Will new car change Chevy’s fortunes in 2018?
Chevrolet has the history, the tradition, the statistics ... but right now in NASCAR, it just doesn’t have the best cars.
So while Chevy has won more than twice as many manufacturer’s titles (39) as Ford and Toyota combined (17), it still came up short in 2017. Seven Chevy drivers made the Cup Series playoffs, but none made the season finale at Homestead, not to mention actually winning the championship.
Instead, Jimmie Johnson and Chase Elliott, two of Chevy’s more prominent drivers, were both eliminated the round before. And as for Chevy’s top driver last season, Kyle Larson, he was inexplicably eliminated in just the second round of the playoffs when his engine blew. So ... not a good end to 2017 for Chevy.
That said, there is still a point of optimism for 2018 — the new Chevy Camaro. Even in equipment that couldn’t compete purely speedwise with the best Toyotas, Chevy sent seven drivers to the playoffs. Now with a new race car, there’s a hope that those seven berths might actually translate into a Homestead showing — or a championship.
Now, it’s not like Johnson, Elliott, and Larson are going to just hop into their new cars and start winning straight away. That would be nice for their fans, but it isn’t realistic. Rather, as was the case for the new Toyota cars this season, it’ll likely take drivers a few months to adjust to the updated equipment.
And that’s all right. Again, look at the Toyota model from last season as a base.
Toyota didn’t necessarily struggle out of the gate, as Martin Truex Jr. still managed to win in the third race of the year, but it wasn’t until much later that he became almost unstoppable. After honest competition for the first half of the season, the summer of 2017 was a tipping point for Truex (and Toyota). From there, it was them against everyone else, rather than a level field racing it out. Of course, that ended with eight wins in the last 10 races of the year, including Homestead.
All of which is to say, this isn’t a never-before-seen model. Give Johnson, a seven-time Cup champion, time to adjust to a new, faster car — and then get out of the way. Let Elliott and Larson, two of the sport’s best up-and-comers, feel out their new rides before the playoff push begins.
And then, just like Toyota did in 2017, peak at the end of the year. If at least one of these Chevy drivers can do that, NASCAR’s most storied manufacturer doesn’t figure to be shut out of Homestead for long.
NASCAR's first modern-day crew chief primed for Hall
The NASCAR Hall of Fame will induct the Class of 2018 on Jan. 19 in Charlotte, N.C. and leading the charge into stockcar immortality is crew chief Ray Evernham.
He will be joined on the dais by Ken Squier and Ron Hornaday Jr., plus family representatives of Red Bryon and Robert Yates.
Evernham gained fame as the leader of Jeff Gordon's "Rainbow Warriors" NASCAR Cup Series team.
Evernham, who helped launched modern-day innovation, and Gordon were paired by car owner Rick Hendrick.
From the unveiling of the No. 24 Chevrolet in the final race of 1992 until late in the 1999 season, when Evernham made his exit, the two men won 47 races and three championships.
It was this Evernham-Gordon tag team that dethroned Dale Earnhardt as the man to beat in NASCAR. Earnhardt won his seventh Cup Series title in 1994 and Gordon won his first of four in '95.
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Chargers need to find a kicker.
The search is a necessity after the team shuffled through four different ones in 2017 — the instability and inability to make big kicks directly correlating with the team's absence from the playoffs.
Like one of their kicks, the path to a solution probably won't be a straight one, and signing Roberto Aguayo is just one step toward figuring out the problem.
The Chargers inked Aguayo to a future/reserve contract on Wednesday, meaning he'll likely be in training camp with them next summer.
The team will likely pursue other avenues to find a kicker this offseason, setting up a competition for the job.
Aguayo, a former secondround pick out of Florida State, has flamed out as a professional kicker, losing his job in Tampa Bay this past preseason before bouncing around the league while looking for a second chance.
Aguayo was one of the most accurate kickers in college football before struggling during his rookie season.
If he can regain his collegiate form, the Chargers could undo the memories of 2017, when they ended up using four different kickers — Younghoe Koo, Nick Novak, Travis Coons and Nick Rose. Punter Drew Kaser even had to attempt extra points this season after Novak was injured in a game.