Evernham might be watching scoreboard, Sadler's team more than Kahne's
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
FONTANA, Calif. – Team owner Ray Evernham said he might do more “scoreboard watching” regarding Elliott Sadler’s team rather than Kasey Kahne’s team over the next couple of weeks.

“In the position the 9 team is in, they have to go and race and do what they’ve done to get them close to making the Chase,” Evernham said of Kahne’s team, which needs to make up a 90-point deficit this weekend at California Speedway and next week at Richmond to make the top 10 and the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

“They’re good enough to make it,” Evernham said. “They just have to go have some good runs. So you tell them to stick to their plan and not pay any attention to anybody else. Try to sit on the pole, lead the most laps and win the race.”

Sadler, who took over in the No. 19 two races ago, is battling to keep that team in the top 35 in car owner points. If he can, that’d ensure that car a spot in the fields for the first five races next season.

“With the 19 we have to keep an eye on the 14 and the 45,” Evernham said, referring to Sterling Marlin and Kyle Petty. “In some ways, if the 19 isn’t having a great day, we go toward racing those guys. Last weekend at Bristol, fixing the car in a hurry was about racing those guys.”

Sadler has the No. 19 five points ahead of Petty for the 35th slot in the owner standings. Marlin’s team is 16 points behind Petty.

Yeah, so . . . I'm not sure if I like that too much. To me, thought I may just be biased, it would be more important to focus attention on Kasey for at least the next two weeks until the Chase is decided. I understand having the 19 in the top 35 is a big deal, but they have the whole rest of the season to work on that and if Elliot keeps running as well as he has these past couple weeks (even with the crash which couldn't be helped), soon they won't have to worry about the points position so much. So yeah, it just doesn't make sense to me. That's just my opinion, though.

See I feel the same way, I know Elliott is a new driver and everything, but Kasey is the only one even close to putting Dodge in the Chase this season. You would think, maybe, just maybe Ray would pay a little more attention in making sure things are going good with Kasey and making the Chase. JMO

I don't think that the jist of the article was to say that Kasey was going to be jipped in terms of equipment, or attention, or anything quite like that. All the article mentioned was scoreboard watching---so I don't see quite what the big deal is.

Just trying to play devil's advocate. But maybe Ray has so much confidence in Kasey, Kenny and the 9 team that he isn't worried about how they are doing, because he knows that they can do it. Elliott and the 19 are new to each other, so maybe he is just making sure that they are working well together. Also maybe Ray doesn't want to put any unneeded stress on Kasey and the 9 bunch so he is shifting his focus.

I don't think that Ray will not be watching Kasey, he probably is just going to be concentrating more on Elliott

You and I are on the same page. I see it the same way.

:1cent Has anyone ever thought that if the 19 does well with the set ups and the changes that everyone other than Jeremy wanted prove to be successful, then maybe that's a slap in the face to Jeremy and makes Ray look like he was right all the way. I still say this is male posturing all the way.

I think that is one of the reasons why the 19’s team director change hasn't been publicized.

Hopefully this all works out for Kasey and EMS.

my first read through of the article, I kinda felt "Hey, wait, you have to pay attention to Kasey getting in the Chase" Then I sat back a moment and re-read it.

I don't think it's a case of EMS giving the better equipment, etc to the #19.

I got more of a feeling that the #9 knows what they have to do and Ray knows they know what's up, and maybe he's just letting them do it without added interference from himself.

I never said anything about him giving the 19 any better equipment or anything. I just think it'd be wise to focus more attention on the 9 team over the next couple of weeks. I understand people's views on the idea that maybe Ray knows Kasey knows what he has to do and he has faith he'll be able to do that, and hopefully that's the reason behind his decision. Whatever the case, I hope all three EMS teams do great this weekend and kick some serious ass. :)

Wow, I didn't know about that change. I read a rumor a few weeks ago, but forgot all about it once Elliott's bio was added to the Evernham site and the team director was still the same. (But they are pretty slow to update some of those pages/bios -AJ Foyt IV is still listed on there driving for Great Clips).

I wonder if that's a factor in the Evernham scanners being off Trackpass for a while, since Elliott always gets voted in. Thanks for the heads up so when they announce it someday I won't be surprised. :)

imagine that...

I hadn't thought about that, but it sounds more likely than any other theory.

But I don't care, one way or the other who the director is. The only reason I ever wanted JM to do well was because I am an EMS fam. He, by himself, has never been a fav of mine.

When I was rewatching the race last night I noticed something. As the cars rolled off pitt road right before the race NBC did a run down of the starting grid with pics of the drivers and the cc/td name below the pic. Below Elliott's pic it said Team Director: Josh Brown. So it isn't really news that there has been a change there either.

Thanks for the info. It's still interesting (to me :) ) that there wasn't a press release about it. (especially when Jeremy mayfield pretty much flat out said he wasn't having good communication with Chris Andrews and a lot of Jeremy fans apparently wanted him gone). Like when Tommy and Slugger left, or when Rodney came over with Scott Riggs, or when the "team director" concept was announced, there's usually a press release.

I just googled and the only mention of Josh Brown lately has been by Elliott in his press conferences. Elliott calls him his crew chief -it sounds like Josh works on the same level as Kenny, but at the time I guess Andrews was still there. Looks like maybe Josh worked at Evernham in a more executive engineering position before this, overseeing teams. From Aug 18:

From Aug 25