Hendrick's Plans for 2005

[Chrud]

I don't know about you guys, but I don't know what Rick Hendrick is thinking with his team for 2005. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch. The first two are great, but the later, well, aren't so good. Yes, they were great in the Busch series, but both haven't done anything (especially Vickers) in the Cup races they've run. I think KB has attemped and missed more races than he's made.

If I go out on a limb, I'd expect about 4-6 wins from both the 24 and 48, but I can't expect more than one or two top 5's from the 5 and 25 combined. If you ask me, Rick is rushing them out of the Busch series too quickly. It'll be at least a good 2 or 3 more years before Vickers can maybe crack a win, and I feel the same for KB.

If I was Rick, I'd leave them in for two years. Look at Junior and Kenseth for example. They were awesome their rookie years and haven't backed down since. Junior is doing the same with Truex, leaving him in for 2 years.

By the way. With KB probably out of the NBS next year (I assume because he is driving the 5 Cup car), is there going to be any competition for Truex? They may get someone in the 5 car that is a little competitive, but it's almost 500 points back to 3rd place right now.