -
Dexter leaving Eastern
Eastern girls basketball coach Jeremy Dexter has stepped down from the Comet program after accepting the AD job at Churubusco last week. Churubusco is in Whitley County about 15 minutes west of Fort Wayne.
Dexter led the Comets to a Class 2A state runner-up finish this past season. - More Sports Headlines
-
Looking for Love? Take the Prague Metro
Crews Race to Find Survivors of Okla. Twister
First Person: Baby Falcons on a New York Bridge
Oklahoma: Images of Devastation, Reunion
Reunited Dad, Son: 'We Just Praise God'
Slow Pokes: Acupuncture Helps Sick Turtles
Moore, Okla. City of Reunions, Tears After Storm
Former IRS Chief: Can't Say How List Happened
Gov. Fallin: Okla. Facing Horrific Disaster
Tim Cook Defends Apple's Tax Accounting
AP Photograher: 'It Was a Miracle' They Got Out
Raw: Crews Search for Survivors of Okla. Tornado
Raw: Tearful Reunion After Okla. Tornado
OKC Hospital Describes Treating Tornado Wounded
Obama Pledges Urgent Aid for Tornado Victims
Raw: Massive Funnel Clouds in Oklahoma
