2009 Predictions

[KurtBuschFan]

It's that time again.  Time to make your predictions for the upcoming NASCAR season.  Answer some or all...it's more fun with more people participating.

Sprint Cup Series Champ
Sprint Cup Series ROTY
Nationwide Series Champ
Nationwide Series ROTY
CWTS Champ
CWTS ROTY

Most Wins Sprint Cup
Most Poles Sprint Cup
If you want to do Nationwide and Trucks, feel free.

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?

How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare?

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win?

Who will win the Daytona 500?

Who will win the All Star Race?

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?

How many Nationwide regulars will win a NWS race?  Who has the best chance?

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?

Who will be the first driver fired in 2009?

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?

[DougS]

NSCS Champ: Carl Edwards

NNS Champ: Kyle Busch

CWTS Champ: Ron Hornady Jr.

Most NSCS wins: Carl Edwards
Most poles: Kyle Busch

SHR: 3 wins 0 missed races #14 in the chase

RPM: No cars in Chase
EGR: no wins, no cars in chase, two car team by end of season with Truex and Bass Pro leaving after the season

First win: David Ragan

Daytona 500: Jeff Burton

All star race winner: Ryan Newman (if eligible)

First race without a full field: Infineon

NNS regualr wins: 5         Best Chance: Keso

Joey Logano top 35: NO

First Chase: David Ragan

First driver fired: Interesting question with so many field fillers as for fired. David Gilliland

Probation: JPM

[south jersey girl]

Sprint Cup Series Champ
I’m really hoping that it’s Carl Edwards, but I wouldn’t rule out 4 in a row for Jimmie Johnson.

Sprint Cup Series ROTY
Scott Speed

Nationwide Series Champ
Brad Keselowski

Nationwide Series ROTY
Brendan Gaughan, although I’m rooting for John Wes Townley

CWTS Champ
Ron Hornaday   

CWTS ROTY
James Buescher

Most Wins Sprint Cup
Carl Edwards

Most Poles Sprint Cup
Not counting qualifying rain-outs…Kasey Kahne

If you want to do Nationwide and Trucks, feel free.
Kyle Busch in Nationwide
Ron Hornaday in the Truck series

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?
I think SHR will fare OK in 2009, not great.  Probably won’t crack the top 12.  Might be able to crack the top 20 though.  I’m not sure either wins a race, though Stewart has a shot.  They have a big adjustment this year, especially with Tony being the team owner.

 How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?
Can Petty and GEM together be better this year than either were separately last year?  Kahne is probably good for a win.  Allemdinger may get a few good finishes, but I don’t see anyone on that team being consistent enough to make the Chase.  I think their year will be successful if they can keep a majority of their cars in the top 35

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare?
I don’t think they’ll make it through the year.

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win?
David Ragan

Who will win the Daytona 500?
I predicted David Ragan would win, in another thread towards the end of last season.  I don’t think that’s too far fetched, he’s not a bad restrictor plate racer.

Who will win the All Star Race?
Greg Biffle

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?
I think there are enough part time teams that the fields will be full…not sure if that’s a good thing or not.

How many Nationwide regulars will win a NWS race?  Who has the best chance?
Two or three, with Brad Keselowski, Brad Coleman and Jason Leffler having the best chance.

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?
Should be able to keep it in the top 35…not sure if he cracks the top 20.

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?
David Ragan

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?
He will make the Chase. 

Who will be the first driver fired in 2009?
I don’t think they’ll be fired, but the EGR drivers will be looking for new rides before the end of the season

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?
Isn’t it always Tony Stewart…perpetual probation

[downstairs]

Sprint Cup Series Champ
- Dale Jr.  I'm not even a fan, I just think he's due for his breakout season one of these years.  Call me crazy.

Sprint Cup Series ROTY
- Scott Speed

Nationwide Series Champ
- Brad Keselowski

Most Wins Sprint Cup
- Jimmie Johnson

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?
- Stewart does as well as 2008.  One win, he'll make the chase but barely.  Won't come near winning the championship.  I'll say he ends up 12th overall.


How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?
How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare?
- Both no wins, very few top 5s/10s.  Not impressive.

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win?
- David Ragan

Who will win the Daytona 500?
- Matt Kenseth

Who will win the All Star Race?
- I never really care, so this is just a random guess: Jeff Gordon.  Why not.

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?
- Zero

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?
- Yes, but not too much better.  25th-20th at the end of the season.

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?
- Absolutely.  Will make the chase, and contend.  If some driver doesn't blow out the field, he'll be one of 3-4 that have a chance down to the final races.

Who will be the first driver fired in 2009?
- Menard.  Oh, wait, that's impossible.

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?
- Kyle

[Tonyfan14]

Sprint Cup Series Champ
*Jimmie Johnson

Sprint Cup Series ROTY
*Both will struggle but Joey has the better ride and has Zippy

Most Wins Sprint Cup
*Jimmie Johnson

Most Poles Sprint Cup
*Ryan Newman

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?
*They will surprise the doubters. Tony wins 4 races, Ryan 2, zero missed races, and both will make the Chase

How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?
*No higher than 20th in the final points standings

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare?
*No higher than 15th in the points standings. Truex announces him and Bass Pro are going to SHR in 2010

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win?
*David Ragan

Who will win the Daytona 500?
*Tony Stewart (hey he has to win it one of these years. Why not the first year he is the owner.)

Who will win the All Star Race?
*Kyle Busch

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?
*All will have a full field.

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?
*Yes but he wont do much better and finish 26th in the point standings. Zippy and Jason Shapiro announce they are going to SHR.

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?
*David Ragan

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?
* Yes but he'll come up short against JJ


Who will be the first driver fired in 2009?
*Scott Speed (I hope)

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?
*Tony Stewart (it's tradition and a must that he goes on probation at least once a season.) Being an owner wont change that.

[SMOKEN14]

Sprint Cup Series Champ -Tony Stewart Only because he's a better driver then JJ in equal Equipment
Sprint Cup Series ROTY Logano
Nationwide Series Champ - Carl Edwards
Nationwide Series ROTY- Brendon Gauhuan
CWTS Champ - Ron Hornaday
CWTS ROTY - Taylor Malsam

Most Wins Sprint Cup-Tony Stewart
Most Poles Sprint Cup-Ryan Newman
If you want to do Nationwide and Trucks, feel free.

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase? 9 wins Tony 6 Ryan 3 Both make the chase

How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season? No better then 15 th

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare? Truex makes the chase JPM just misses it 14th

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win?-David Reuittamen

Who will win the Daytona 500? - Tony Stewart With Hendrick Horse Power

Who will win the All Star Race? Kasey Khane His only win of the season

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field? 0 What will the first race be without one? won't be any. too many start and park teams

How many Nationwide regulars will win a NWS race?  Who has the best chance?

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35? yes but no better then 25th

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase? Reagan

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship? Yes but ends up in 3rd or lower

Who will be the first driver fired in 2009? Elliot Sadler

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?-Carl Edwards for punching Kevin Harvick BUT Harvick kicks his butt and also gets put on probation

[20forLogano]

Cup champ-JJ (everyone once again picking Carl like they were picking Carl and Kyle last year.  JJ has the best CC, best equipment, best pit crew and will take this one down again just because they say he won't).
ROTY-Joey but it will be a nice battle
NNC-Kyle Busch
ROTY-Townley
CWTS-Hornaday
ROTY-Buscher

Most wins-Carl
Most poles-who the heck knows.  Not even going to make a prediction

SHR-They will be average this year.  This is a lot to take on and depends on how much driver hat Tony wears when the weekend is here.  if he has too much owner (which I think) they will be average.  Tony is one of the best in the garage.  He makes the chase but Newman is no better than 18th.  They win 3 races

RPM has no driver in the top 15

EGR-Truex wins a race at Loudon and JPM wins sonoma.  Other than that it is a terrible year and Truex walks to SHR next year

Ragan will win and early in the season

Daytona 500 winner will be Stewart

All star race is won by Brian Vickers

won't have a short field but Cali 2nd week in will have the likes of Austin Cameron in the race to field a full one

Joey will keep the 20 car in the top 20 all season long

Ragan and Vickers both makes their first appearence and McMurray will knock on the door

Martin makes the chase and finishes in the top 5 in points

sadler will be the first goner

First probation will be Kurt Busch for punching Stewart this time in Shootout practice returning the favor

[Skig]

Sprint Cup Series Champ = Johnson
Sprint Cup Series ROTY = Logano
Nationwide Series Champ = Keselowski

Most Wins Sprint Cup = Edwards
Most Poles Sprint Cup = Bowyer

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?
4 wins between the two, no missed races, Tony in the Chase

How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?
One win (Kahne)

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare?
Two wins (Juan on the roadies)

Who will win the Daytona 500?
Johnson

Who will win the All Star Race?
Johnson

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?
0

How many Nationwide regulars will win a NWS race?  Who has the best chance?
One Keselowski

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?
yes

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?
JPM

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?
no. 4th Hendrick car??  Puhleeze

[KurtBuschFan]

Sprint Cup Series Champ--Jimmie Johnson wins #4 (gosh I hope not but it's hard to bet against him and Knaus)
Sprint Cup Series ROTY--Scott Speed

CWTS Champ--Ron Hornaday, Jr. also wins #4
CWTS ROTY--James Buescher

Most Wins Sprint Cup--Carl Edwards
Most Wins Truck--Ron Hornaday, Jr.

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?
2 wins, no missed races and Stewart will make the Chase...if Newman gets lucky he'll make it, but don't count on it

Who will win the Daytona 500?
Martin

Who will win the All Star Race?
Harvick

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?
no short fields yet...there are enough single car teams trying to make it work to fill fields for a while

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?
yes

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?
David Ragan

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?
yes

[Mike-In-NH]

Sprint Cup Series Champ - JJ. I see no reason why he can't get four in a row, after winning in years featuring the old car, both cars, and new car.

Sprint Cup Series ROTY -  Not a lot of choices, are there? Logano. Speed keeps getting collected.

Most Wins Sprint Cup - Tough one, but I'll say Edwards.  Though I think we'll see some somewhat surprising winners this year.

Most Poles Sprint Cup - Kyle Busch.


How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?  - They'll do fairly well. Tony in the Chase, Newman in the Top 15.  Tony should be good for at least two wins, perhaps three.  No missed races.

How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?  - RPM's drivers are already working together.  Kahne in the Chase and Allmendinger in the Top 20, and at least two wins for the team, giving the King a chance to smile from Victory Lane again.

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare? - Better than most people think.  Truex in the Chase. JPM in the Top 20 at least.

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win? - Logano. Crazy? Maybe, but he improved a lot just in the last week, and Zippy can give him a winning car. Besides, what other non-winner who has a competitive ride is out there this year? Reutimann maybe, that's about it.

Who will win the Daytona 500? - Mark Martin.

Who will win the All Star Race? - Kyle Busch.

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one? None. There's always someone out there who'll see an opportunity to get into the show and show up at the last minute.

How many Nationwide regulars will win a NWS race?  Who has the best chance?  Depends on if you still consider Brad Keselowski just a NWS regular anymore or not, considering he's attempting something like 17-19 Cup starts (so far).  If not Keselowski, I'll pick Justin Allgaier.

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35? Sure. He's at least as good as Michael Waltrip, after all...

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?  JPM has the best shot to me of all of the guys on the major teams that haven't gotten there yet.

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship? Absolutely.

Who will be the first driver fired in 2009?  Elliott Sadler. Again.

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?

[Tyyrus]

Wow....two other Poster's who think Mark the Kid can Win the 500 !  Inconceivable..Eh ! 

P.S. I also agree that unfortunately Sadler may be released unless he really picks it up !

[Chris]

Sprint Cup Series Champ = JJ (again).. that bunch just don't beat themselves...
Sprint Cup Series ROTY = Logano,.. but he won't set the word on fire
Nationwide Series Champ = Kyle Busch
Nationwide Series ROTY = several "better" drivers only running part of season... SO it'll help guys racing full time.  I favor Allgier or Townley
CWTS Champ = Benson
CWTS ROTY = James Buescher.  Kid will do good.

Most Wins Sprint Cup  = Edwards
Most Poles Sprint Cup = Johnson
If you want to do Nationwide and Trucks, feel free.

How will Stewart Haas Racing fare in the 2009 season?  How many wins, missed races, will both make the Chase?
SHR is just an extension of HMS = SO Tony will have good motor, good chassis, etc.  I look for Tony to win at least once, good possibility of making chase.  Newman won't make chase,.. MIGHT get one win.  He is a better driver than the equipment he has been getting from Penske

How will Richard Petty Motorsports fare in the 2009 season?
I look for Kahne to have a season muck like last year.  Look for Allmendinger to run well and possibly get a win.  He showed he has talent in the last 5 races with GEM in 2008.  B Labonte will have a better season than he has had in several years.  Sadler will suck as usual..

How will Earnhardt Ganassi Racing fare?
EGR won't be impressive.  Almirola won't be able to run all the races.  Montoya will have a shot at winning on road courses, but no where else.  Truex will be respectable, but no chase this year.

Who will score their first career Sprint Cup Series win?
Ragan, Reutimann and possibily Allmendinger

Who will win the Daytona 500?
HMS car.. Gordon or Johnson.

Who will win the All Star Race?
Good question... wide open.  Any guess is as good as the other.

How many Sprint Cup Races won't have a full field?  What will the first race be without one?
I'm gonna say 4.... Just a number I picked oyt of my head.  Full fields the first 5 weeks because of teams trying to get into top 35 in points using 2009 points (after race #5 - so 'long shot' teams will make the effort to run and try and get in the top 35... Probably no field will be short until past 1/2 way

How many Nationwide regulars will win a NWS race?  Who has the best chance?
Keselowski, Bliss and maybe... maybe Wimmer

Will Joey Logano be able the keep the No. 20 car in the Top 35?
Yes.. but mostly because he is locked into the first 5 races for 2009.. and that should asure him to be in the top 35 AFTER they switch to 2009 points.  Basically he'll stay in top 35 because he gets to run all the races.  Don't look for him to be any better than 25th

Who will be the next driver to make a first time appearance in the Chase?
Ragan

Will Mark Martin be able to contend for the championship?
Absolutely.. make the chase,... but won't win.

Who will be the first driver fired in 2009?
It'll be a driver more because the team 'closes' than outright be fired.  

Which driver will be the first put on probation in 2009?
Who cheats first would be the more correct question... The driver on probation will be because the 'team' don't pass tech.  It'll be the normal crew chief suspension, and driver on probation.

[Mike-In-NH]

Hmf - how did I forget David Ragan as a potential first winner? Good choice there. He could make the chase, too. Heck, even McMurray is looking to have a solid season this year. The Rousch Fenway bunch is pretty scary.  But I have to think that Burton, Harvick, and Bowyer will be in the chase for RCR, as usual. Not a flashy bunch but always competitive.

[Chris]

Hmf - how did I forget David Ragan as a potential first winner? Good choice there. He could make the chase, too. Heck, even McMurray is looking to have a solid season this year. The Rousch Fenway bunch is pretty scary.  But I have to think that Burton, Harvick, and Bowyer will be in the chase for RCR, as usual. Not a flashy bunch but always competitive.

Yeah.. I think well more then 12 or 13 will be in the hunt for the chase.  Yhis year will definately be a season of more guys running well, than spots available.  As you said, possible all the RFR gouys could make the chase,... add in all the HMS guys, and 3 of the RCR guys, and "cahse" is full.  Many guys not even mentioned that could ALSO make it... so it'll be interesting,... and GOOD finishes, and few DNF's will have a major bearing on who makes the chase

[south jersey girl]

5 Roush teams, 4 HMS (6 if you count SHR), 3 RCR, a couple of JGR teams...throw in a wild card or two...and you've got 16 or 17 teams gunning for 12 spots

I can't wait for the green flag to drop on Sunday