Behold the Great Stanton Barrett
Cavin reports via his blog that Greg Beck is coming back full time with 36 year old stock car driver Stanton Barrett. I know nothing of this man, but since 1992, he’s had 6 top-10s and 2 poles in the Busch world. He’s also done stunts for the Spiderman movie among others.
Update: I don’t know if it means much, but one of Barrett’s sponsors is Interush, who sponsored Roger Yasukawa for Beck at Motegi last season.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:15 am
He’s not good at all. He’s an eighth tier NASCAR driver.
He didn’t win any poles, by the way.
Greg Biffle won the 2002 Busch Series championship in the #60 Ford for Jack Roush. Stanton Barrett got the ride in 2003, and he started first twice because of the owner points that Biffle earned for the team the previous year. (In NASCAR, when qualifying is rained out for the first five races, the field is set by the previous year’s owners’ points, so Barrett piggybacked on what Biffle did.)
If Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Robby Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, or Tony Stewart came over (or any of the drivers lost to NASCAR in recent years like Allmendinger or Hornish or Montoya), then it would be justifiably big news. But Barrett is horrible…
September 26th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Obviously Beck couldn’t afford the most qualified missing driver (PT), but he should have picked some old IRL veteran like Buddy Lazier or Greg Ray or something…or maybe some ex-Champ Car driver who doesn’t have a ride like Simon Pagenaud, who would also probably be cheap.
More on Barrett: He had a best finish of sixth driving for JACK ROUSH, who along with Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs have been clearly the three most successful car owners in NASCAR of the last decade. Think of somebody driving in Indy Lights for Penske and finishing 19th in points and you have the idea what Barrett is in NASCAR.
November 24th, 2008 at 1:32 am
Sean…You are wrong, sir… Barret HAS two poles, and is a much better driver than he’s given credit for. Equipment is everything in NA$CAR
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/stats?driverId=617&seriesId=3
Take a look at the stats