2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (Start Your Engines!)

From DifferentHistory Wiki

The 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was the 60th season of professional stock car racing in the United States and the 37th modern-era Cup series season.

As a result of the merger between Sprint Corporation and Nextel Communications, NASCAR's premier series was renamed as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series beginning with the 2008 season. Coors Light also replaced Budweiser as the Official Beer of NASCAR, thereby becoming the new sponsor of the Pole Award given to pole winner in each Sprint Cup Series race. However, Budweiser was still the official sponsor for Bud Shootout at Daytona in February, and continued sponsoring Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #8 Chevrolet.

Top stories

Car of Tomorrow

In 2003, NASCAR began developing a new body for the SAFER Car chassis introduced in 1997. The new body, colloquially known as the "Car of Tomorrow", was first tested in 2005, and received unanimous criticism, from its boxy shape and lack of differences between manufacturers beyond stickers, to its rear wing that, wind tunnel tests revealed, could render the roof flaps completely useless and cause cars to go airborne, and seeming inability to make a good run. The body was originally meant to debut in 2008, but Dale Earnhardt's damning testimony ("It's a glorified IROC car!") caused massive fan backlash against the proposed change, causing NASCAR to scrap the car entirely and continue using the carbody design introduced in 2003. Ultimately, this design would continue seeing use in the Sprint Cup Series until the New Body Program was initiated in 2011 to create more stock-looking cars, culminating in the debut of a new body for the SAFER Car in 2013.

Economic problems affect NASCAR

The Economic crisis of 2008, with high gas prices over US $4 a gallon, caused NASCAR's largely blue-collar fan base to feel the pinch.

While Bristol was one of a few tracks that still sold out, others saw crowds shrink. Daytona International Speedway sold out the Daytona 500, but not the Coke Zero 400. Some track ticket packages now included all-you-can-eat deals, and tracks also offered nearby campgrounds to entice those who come for several days to see Nationwide and Craftsman Truck races. For their fall race, Lowe's Motor Speedway offered discounts on local hotel rooms, novelties and food and drink.

The economy also affected the teams themselves with high diesel fuel prices, with that fuel needed to power the semi-trailer trucks which transport the race cars to and from racetracks. Sponsorships also grew increasingly harder to come by, further increasing the gap between teams. Before the season began, Morgan-McClure Motorsports ceased operations for their single-car team.

Teams attempted to stave off the effects of the "Great Recession" by merging, the biggest example being Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) merging in 2009 to form Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR).

New Round of Retirements

Several longtime fixtures of the NASCAR circuit retired around 2007-08, including Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, Tim Richmond, Sterling Marlin, and Ernie Irvan.

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Manufacturer Team No. Race driver Crew chief
Chevrolet Cale Yarborough Motorsports 98 Jeremy Mayfield Dave Skog
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. 01 Jerry Nadeau
1 Martin Truex Jr. Kevin Manion
8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Tony Eury Jr.
14 Sterling Marlin Dan Stillman
17 Paul Menard Doug Randolph
48 Jimmie Johnson Chad Knaus
Furniture Row Racing 78 Joe Nemechek Jay Guy
Haas CNC Racing 166 Scott Riggs Bootie Barker
Max Papis
170 Johnny Sauter Steve Genenbacher
Ken Schrader
Jason Leffler
Scott Riggs
Tony Raines
Max Papis
Hendrick Motorsports 5 Kyle Busch Alan Gustafson
25 Ricky Hendrick Steve Letarte
35 Casey Atwood Tony Gibson
50 Mark Martin Darian Grubb
Richard Childress Racing 07 Clint Bowyer Gil Martin
3 Kevin Harvick
30 Dave Blaney Todd Berrier
31 Jeff Burton Scott Miller
Dodge AK Racing 7 Alan Kulwicki
Bill Davis Racing 22 Jeff Gordon Tommy Baldwin Jr.
23 Bobby Labonte
24 Scott Wimmer (R)
Chip Ganassi Racing

with Felix Sabates

40 David Stremme Brian Pattie
41 Reed Sorenson Jimmy Elledge
Scott Pruett
42 Juan Pablo Montoya Donnie Wingo
Gillett Evernham Motorsports 9 Kasey Kahne Kenny Francis
10 Patrick Carpentier (R) Rodney Childers
Terry Labonte
Mike Wallace
A. J. Allmendinger
19 Casey Elliott Ernie Elliott
Kelman Racing 86 Ryan Kelman Scott Searle
McDuffie Racing 170 Crissy Hillsworth
Moroso-Rudd Racing 82 Rob Moroso
83 Brendan Gaughan
84 Shawna Robinson
Pacific Coast Racing 60 Chloe Johnson Jed Luke
69 Jenny Smith Barry Baker
80 Tim Johnson Charlie Davis
85 Belle Armstrong Scott Smith
Penske Racing South 2 Kurt Busch Pat Tryson
12 Sam Hornish Jr. (R) Roy McCauley
39 Ryan Newman Chris Carrier
77 Blaise Alexander
Petty Enterprises 43 John Andretti Jeff Meendering
44 Kyle Petty Billy Wilburn
45 Adam Petty Stewart Cooper
46 Austin Petty
Robby Gordon Motorsports 107 Robby Gordon Frank Kerr

Walter Giles

Kirk Almquist

Ford Roush Racing 6 David Ragan Jimmy Fennig
16 Greg Biffle Greg Erwin
26 Jamie McMurray Larry Carter
66 Matt Kenseth Chip Bolin
99 Carl Edwards Bob Osborne
Steele Racing with Brett Favre 15 Tim Steele
90 Davey Allison
Wood Brothers Racing 21 Bill Elliott Gene Nead

Mike Smith

David Hyder

Pontiac Kennedy Racing 03 Melvin Kennedy Mark Cutter
04 Louise Kennedy
Toyota Hall of Fame Racing 96 J. J. Yeley Brandon Thomas

Steve Boyer

P. J. Jones
Brad Coleman
Ken Schrader
Joey Logano
Joe Gibbs Racing 11 Denny Hamlin Mike Ford
18 Dale Jarrett Steve Addington
20 Tony Stewart Greg Zipadelli
Michael Waltrip Racing 00 David Reutimann Ryan Pemberton
Michael McDowell (R) Bill Pappas

Peter Sospenzo

Mike Skinner
Kenny Wallace
A. J. Allmendinger
Mike Bliss
Marcos Ambrose Frank Kerr
55 Michael Waltrip
144 Kenny Irwin Jr.
Team Red Bull 183 Brian Vickers Kevin Hamlin

Randy Cox

Scott Speed Jimmy Elledge
184 A. J. Allmendinger Ricky Viers

Jimmy Elledge

Mike Skinner
Scott Speed
Brian Vickers Randy Cox

Technical changes

Changes from 2007 to 2008 were minor. Toyota made minor adjustments to the Camry, while Ford and Dodge made no changes to the Fusion or Charger.

The biggest change was what didn't change. Chevrolet had discontinued the Monte Carlo again, this time for good. However, unlike when the Ford Thunderbird was discontinued after 1997, Chevrolet did not introduce a new model for NASCAR competition. For 2008, all Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series teams continued running the Monte Carlo SS. For 2009, Chevrolet introduced the Impala SS into competition for both series.