Scene Dailey, Biggest bust of the decade.

[apttyfn]

DECADE IN REVIEW: Biggest busts in NASCAR 2000-2009
By SceneDaily Staff Monday, December 28, 2009 Casey Atwood (right) talks to former teammate Bill Elliott before the start of the 2001 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Mark Hawkins
NASCAR Scene
RSS Feed Email to a Friend Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size RESIZE Share Facebook Del.icio.us DIGG This Reddit Newsvine Stumbeupon 14 Comments A look at the past decade shows some drivers who made moves that might have seemed ideal at the time, but just did not or have not panned out as both fans and the teams thought.

In hindsight, one can find a host of decisions that have turned out to be somewhat questionable or disappointing in retrospect.

NASCAR Scene takes a look at the top-10 Busts of the Decade, those driver and team moves that did not pan out:

1. Hendrick Motorsports hires Dale Earnhardt Jr. The sport's now seven-time most popular driver was expected to excel after joining Hendrick, one of the premier programs in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Instead, Earnhardt Jr. has just one win in two seasons with the organization and slumped to a career-worst 25th in the standings this season.

2. Dale Earnhardt Inc. does not re-sign Dale Earnhardt Jr. In a highly publicized series of contract talks, Earnhardt Jr. spent part of 2007 in contract negotiations before announcing plans early in the year to move to Hendrick for the 2008 season. The organization, founded by Dale Earnhardt, crumbled from its original form after his departure, merging first with Ginn Racing later that season and then with Chip Ganassi Racing for the 2008 season. The new organization has not won in two seasons.

3. Mark Martin joins Ginn Racing. Martin decided to leave full-time Cup racing with Roush Fenway Racing and go part-time racing with Ginn Racing. There he could scale back while working with young drivers. But the team merged with Dale Earnhardt Inc. and the team lineup changed before Martin opted to return to full-time racing with Hendrick in 2009.

4. Hendrick releases Kyle Busch. The driver then moved to Joe Gibbs Racing and exploded into a series superstar. He won eight Cup races in 2008 and another four in 2009. His replacement at Hendrick, Earnhardt Jr., has one win in that span.

5. Ray Evernham hires Casey Atwood. Evernham had worked magic in working with a young Jeff Gordon years before. He decided to bring 20-year-old Atwood, who had shown promise in what is now the Nationwide Series, to the Cup ranks with his new Dodge program and have veteran Bill Elliott work with him. Atwood ran just two full seasons and two races of a third for Evernham, though, earning just four top-10 and one top-five finish.

6. Roush Fenway Racing hires Jamie McMurray. McMurray spent three full seasons at Chip Ganassi Racing, winning in his second race with the team, which actually came a season before his full run, but not again. Still, he was a promising young driver and signed with the multicar Roush Fenway organization for the 2006 season. He has since won only twice and announced plans to compete for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in 2010.

7. Ray Evernham hires Elliott Sadler. Sadler was in the midst of his fourth season with Yates Racing, and his eighth in the Cup series, when he was hired by Evernham late in the 2006 season. He replaced Jeremy Mayfield with the team at the second Michigan race, finishing 10th, one of top top-10 finishes that season for Evernham. Since then, he has a top points finish of 24th and has yet to win a race with the organization.

8. Hendrick hires Casey Mears. Mears spent four full seasons with Chip Ganassi Racing before signing with Hendrick for the 2007 year. Coming off a season when he was 14th in the standings, he finished 15th and 20th at Hendrick, earning one win in two years before being released.

9. Bobby Labonte joins Petty Enterprises. Labonte, the 2000 series champion, joined Petty in 2006 as part of an effort to rebuild the organization. He spent three seasons with the team, but it never really got off the ground. Labonte earned just 11 top-10 finishes in those years.

10. Dario Franchitti tries NASCAR. The Indy Racing League champ joined a string of open-wheel drivers attempting to make the transition to Cup racing. But he floundered in his lone partial season, suffering both an injury and a lack of sponsorship that shut his team down before he had a fair shot at making the move successful.

Mentioned Drivers: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

[apttyfn]

I was surprised Dale Jr finally got his due. I also thought Casey Atwood was gonna be great but just didnt pan out. I hope he will be back.

[songsmith1950]

I also think Jr should be number one on that list. I also thought Atwood would be good. Wasn't there some press though that said Atwood's team was being given engines that were a hundred horses down from the other Evernham engines? Seems Atwood was racing for another entity from the Evernham stables and was not given gear that would keep up with his own teams.

[pmossberg]

I thought this post was about Jeremey Mayfield!

[ricklou]

The people that wrote this article are clueless.

The list should only have one on it. Nascar is the biggest bust of the decade.

[chilipepper]

I'm with you ricklou.

[songsmith1950]

I also agree and if another JJ win next year Nascar may as well go dormant!

[maj45]

Maybe NASCAR needs another infield fist fight to pump up the audience! So who should it be? I'd like to see Danica Patrick beat up Kyle Busch after he wrecks her in a Nationwide race.

[pmossberg]

Danica could take a swing at Kyle with a guitar...but a cheap one, not a Gibson.

[chilipepper]

Cripes, let's let Kyle swing at Danica! That would be HUGE news!

[donmoos]

Now, I believe Chili (as a female) could get by with saying that, LOL

[revilo]

If this was about bad business decisions by teams the Petty Enterprises / Boston Ventures fiasco would have to make the list. PE had stood for 60 years before that exercise in futility caused it to fold up like a house of cards. Yes, RPM is around, but NASCAR lost something big when PE closed up shop in Randleman and Kyle lost his ride. Truly the end of an era.

[songsmith1950]

I have to agree Rev. The closing of one of the very last legacy shops and outfits in Nascar was a huge loss! BV was a disaster.
I still wish Kyle could find a part time ride as he doesn't really want full time I don't think.

[donmoos]

Dec 30, 2009 17:05:42 GMT -5 revilo said:

If this was about bad business decisions by teams the Petty Enterprises / Boston Ventures fiasco would have to make the list. PE had stood for 60 years before that exercise in futility caused it to fold up like a house of cards. Yes, RPM is around, but NASCAR lost something big when PE closed up shop in Randleman and Kyle lost his ride. Truly the end of an era.

In no way is this a certainty but PE would have closed even if BV deal would have fallen through. At best is would have been a park and start team as Richard was done funding the team.

Bobby would not have resigned in June and attempts to attract sponsorship would have been even harder.

It would not have been able to muster 1 full time sponsor and Kyles limited sponsorship opportinities would have made it impossible to pay even a low rate team all season so the labor pool would be not the best.

Did BV turn out to be a fiasco? in some respects yes, in another Richard recieved some 30 Mil for a doomed team.........not all that bad for Richard eh?

That 30 mill is what most likely saved the 43 as Richard has a greater steak in RPM than BV does.

[songsmith1950]

While I will have to agree that BV's deal probably did keep Richard in racing another year and make it possible for RPM to be born, I was talking about BV vs whatever else may have been out there. If BV had lived up to thier promises it would have been very nice.
I don't think Kyle would have been in a car though. I don't think PE could afford a part time driver even if his name was Petty. Kyle was done full time driving and his best hope is to find a small part time team to drive for if he can.
I do think that RPM is probably going to be the best of all possible deals for Richard. Without it PE would still have been gone and all of the employees would have been gone as well. So BV bought time for this to happen.
I am happy Richard has more of a stake in RPM than BV does. They really don't deserve anything for the little they did. But I am happy they paid RP 30 mill. If nothing else he is well worth that when you consider how much the modern day drivers get. Heck, Reed "earned" over 4 mil for what he did last year?
Richard was a bargain at thirty mill and the success of RPM will just make those teams worth more with every day.
If nothing else look at the sponsors we can get now. And yes I say we because RPM IS Richard Petty Motorsports. He may not have all of the say in everything but I think good people are in place in all positions to make this company fly both on and off the track.