Personnel, sponsorship moves top offseason stories

With a revolving door of crew chiefs and a drought of checkered flags, Ryan Newman may not be long for his Penske team. Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

NASCAR's major stories for 2007 are behind us. We know Dale Earnhardt Jr. is headed for Hendrick Motorsports and Kyle Busch for Joe Gibbs Racing, Gibbs for Toyota and Jimmie Johnson and Hendrick have completed a dominant championship run and will collect a enormous check at the Nextel Cup awards ceremony in New York on Nov. 30.

We've had mergers and investors galore, an invasion of open-wheel drivers, veteran drivers either changing teams or being pushed out of Cup and sponsors and crew chiefs switching organizations.

Is it all over? Are we in for a quiet winter until the newly named Sprint Cup season begins with the Budweiser Shootout on Feb. 9 at Daytona? Hardly.

They may not rock the Richter scale, but here are some of the more intriguing offseason stories to watch.

1. Will Greg Biffle re-sign with Roush Fenway?

His contract runs through next season, making him one of the top potential free agents on the market. Biffle has missed the Chase the past two seasons, but he's won races (12 total) in five straight seasons. There were lengthy negotiations during the season that stalled. Biffle has said he's probably going to stay at Roush, an organization that he began his NASCAR career with in Craftsman Trucks in 1998, but he's left the door open for another organization to swoop in and grab him. You have to wonder if he's reconsidering leaving Roush. He'll be 39 in December and perhaps he's starting to think a fresh start somewhere else could jump start his competitiveness. Look at what Jeff Burton leaving Roush for Richard Childress in 2004 did for his career. Biffle wants to get his deal with Roush done by the Daytona 500. If he doesn't, all bets are off.

2. What is Ryan Newman's future with Penske?

Newman seemed set to be a Penske driver for life at the end of '05, but two straight years without winning a race and not making the Chase could change that. Newman's contract expires at the close of '08 and he's very attractive to many teams. He'll be 30 in December and has 12 wins. Newman will likely have his third crew chief in three years, with Roy McCauley replacing Mike Nelson. Unless they click and turn their fortunes around, Newman may get restless and want to make a move to a different environment.

3. Will Haas CNC Racing have enough sponsorship to run in 2008?

Haas has signed Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield for next season, but has lost Best Buy -- the primary car on Jeff Green's No. 66 this season -- and Yellow Transportation -- sponsor of Johnny Sauter's No. 70 in '07 -- is considering all its options. It's never good when the existing sponsor doesn't re-up before the season finale. Team owner Gene Haas pled guilty to tax fraud and paid a $5 million fine and $70 million in back taxes and has been sentenced to 24 months in federal prison. Haas has deep pockets, but sponsorless teams rarely survive for very long. Look at what happened at Ginn Racing this year. If the Haas team can't line up some major backing by Daytona, it's probably in big trouble.

4. Will some Cup team carve out a role for David Stremme?

Stremme's sophomore season in Cup was an improvement. He moved up to 25th in the points from 33rd in '06 and had the initial three top-10s of his career. But Chip Ganassi decided to replace him in the No. 40 with Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti late in the season, and Stremme departed Homestead-Miami without a Cup ride for '08. Ganassi has said that if he could find more sponsorship, he'd keep Stremme. Ganassi should try to find the funding for a fourth car for Stremme to keep him in the organization. What if Franchitti, trying to make an immediate transition from IndyCar, is a flop? If not Ganassi, some other organization would be wise to get Stremme under contract. He'd take a limited program now because he doesn't have anything else. At age 30, Stremme has something good to offer an organization now and down the road.

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