Drivers' market

LONG POND, Pa. – When Elliott Sadler announced earlier this week that he was leaving Robert Yates Racing following this season and becoming a free agent, he was shocked by the phone calls he received.

"You don't realize who is looking for drivers and who is not," said Sadler, who spent the past three years driving for Yates. "There are a lot more people stirring the pot underneath than you really think, so it's great to be a driver [in times] like this."

Sadler, a race-winning driver who made the Chase in 2004, finds himself in the enviable position of being able to write his own ticket for his next ride in Nextel Cup.

It's a sign of the times, as the number of rides available increases while the number of good drivers available does not.

Last season, Jamie McMurray, with only one Nextel Cup victory to his credit, signed a multi-year contract with Roush Racing rumored to be worth more than $10 million dollars. New salaries for Dale Jarrett and Brian Vickers, who both are leaving their current teams at the end of this season, are rumored in the same neighborhood.

The lure of high salaries might even bring 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton out of semi-retirement. Burton is rumored to be a candidate for the vacant seat in Yates' No. 88 Ford, which is one of several rides available for next season.

Another possible vacancy is Evernham Motorsports' No. 19 Dodge. Current driver Jeremy Mayfield is expected to move over to a third car for Michael Waltrip Racing next season, leaving Sadler as a possibility to take that ride or possibly one with Toyota's new Red Bull team alongside Vickers – and still there are other options for Sadler.

There are also several name drivers, supposedly with lengthy contracts, who are rumored to be on the hot seat.

One thing is clear. NASCAR's silly season is in full swing.

"Everybody is just trying to position themselves to do what they need to do to gain an advantage," said Kevin Harvick, who speaks of these matters with knowledge and experience few drivers share.

Harvick, who also is a Craftsman Truck and Busch Series team owner, was a hot commodity and the subject of much speculation about his future earlier this season until he signed a multi-year contract to stay with current with team owner Richard Childress.

"Everybody just wants to be in a good car," Harvick said. "Everybody just wants to make sure they position themselves going forward. [Team owners] want to lock things down sponsorship-wise, so when you have your driver, your team is usually easier to build.

"It is one of those things where you can build everything better if you have everything locked down early."

With additional seats being made available by Toyota's entry into Nextel Cup competition next season, there will be more rides to fill than experienced drivers to fill them.

Team owner Jack Roush isn't pleased with what he sees as new teams coming into NASCAR with huge budgets for driver salaries and little patience for building a program. Rather, Roush thinks these teams go out and buy what they need while breaking up long-standing relationships.

That was certainly the case with Jarrett – and his sponsor UPS – and Vickers.

However, Roush does agree that it is a drivers' market.

"If you're trying to hire a good driver now who is established, you'll have trouble," Roush said. "That's been a problem in the recent past. It's going to be worse as time goes on."

Just a few years ago, NASCAR began a trend toward young drivers that brought new blood into the sport. Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Reed Sorenson and Clint Bowyer are part of that new group of drivers that replaced experienced veterans like Johnny Benson, Todd Bodine, Jimmy Spencer and Mike Bliss – all of whom moved on to the Craftsman Truck Series.

And those veterans typically are no longer considered viable options for good Cup rides.

"It runs in cycles," said MB2 Motorsports team owner Jay Frye. "A few years ago we had more drivers than good cars. Now, with Toyota and others coming into the Cup Series, we're facing a shortage."

A team owner in today's driver market, having to deal with pressures from sponsors to at least win races and ideally make the Chase, is confronted with a major task when trying to find the right fit for his or her organization.

Frye believes it has become more important than ever to have a strong team that can attract a quality driver.

"You need to give him the best tools that you can alongside the best people to work with," he said.

Roush agrees.

"The driver is the guy who winds up on top of that and he is the benefactor of all of that," Roush said. "There are a lot of good drivers out there that are not in great cars that don't look good. The ones that look good … are with great teams with great technology that their manufacturer is buying them."

But, Roush warns, too often a driver comes onto the market with an expectation that if he moves to another team, he can produce in much the same manner as he did in his previous situation.

"And he can't unless he's with a similar team with a similar technology situation," Roush said.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who is also the owner of the No. 48 Chevy driven by current points leader Jimmie Johnson, agrees with Roush, saying teams have become so much more competitive that it is hard to recognize who has talent and who doesn't.

"I think the good drivers, you know, there are certain places that they can contribute and make a difference," Gordon said. "I think there are some drivers that maybe don't get enough credit, and there's some drivers that get too much credit."

Then there are drivers who haven't won at the Cup level, like Casey Mears and Brian Vickers, who suddenly found themselves in high demand when they put themselves on the market.

Roush says that's nothing more than the sign of the times.

"Whenever a driver's contract comes up and he decides to make himself a free agent, there's probably not been a better time for him to negotiate a great deal," Roush said. "There's certainly not an excess supply for the demand."

So as the silly season continues to heat up, expect to see additional names added to the list of drivers who suddenly have become available, especially if they had a savvy lawyer draw up their contract.

Meanwhile, Sadler's phone has been ringing off the hook.

"I'm pretty excited as far as some of the chances that have come up and some of the talks I've had this week, but nothing concrete yet," Sadler said. "All we've gotten into is, 'Oh, this is available? OK, good. We need to sit down and talk about this.'

"I've had some good talks this week."