Penske's lack of dedication to NASCAR hurting Cup program

Frustrated with his inability to win consistently with Penske Racing, Ryan Newman chose to take his considerable talents to Tony Stewart's new team in 2009. AP

At one time in the not-too-distant past, Ryan Newman seemed headed for a Penske-for-life career, on the same track as Mark Donohue and Rick Mears. But last week, Newman ditched those plans and jumped in with Tony Stewart to drive for the new Stewart-Haas team next season, a move he made as a result of performance issues -- which is a respectful way of saying we're not running strong enough to stick around.

Simply put, Newman grew tired of not winning races or making the Chase. His win in the Daytona 500 in February, historic for the organization as well as Newman's career, was his first since 2005, but it's been downhill from there. Newman's fourth at Texas is his only other top-five. As of mid-August, he's 17th in the points, and out of the Chase for the third straight year.

"I told Tony, 'The bottom line is I'm here to have fun,'" said Newman of his new boss. "I want to have fun with you. I know he wants to have fun doing this. That's what racing hasn't been a whole lot for me lately due to the fact we had success in '02, '03 and part of '04, and since then it hasn't been as successful. Therefore, some of the fun is gone with that. I look forward to having fun again."

Newman says he had offers from three other teams, pointing to a growing opinion in Sprint Cup circles that his struggles are related to his team, not him. It also may explain why Penske has been unable to sign a top-gun replacement for Newman.

Sources say Penske made a multi-year offer to Martin Truex Jr., who wanted out from DEI, but not at any cost and decided to stay at DEI for at least one more season.

Two reasons seem self-evident. Truex is 16th in the points, ahead of Newman and Penske teammates Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish Jr., so it wouldn't make much sense to go some place that isn't running any better than where you are? And doing a one-year deal with DEI gives Truex the option of leaving for, perhaps, Hendrick or Stewart-Haas.

With Casey Mears apparently headed for the fourth car at Richard Childress next season, the music stopped and Penske was left standing without a partner that has won a race in Sprint Cup. That would seem to leave David Stremme, Penske's test driver, as the top candidate for the No. 12.

Stremme is a decent Cup driver. He was 24th in the points in '07 with Chip Ganassi Racing, which cut him loose when it wasn't able to find sponsorship for Stremme and signed Indy 500 champion Dario Franchitti, whom it felt might be a bigger lure. He wasn't, though, and that team has disappeared.

There's a reality about Stremme, too. He's had no top-fives and three top-10s in 75 career Cup starts, all of them with Ganassi. At Roush Fenway, or Hendrick or Gibbs or Childress, Stremme would likely be more competitive and have better statistics. But does he have the potential to win races and make the Chase? The numbers say no, reinforced by the fact he's run 123 Nationwide Series races without victory. Will hiring Stremme help lift the organization? Probably not.

To be fair to Stremme, it would be difficult for any driver to make the Chase at Penske's current performance level. Busch, the Sprint Cup champion in '04 with Roush Fenway, has been able to extend his streak of consecutive years with at least one Cup win to seven, but he's 19th in the points and seems headed for his worst season since '01. Busch has missed the Chase in two of his three seasons with Penske and it seems doubtful he's having any fun, either.

Hornish, also a former IndyCar champion and Indy 500 winner, is a development driver at the Cup level. He's 33rd in driver and owner points, hanging onto the top-35 by 23 points over the 36th-placed entry driven by A.J. Allmendinger.

Despite the remarkable career that Roger Penske has had, his Cup team needs dramatic changes to elevate itself into the upper echelon.

Here are a few suggestions, which I make with much humbleness, to the organization that has won so many races and championships.

1. Hire a CEO or president dedicated to the Cup program.

Roger Penske doesn't have time, even for someone who doesn't sleep much, to devote to the Cup program. Among his racing endeavors, the IndyCar program is his top focus and his American Le Mans program is second. He attends and calls those races, with Cup ranking third. Penske made a wise decision in 1999 to hire Tim Cindric, giving him power to run the racing programs as president of Penske Performance. He's very good at it, but with the addition of the ALMS program several years ago, he's stretched thin. Cindric attends and calls IndyCar and ALMS races, too.

Penske needs to hire a top-notch general manager for the NASCAR teams and give him the same authority he gave Cindric. Don Miller had handled some day-to-day responsibilities, but he retired after last season. Newman says Miller's absence "had an influence on it, without a doubt" in his decision to depart. Added Newman: "When people are a big part of what makes the race car go fast, again how much fun you can have in doing so, I definitely missed him from Penske Racing.

2. Buy Ganassi Racing.

They're both Dodge teams and consolidation would get Penske to four cars driven by Busch, Hornish, Juan Pablo Montoya and Reed Sorenson. Money isn't Penske's problem, but it would give the organization sponsors for five cars with four to run. There would be a conflict between Mobil, on Hornish's car, and Texaco, on Montoya's car, that would have to be eliminated, but it's an overall stronger package regardless of which one of the oil companies leaves. The four-car model is what works in Cup and Penske needs to get there. There are good people at Ganassi that would bulk up Penske, too.

Would Ganassi sell? Who knows? But he'd be worth approaching. Ganassi's organization is stuck in the middle of the pack, too, and he can't be enjoying that.

3. Run two full-time Nationwide teams.

Hornish appears to be an open-wheel driver who will be able to make the transition, but he needs to accelerate his learning curve through more Nationwide races. He's run in only seven this season and needs to run all that are logistically possible. Sorenson is in his third full Cup season and has 95 career Nationwide starts, but he's only 22 years old and more miles would benefit him. He's run only two this year. Montoya could use more races, too.

Ganassi has one full-time and a part-time Nationwide team and Penske has a part-time Nationwide team. If Penske could convince Ganassi to sell, they'd have two teams ready to go.

Gibbs, Childress, Roush and Hendrick/JR Motorsports run full-time Nationwide teams. It's also a model to follow if you want to be a winning NASCAR organization.

Penske has the resources to join Cup's Big Four, but they need to demonstrate the willingness to join them.