Taking Over For A Rookie
Travis Kvapil was the 2003 Craftsman Truck Series Champion and one of the standard bearers for Toyota's brand new NASCAR effort during the 2004 season. Travis is coming off a top-ten season in Truck points which included Toyota's first two NASCAR wins ever. He also started three NEXTEL Cup races towards the end of 2004 with his best effort a 21st place finish, after starting fifth, in Martinsville.
For the 2005 season Kvapil will be taking over the #77 Kodak Dodge which was driven last year by rookie Brendan Gaughan.
This season could go either way for Travis. The #77 had a few races in 2004 where it showed that it could run strong all day but there were many times where the team languished in the middle of the pack as also-rans. I don't look for this team to post a win in 2005, but certainly a string of top tens and a few top fives are well within reach.
I think Travis Kvapil can be a top NEXTEL Cup driver. I'm less convinced that the #77 can be a top team without a few years of rebuilding. If Travis can have a strong season with this team he could get picked up by one of the top-tier teams needing to replace a retiring driver and be off on a successful career.
Taking Over For A Two-Time Champion
As Terry Labonte begins his semi-retirement and runs only a limited schedule in 2005 this has opened up a seat for young rookie Kyle Busch. In case you don't already know, yes, this is 2004 NEXTEL Cup Champ Kurt Busch's little brother. Kyle is at least as good as Kurt and maybe even better.
Kurt is coming off of the 2004 Busch Series Rookie of the Year season in which he posted five wins and finished second in points. He'll be taking over a well established team, but this is a team that only managed a single top ten qualifying effort in 2004 (10th at Daytona in July) and only six top-ten finishes.
While the team may be a question there is little doubt about the driver. Kyle is one of those "special" ones. The kind of driver that feels what the right thing to do is and does it with a natural ability that is just scary.
Kyle can win. The #5 hasn't proven that it can hold up its end of the deal lately.
The Matchup and The Winner
So we have two talented drivers, both with impressive resumes and top skills going into fairly evenly matched teams. The #77 team out qualified the #5 team in 2004, the #5 team had a better average finish but the #77 team posted a top-five in 2004 and the #5 didn't.
If the #77 team can step up their program they could win the Rookie title for Travis Kvapil but given the vast resources of Hendrick Motorsports and the incredible talent in the driver's seat I have to go with Kyle Busch as the 2005 Raybestos Rookie of the Year.
