Katie's Komments: 16th Edition

Welcome to the 16th edition of Katie’s Komment’s, a place to find the latest NASCAR news and my opinion on it! All comments are my views only but feel free to leave your own!

Road Course Racing: I was checking out the Twitterverse last weekend, like I do every race weekend, to see what people were talking about and what I found shocked me. NASCAR fans, in general, seem to hate road course racing. I follow a little over 1,300 people on Twitter and a majority of those are race fans of some sort. As I was scrolling through my timeline, I kept coming across tweets of disgust towards the right turns and winding roads that make up the road course races. Personally, I love road course races. The twists and turns leave drivers with new challenges with every passing moment and road course races give drivers like Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose a chance to shine. The finish last season at Watkins Glen was one of the most exciting finishes I have seen in NASCAR in years and this year, although it wasn’t quite as dramatic, was just as good. With only two road course races a year, three if you are the Nationwide Series, fans don’t get to see many right turns or the unique drivers, like Boris Said and Ron Fellows, that the road courses bring out. I am one of those people who would love to see a road course race in the Chase but having two a season is good enough for me. There is one last course on the schedule as the Nationwide Series takes to Mid-Ohio for the first time in years. Will I be tuning in? You bet!

Vickers In at MWR: It was announced this week that Brian Vickers will pilot the No.55 Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michael Waltrip Racing full time next season. The deal, which includes two full seasons with MWR, puts Vickers behind the wheel of the No.55 with full sponsorship from Aaron’s. With sponsorship hard to come by, having all 36 races sponsored by one company for two full seasons is a race team’s dream come true. Now, this announcement wasn’t a shocking one. It had been said for quite some time that Vickers would be piloting the car full time in 2014. Vickers has had quite the ride since 2011, even filling in this season for Denny Hamlin after his back injury. It will be nice to see Vickers in a full time ride next season and I wouldn’t count him out for a run at the championship in the coming years.

Juan Pablo Montoya OUT at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing: Another big announcement was involved Columbian-born racer Juan Pablo Montoya. Montoya, who has piloted the No.42 Target Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing since 2007, will be a free agent at the end of 2013. With 2 wins in 239 Sprint Cup Series starts, the last coming in 2010, Montoya hasn’t lived up to EGR standards. With only two appearances in the top-20 in points, including one Chase appearance in 2009, Montoya’s average finish in the standings is 18th. Currently, he sits 22nd in points with 3 top-5 finishes including a second place finish this season at Dover. Montoya’s future in NASCAR is uncertain and whether or not he has been in talks with another race team is still a question. Will someone else pick up Montoya or are his days in NASCAR numbered. That has yet to be determined but some Montoya fans and analysts, including myself, think that a move to the Grand-Am Series might be a possibility.

That will be it for the 16th edition of Katie’s Komments and remember, if you don’t like mine, feel free to leave your own!