ANR-AtT PETTY/ROUSH 2004 PREVIEW
2004 preview… Petty Enterprises
12-18-03
Matthew Blaylock – ANR-AtT
Petty Enterprises what has happened the King and his court? 2003 was a season to forget. The legendary No. 43 had a whirlwind of drivers it seemed like. Well they start off 2004 with the drivers they want; will this help them at the end of the season?
I am only going to review two teams for Petty Enterprises the No. 43 and the No. 45. The No. 44 is not listed to run a full season and parking that car could only help Jeff Green and Kyle Petty.
Jeff Green has a stable ride to start off 2004. After making stops last year at RCR and DEI Jeff Green finished out the season with Petty Enterprises. It looked like at the end of 2003 Green had the No. 43 car slowly headed in the right direction. Gary Putnam the team’s crew chief and Green seemed to gel working together. If they can slowly carry some of that momentum over from last season I could see one of the Petty cars back in the top 25 in points (Green finished 34th in points last season and only ran 26 races.) To most that does not sound like much but when you have been down as long as Petty Enterprises has that is a huge jump, and something the “King” would love to see.
Kyle Petty what should he do? One word, Retire. After finishing 37th in the points in 2003 he should only be able to go one way. But I do not see that happening. When you run seven more races than your teammate and end up three spots behind him in the points you are not doing something right. Petty had no top 10’s in 2003 and only two top 15’s. Why waste the money on Kyle Petty who is on the down side of his career when you have good young drivers looking for a ride. Kyle cannot do much worse in 2004 than he did in 2003 but his best days are behind him. If he finishes in the top 30 in points he will be doing good but honestly it looks like it will be another 30th or worse points finish again in 2004.
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Overall Petty Enterprises should end up better than in 2003. If Kyle would retire that would probably fix half the problems right there in Petty Enterprises, but with Jeff Green finishing out the 2003 season in the No. 43 that will only help him and his team. They are not starting fresh out of the gate and have some experience together. If Green and Putnam continue to gel look for a handful of top 10 finishes for Petty Enterprises. The overall best thing that Petty Enterprise can do for all the teams is park the No. 44 all season and focus on just the two cars. With the focus directed at just the two teams there has to be improvement. It could be interesting if either Petty or Green get a couple of strong runs in 2004 that could lead to bigger things in 2005. Petty Enterprises always has to look to the future.
Next Preview: Bill Davis Racing
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2004 preview… Roush Racing
12-17-03
Matthew Blaylock – ANR-AtT
2003 was a dream season for Jack Roush. He won his first NASCAR championship and had all of his drivers in the top 20 in points. So what does 2004 hold in store for Roush Racing?
Lets Start off with Matt Kenseth he was mister consistent in 2003 wrapping up his first point’s title. 2004 could be a different story though. The old saying is it is harder to defend a title than it is to win the first one could show true to Kenseth in 2004. Kenseth will have 42 other drivers gunning for him and nobody can be as consistent as he was in 2003 two years in a row. Look for things to go wrong for Kenseth in 2004, and for Matt to loose the top spot in the points but he still should finish somewhere in the top 10.
Kurt Busch had four wins in 2003 but finished 11th in the final points standings. If he could bring some consistency to the No. 97 he could easily finish in the top ten. Busch also needs to keep his nose out of trouble. It seemed after the altercation with Jimmy Spencer at Michigan, Busch lost his focus. If Busch keeps his eyes on the prize look for a solid top ten finish for him in 2004 and maybe have the series high in wins.
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Jeff Burton he was slowly coming on at the end of 2003, but 2004 it looks like he will be lucky to run half the season. With the sponsorship problems that Roush is having with the No. 99 team it might be a bad year for Burton. But this is not Jeff’s fault. Roush needs to stop asking so much in sponsorship money and get what he can to field a car for Burton. You do not, not put the veterans in a ride when all your young guns have a ride. It is so late now in the off-season now even if Roush was to land sponsorship now, Burton is already behind the eight ball. So do not look for Burton to have one of his better seasons even if he does get his ride full time. If he finishes in the top 15 that will be like a championship to the team. I see a 20th place or worse finish no matter how many races he runs.
Second in points in 2002 and fall to 17th in 2003. Hey Mark what happened? Mark Martin will need to be more consistent in 2004 than in 2003. He only had ten top ten finishes and finished 40th or worse four times. Martin has only finished out of the top ten in the points two time since 1989, but those two time have been two out of the past three years. Is it time for Mark to do what Bill Elliott did and cut back his racing schedule? 2004 will be the tell all for that question. Martin could finish in the bottom half of the top ten, but that’s doubtful. A more likely spot will be 11th thru 15th, which is still an improvement on 2003.
Rounding out the stable of Roush drivers is Greg Biffle. With new sponsorship from the National Guard the heat will be on. Biffle was on a high after a win at the Pepsi 400. But with only four top ten finishes in 2003 how did he get a new sponsor and Burton didn’t? Will the National Guard be happy paying twice as much to Roush as they did to BelCar Racing for the same results? Doubtful. For all the promise Biffle showed in the Busch series he has not shown it yet in NASCAR’S top series, and do not expect it in 2004 either. A top 20 finish in the points highly likely, a top ten finish in the points doubtful. A happy sponsor in 2004? Probably not. Maybe it is just time to look ahead to 2005.
So with all the talent Jack Roush has on the track 2004 could actually be better overall than 2003. It looks as if there are only going to be four cars most of the time to worry about, and he could have more than one driver finish in the top 10. Another championship for Roush in 2004 although highly unlikely it is not out of the realm of possibilities. But when 2004 is over see if all of Jack’s cars averaged overall better than a 12th place finish in the points. Because basing off of 2003 that is what they have to shoot for and that is highly likely.
Comment on this article: E-Mail Matt:Send E-Mail to: mblaylock@triad.rr.com.com
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