Moving right along, let’s continue with 31-34 in my predicted 2006 finish (again, no particular order):
- Dave Blaney, driving the Bill Davis Racing #22 Catepillar Dodge. BDR will muddle through one more year before Toyota comes charging in to make them instant title contenders.
- Kyle Petty, driving the Petty Enterprises #45 Wells Fargo/Schwan’s/Your Company Here Dodge. The good news is that the #43 team is set. The bad is that The Other Kyle doesn’t have sponsorship for more than half the races.
- Brent Sherman, driving the BAM Racing #49 Serta/Hickory Farms Dodge. Brent picked the wrong year to even think about trying for ROTY. At least he’ll have the benefit of starting the first 5 races.
- Sterling Marlin, driving the MB2 Motorsports #14 Waste Management/Your Company Here Chevy. At least Riggs and Evernham left the owners’ points; otherwise, Sterling would be missing more than the 24 races he doesn’t have a sponsor for.
Moving barely into the top 30 and out of the danger zone:
- Ken Schrader, driving the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing #21 Little Debbies/Motorcraft/Air Force Ford. I’ll believe Ken’s retired when he’s been buried for 5 years.
- Jeff Burton, driving the RCR #31 Cingular Chevy. Brother Ward is wondering when NASCAR ceased being a Southern sport.
- David Stremme, driving the Ganassi #40 Coor’s Light/Lonestar Dodge. Stremme picked the wrong team to join for his ROTY run.
- Casey Mears, driving the Ganassi #42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge. Mears is the luckiest guy in NASCAR; if Home123 hadn’t pulled out of NASCAR, he would be nothing more than a field-filler. In Ganassi’s best ride, he’s only little more than a field-filler.
- Jeff Green, driving the Haas-CNC #66 Best Buy Chevy. Believe it or not, this is a step up for Jeff.
