No room at the Inn
That’s what Rick Hendrick said a few months ago about the possibility of Jr. joining the team. Of course, we all know it was a lie. Just ask Bush the Younger. Kyle not George.
It looks like Joe Gibbs Racing Busch Nationwide team has the same problem. 19 year old Brad Coleman is leaving at the end of the year to drive full time for Brewco Motorsports. Aric Almirola left in July, after being pulled out of the best car in the field during the Milwaukee Mile so that Denny Hamlin could take over.
Almirola has already landed on his feet, driving in the Nextel Cup series for DEI. Now Coleman will take over the car that Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Ward Burton and Greg Biffle have shared over the last two years.
So why leave a top notch organization like Gibbs? “It looked like things were shaping up for a full-time run for the championship with JGR in 2008 but, after the Gibbs Cup drivers had filled the sponsored Nationwide seats, there was no room left for a full season,” Coleman explained. “It would have been difficult for me to run another partial season in 2008 because I want to be in the car every weekend and I thank Brewco and Kleenex (sponsor) for providing me that opportunity.”
Coleman ran 15 races for JGR this year posting 3 top 5’s, 5 top 10’s and won the pole at Talladega. In an ironic twist to the story, Tuesday’s pre-race press release from JGR about this weekends Memphis race said; ““I am really looking forward to being in the race car full time in 2008,” stated Coleman. “We have been blessed to have great success throughout the 2007 season but not being in the car every week is tough. It is tough on the crew, tough on the driver, and tough on the media.”
No room at the inn for up and coming drivers. I have to wonder what the future of NASCAR is when the Nextel guys are taking all the seat time in the Nationwide series. It can’t be good.
By the way, JGR also announced on Tuesday that they are looking for a sponsor for the Nationwide 18 car for next year, the one Coleman would have drove. The drivers will be Denny and Kyle.
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