We are hearing today that Randy Moss Motorsports has shut down its #81 Camping World Truck Series team effective immediately due to lack of funding.  The team, which has been running with David Starr this season, had only partial sponsorship to begin the season.  We are also hearing that several employees have been laid off, including crew chief Doug Wolcott.

There have been a ton of rumors floating around about RMM in the last several weeks, many of them mentioning a possible merger or sale of the team.    Mike Skinner’s #5 truck has full sponsorship for the season from International Trucks, Monaco Coaches, Exide, and PC Miler but Starr only had a partial deal with Zachry.

Through 16 races this season, Starr is ninth in CWTS points with 6 top tens and has an average finish of 13.2.   We’ll keep you posted if we hear any more.

As we approach the final stretch run of the 2010 Nationwide Series schedule, expect there to be more driver shuffling within Roush Fenway Racing’s NNS program.  We’re hearing that both Matt Kenseth and Erik Darnell will get starts in the team’s #16 Fords in the upcoming races.  Kenseth ran two NNS races for this team early in the season, and Darnell hasn’t made any starts in 2010.

We’ve talked quite a bit about the RFR Nationwide teams this season (here and here), because of the team’s commitment to developing drivers and because of the team’s turmoil.  What were supposed to be full seasons for both Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Colin Braun, have since turned into partial seasons.  A rash of bad luck, torn up equipment, and opportunities to run other drivers were the reasons why.  We’ve seen no less then five drivers make starts in the #6 and #16 (Stenhouse, Braun, Kenseth, Brian Ickler, and Billy Johnson), and Darnell will make it six.

If you’ll remember, Erik Darnell has been with the Roush organization since the 2004 season.  He was the winner of Roush’s famous “Gong Show” in 2005, which was televised that year and put on the Discovery Channel as “Driver X.”  Darnell then ran full seasons in the Truck Series for Roush from 2006 to 2008.  For the 2009 season he moved up to the Nationwide Series and split the #6 ride with driver David Ragan.  In 16 starts he earned two top five and five top ten finishes and had one pole.  He was also given the opportunity to run seven Cup Series races for Yates/Hall of Fame Racing in the #96 in place of Bobby Labonte, getting a best finish of 29th at Kansas.  A lack of sponsorship dollars has forced him to sit out much of the 2010 season.

Going forward, many questions still plague the RFR Nationwide program for the 2011 season.  We’ve heard that as of right now, the team may only run two cars next season, with Carl Edwards comitting to another full schedule.  The team will suffer with the loss of Paul Menard and his money to RCR/KHI for next season, and the struggles for both Braun and Stenhouse will probably mean the second car may be driven by a round robin of Cup and development drivers.

It was back to the world’s fastest half mile this weekend as NASCAR inches closer to the start of the chase for the championship. It was more Silly Season news that led the headlines this week. Richard Petty Motorsports announced Tuesday Marcos Ambrose would be the driver of the #9 in 2011. Ambrose will be sponsored by Stanley Tools. And Richard Childress Racing announced Budweiser would sponsor Kevin Harvick in 2011. Budweiser takes over, partially, from the departing Shell/Pennzoil. And finally Brian Vickers announced on Saturday he has been cleared to race in 2011. Vickers has been sidelined since May because of blood clots. This is the NASCAR week that was, August 15 to 21, 2010.

Ballew an example of succeeding against the odds

NASCAR’s Star Mangled Banner

NASCAR fans unhappy…But why?

Q&A: Brian France ponders changes

Almirola’s rise gains steam

Vintage Insiders

Not Every Crew Guy Is Making $100k A Year

The Other Side of the Garage

**Remember if you have a NASCAR blog or website and would like a recent article you wrote featured in this section email me and you could be part of next week’s NASCAR Week That Was. Please only send stuff you have written.**

In the current climate of funded drivers and retreating sponsorship dollars, it’s very uncommon for a young driver without his own money to get a second chance.  What we are seeing with Aric Almirola though, goes against all of that.  JR Motorsports announced on Wednesday that Almirola had signed a multi-year agreement to drive the team’s #88 car in the Nationwide Series.

After getting high profile gigs at Joe Gibbs Racing, Ginn Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc., and finally Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, it appeared Almirola had washed out.  Once at EGR, his #8 team was shut down only seven races into the 2009 season due to lack of funding.  Through those seven races however, Almirola hadn’t exactly set the world on fire.  His average finish was 32.8 and his best finish was a 21st at Atlanta.  Before that, Almirola was best known for his Nationwide Series “win” at Milwaukee in which he started the race, but was pulled part way through and replaced by Denny Hamlin who went on to score the victory.

After leaving EGR in 2009, Almirola spent the rest of the season making sporadic starts for Phoenix Racing, Key Motorsports, Smith Ganassi Racing, and Billy Ballew Motorsports across all three major NASCAR series.  He was one of a small group of drivers who turned to some of the lower seriesto advance his career and get more experience.  And as it turned out, the 16 starts Almirola made for Billy Ballew in which he led 98 laps and had six top five finishes, would turn into a full time Truck Series ride for the 2010 season.

Fast forward to this season, Almirola has two Truck Series wins and sits second in the Truck Series points.  His strong CWTS runs led to him being the backup driver for both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon while they were on baby watch, plus he was given the chance to run JRM’s #88 at ORP.  Almirola didn’t disappoint there either, finishing third behind Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.  All of this led up to JRM signing Almirola for the 2011 season and beyond.

Before this deal came about, we’d heard (along with others) that Almirola was a candidate for some Cup organizations, including Richard Petty Motorsports.  Almirola even admitted to ESPN that he’d been offered Cup deals (see the link above).  With that said, I think it’s interesting that he decided to take the Nationwide deal with JRM.  It would seem that in a situation like Almirola’s, especially with his stock being high, that he would have wanted to capitalize fully and take a Cup deal.  Instead, he will continue to have to prove himself and his ability in the NNS with JRM.

If Almirola continues to progress, and has continued success in the future, this should help serve as a lesson to owners about driver development.  Instead of rushing these kids along, and giving them a season or two to prove themselves, why not keep them in lower series longer?  Let them develop their skills, then bring them along slowly.  Almirola is extremely lucky that he’s been given the chances to show that he can improve, and hopefully he will parlay those chances into more success on the track.

It’s official… NASCAR has released the schedules for the 2011 season, and seasons of speculation are finally over – both Kentucky and Kansas got their long-anticipated Cup dates.

I’ve never been the biggest advocated for giving Kentucky a Cup date and Kansas a second Cup date. They’re really just more of the same. That said, I’m glad NASCAR, ISC and SMI are bringing racing to fans who appreciate it.

Though I haven’t been the biggest proponent of adding dates to those two tracks, I (and TC) have been a proponent of taking a date away from California. The racing is never very good and for whatever reason the crowds just couldn’t be maintained. Some markets just cant support two dates.

I believe that’s the story in Atlanta. Though I like the track and the racing it produces, it too was having issues with attendance. From a business prospective it made more sense giving its second date to Kentucky – a place I think will be able to support the event.

Other welcome news was that SMI didn’t pull a date from New Hampshire – I thought for sure Bruton would use the police issue in Loudon to give Las Vegas a second date. The man in the gawdy sunglasses surprises.

Overall, while the 2011 schedule does bring us changes, there aren’t really a ton of surprises. As always, the internal politics of NASCAR, ISC and SMI keep the possibility of changes to a minimum. I’d certainly like to see a Chase that was more representative of the whole schedule, but I’m good with what is hopefully just the beginning of a truly improved schedule in NASCAR.

Some Thoughts on the Truck Series Schedule

With 24 scheduled events for the 2011 season, and another one TBA, the Truck Series  schedule is much improved over this year’s. Gone is the three week break between Daytona and Atlanta, and the two week break between Atlanta and Martinsville. Those successive breaks were a little excessive – not to mention they killed the momentum of the season.

There are a couple of two week breaks early on in 2011, and a month long break in the middle of the summer, but all in all they’ve done a much better job keeping the series flowing.

As far as filling that TBA date, why not have a triple-header at Richmond in September? There might be some logistical issues with the haulers, but who wouldn’t love to see the trucks make their RIR return?

I’m not sure what NASCAR is working on for that date, but my plea is that they keep them at a short track.

And finally a couple of disappointing spots. Pocono is back on the schedule. I think we all know my thoughts on that. And I don’t really understand the reasoning for moving the Phoenix date. It’s going to be weird for them to have an off-weekend before the season-finale at Homestead – and we’ve had such great end of season showdowns there.

What are your thoughts on Kentucky and Kansas and all three schedules for the 2011 season?

With big announcements flying this week, the teams are getting geared up to head for Bristol for a little short track Saturday night action.  Don’t forget, the Truck Series races tonight at the ”World’s Fastest Half Mile.”   If you don’t know what this post is, we answer any and all reader questions every Wednesday, right here.  So if you’ve got one, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send one to us.  On to the questions…

1. From Michael in SoCal:

Following up on Franq’s question from last week about using the road course at Indy for the Cup Series race, what about using one of the road courses at Pocono? If the Cup Series is going there twice within a span of about seven weeks, it might be a nice change of pace, Your site is a daily read! Thanks.

Thanks Micheal! The Pocono road course is nowhere near ready to handle a NASCAR race – as we saw a couple of weeks ago the main track isn’t either. Even if Pocono were interested in upgrading their road course, I still don’t think NASCAR is all that interested in adding road courses to the schedule. I do agree though seven or eight weeks is a little ridiculous between races, and any change would be welcome. – Journo

2. From Dan:

Hey guys I know you all remain anonymous but what I wonder about is how you get info (outside the technical stuff) without raising suspicions. The answer you gave last week ( Ask the Insiders #87) about the Target sponsorship and the deal they have with EGR/ CGR I would think would be only privy to those associated with that team. Of course that’s not to say you all couldn’t find out. But couldn’t someone connect the dots after seeing an answer to a question? Like hey I was asked that last week by so and so. Hope what I’m saying makes sense. Anyway just curious.

Well we would never ask someone a question that appears on the site for the exact reason you suggest. If we ever don’t know an answer to a question or can’t easily find out through inconspicuous means we’ll tell you we don’t know. As far as last week’s question goes, Ganassi’s program is very well known to those who are familiar with sponsorship in the sport. On top of those at the team that are familiar with the program you’ve got to consider all the people connected with those individual sponsorship deals that are also familiar with it – literally hundreds of people currently and formerly associated with the team and sponsors. – Journo

3. From red8814:

I understand that Sadler’s helmet, seat & HANS were all scheduled to be scanned for fractures following his wreck at Pocono. If a driver is in a far less severe, “moderate” wreck that takes him to infield care b/c the car won’t start up, is there any automatic review of his safety equipment, including the belts/harness?

Not that I am aware of.  All over the rule book in the section about safety gear, it is repeated that the drivers are responsible for their own safety equipment and it’s proper usage.  NASCAR is in no way responsible for any of it. – T.C.

4. From Michael in SoCal:

Any thoughts on why Robby Gordon put PJ Jones in the # 7 and moved himself into the # 07 last week at Michigan? Thanks.

Robby put PJ in the #7 car because he knew they would be guaranteed to start the race (PJ qualified 41st) – he knew he would be much better positioned to get into the race on speed (he qualifed 35th). And then they both start-and-parked – the double start-and-park, always a classy move. – Journo

5. From Ryan:

T.C.-After reading that Casey Mears will take over the Germain #13 car starting at Atlanta and full-time next year, I’m wondering how well do you think he will do?

I wouldn’t expect much from this move.  While Mears is certainly more experienced than Papis, his performances certainly haven’t been stellar over his career.  Let’s remember that this is the same Mears who struggled at Ganassi, Hendrick, Childress, and Red Bull.  He certainly won’t resurrect his career in an underfunded Cup car for Germain Racing. – T.C.

6. From Denny:

Have been reading a blog which mentions something about Reuti running a non-approved intake supplied by TRD on the engine which won at Chicago. Even one of the announcers stated Reuti showed-up with a different intake for this race. How could they possibly get away with this, with all of the inspections going on, both before and after the race in Chicago. Also, reading that NASCAR will be testing engines after MIS. Does anyone, other than NASCAR officials get to view the actual testing? Will these be a real dyno test…..on a stand-type engine dyno or just a chassis dyno? Thanks for the great info, as always!

Honestly, I don’t know anything about this.  If it’s actually true, both MWR and TRD have done a remarkable job keeping it quiet.  NASCAR’s inspection process is certainly extensive, and if any other team caught any wind of this, it would have been reported to NASCAR immediately.  That fact alone makes me question the validity of what you’ve read.  And after Michigan, NASCAR did take 16 engines from various teams.  Since they only took the engines, the dyno tests will be done on a standard dyno, not a chassis dyno.  Don’t expect NASCAR to make the results public unless a drastic rule change comes about because of the tests. – T.C.

7. From Allen:

Why doesn’t NASCAR consider doing the “side by side” coverage, commercials on the right and the race on the left? If IndyCar can pull it off we can.

It’s all got to do with the way the advertising is structured within NASCAR’s TV deals, and I’ll be honest I really don’t know all the specifics. It’s feasible, we’ve seen them do it with the Coke Zero 400 on TNT, but I don’t know that NASCAR and their broadcast partners are all that interested in doing it. Here is an article from 2006 that answers some of your questions. – Journo

8. From Justin:

I know questions about payouts have been asked before, but none of it really makes sense. Just a few examples from Michigan. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 19th $86,050, David Gilliland 36th $86,148. Brad Keselowski 34th $98, 535, Sam Hornish Jr 32nd $79,950. Clint Bowyer 13th $89,975, Jeff Burton 24th $111,565. The payouts don’t make any sense. Why would one team apart of the same organization take part in different contingency programs? What contingency program could David Gilliland be a part of that Dale Jr isn’t?

It’s not all about what contingency programs a team is involved in.  The reason some drivers make more then others depends on what contingency programs a team is involved in AND in what payout plan a team is in.  I believe NASCAR has four different plans setup, and each team fits into one of those plans.  I don’t know specific details, but the plans award prize money based on not only where you finish, but also past performance and longevity. – T.C.

9. From Newracefan:

I heard several times on Nascar Now about the HMS cars not having speed. I know when I listened to the 48 scanner Sunday on more than one occasion JJ was sayong the car was good but Chad was saying it he wasn’t fast enough. Is there something to this?

It is certainly possible for a car to have a good balance with the chassis setup, but just not be very fast.  I’m just speculating, but maybe they were missing something aerodynamically, or they were possibly down on horsepower a bit.  Let’s not forget that Johnson still finished 12th, so it must not have been that bad. – T.C.

10. From Lost in Texas:

With Kahne and Ambrose settled for next year, does this make Sadler the top free agent on the market for this year and who is the top ride that will be looking for a driver?

Well, unless a team does something drastic, or a team like Gibbs finally starts a fourth team, there aren’t really any open rides left.  If Scott Speed and/or Brian Vickers don’t return to Red Bull, there might be an opening there, but that’s about it.  Besides that, RPM is realistically the only team left with openings.  Childress, Hendrick, Roush, Gibbs, Stewart Haas, MWR, EGR, and Penske are all full up for 2011.  So I guess you could make the argument that Sadler is the top free agent driver, but without any openings, I’m not sure that means much. – T.C.

And that brings yet another “Ask The Insiders Wednesday” to a close.  Thanks to everyone who sent in questions.  And remember, if you’d like to be a part of next week, click on the ”Ask the Insiders” tab at the top of the page and send your question in!

We found out this last week that Kasey Kahne would be making a one year stop at Red Bull Racing before he takes over the #5 full time at Hendrick Motorsports for 2012.  A lot of questions still remain about Kahne’s future, but one of the big ones is who will be his crew chief next year and beyond.  His current crew chief, Kenny Francis, has been mentioned as an option, but Red Bull already has two crew chiefs in Ryan Pemberton and Jimmy Elledge, and Alan Gustafson is firmly entrenched at Hendrick.  So if you are Francis, what do you do?

Rumors are flying about Francis’ future, and I’ve heard everything from he’s staying at RPM, to he’s leaving with Kahne.  Whatever the case though, he may not have a ton of options.

Let’s say for the sake of argument, Francis will follow Kahne to Hendrick.  The problem then becomes what does he do next season?  Sit around in his office at HMS?  Or maybe become some sort of competition consultant until Kahne arrives? With Kahne making the stop at Red Bull, there is no way Red Bull would allow Francis to come in and run Kahne’s team.  Why you might ask?  Because then Francis would have access to all of Red Bull’s testing, engineering, and setup data and however good that information might be, Red Bull would not be okay with him then taking all of that data to HMS.

If Francis hasn’t been offered the HMS job, does he stay at RPM or try and move on to greener pastures?  Everyone is expecting RPM to announce they’ve signed Marcos Ambrose during tomorrow’s scheduled press conference, so that may certainly be an option for him.  Other than staying though, it doesn’t really appear as though he would have many options for next season.  Most of the crew chiefs for the marquee drivers are locked up long term, and I’m not sure Francis would take anything other than a high profile job with a team that had a shot to win championships.  RCR will certainly need a fourth crew chief next season, but would he be interested in working with Paul Menard?  There are certainly question marks for Matt Kenseth next season, but they may turn back to Robbie Reiser.  There are always going to be rumors about Lance McGrew, but other then that, Hendrick’s bosses are solid.  I also wouldn’t expect any changes at Penske, Gibbs, Stewart Haas, EGR, or MWR.  So while anything can certainly happen over the final part of the season with driver/crew chief relationships, Francis’ opportunities may be severely limited.

So if you are Kenny Francis, what would you do?

Kevin Conway doesn’t have a ride. And his season up to this point has been… well not good. Despite the less than impressive stats and a now unclear future, Conway will very likely go into the NASCAR record books as the best rookie of 2010 – the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Unfortunately, the winner by default.

Conway started 2010 driving the #37 for Front Row Motorsports – his home until last week. His competition through the first 10 races of this season for the ROY was Terry Cook. Cook qualified for just three of ten races he attempted in a very underfunded Whitney Motorsports ride before he and the team parted ways.

That left just Conway, the only full-time competitor, competing for ROY honors this season. For his part, Conway has said he is excited about winning his race of one.

For me, all of a sudden my hard work created some opportunities and now to find myself in the middle of the Rookie of the Year championship in the Sprint Cup Series is beyond comprehension in many ways

Nevermind it was clever maneuvering of points, and start-and-parks that kept Conway going for as long as he did. Through 21 races he had an average start of 40th, and average finish of 31.6 – he finished on the lead lap in just three of those races at Daytona, Watkins Glen and Sonoma.

For all intents and purposes though Conway is the best rookie of this season. Though I don’t know if I’d be too stoked about winning a competition where I was the only competitor, I guess it’s something.

Going back to late last season the talk was how there might not even be a rookie class in the Cup Series. While that didn’t occur, we did end up with the weakest class since perhaps 1958 (I say that only because the winner, Shorty Rollins, was the lone competitor).

Now thanks to a bad economy, an increasing lack of sponsor interest in funding development drivers and plethora of other reasons, we now find ourselves in the same situation we were in last year – the prospect of a season without a ROY participant in the Cup Series.

While it really isn’t that big of a deal, it’s kind of sad to not see a competition for an award whose winners include the sport’s greatest drivers. The award deserves better than this. The sport deserves better than this. But it is what it is.

NASCAR makes its second trip to Michigan this weekend as the Silly Season kicked into high gear. Hendrick Motorsports and Kasey Kahne led the news this week as they announced Red Bull Racing would be Kahne’s home for 2011. What car Kahne will be in, and who his teammates will be is not clear. In other news Richard Childress Racing announced this week Paul Menard would join the organization as its fourth team in 2011. Menard joins the team after spending two seasons with Yates Racing and Richard Petty Motorsports. And finally Extenze Racing and Kevin Conway announced a ‘hiatus’ from NASCAR on Friday. It’s unclear if and when the team would return. This is the NASCAR week that was August 8 to 14, 2010.

Bold moves for NASCAR

Those Footstops Might Sound Familiar

It’s official: Kahne to Red Bull for next year

Jerry Carroll’s dream now big reality with Sprint Cup race

Flow of talent between USAC, NASCAR has slowed

Vintage Insiders

Is EGR Really All That Unstable

The Off Track Businesses of NASCAR’s Drivers

**Remember if you have a NASCAR blog or website and would like a recent article you wrote featured in this section email me and you could be part of next week’s NASCAR Week That Was. Please only send stuff you have written.**

According to NASCAR’s official Twitter page, Kevin Conway has been replaced on the entry list by Tony Raines in the #34 Front Row Motorsports Ford.  This confirms our information from Monday’s blog post in which we told you that Conway’s job was in trouble.  This news also comes after sponsor Extenze put out a press release denying Conway was being replaced.

No official announcement has come from either the team or the sponsor about the move or whether Raines will continue driving.