Team: Chip Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing
Car/sponsor/make: No. 41 Target Dodge
| |  |
| | Spencer |
|
STATS
|
Year
|
Rank
|
Wins
|
Poles
|
Top-5s
|
Best finish
|
|
2001
|
16
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
4th, Twice
|
|
Career
|
|
2
|
3
|
25
|
1st, Twice
|
2001 recap
The good: After two seasons of sliding backward in the Winston Cup standings
(20th in 1999 and 22nd in 2000), Spencer rebounded back upward in the
standings to finish 16th in his seventh and final season of driving for team
co-owners Travis Carter and Carl Haas.
Season highlight: While his best finishes were a pair of fourth-place showings
at Darlington and New Hampshire, the highlight of Spencer's season was
winning the pole position for the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis. While he had
a strong race that day, Spencer was a bit melancholy about his 13th-place
result, having hoped that starting from the pole would have led to at least a top-10 finish. He also qualified No.
1 at the fall race in Charlotte, finishing a bit more respectable 11th.
The bad: Spencer struggled in the latter half of the season, particularly in
four of the last six events, when he recorded his two worst finishes of the
season (43rd at Talladega, failed to finish due to engine problems; and 40th
at Atlanta, dropping out due to front-end vibration). He also was 31st at
Phoenix and 26th at Rockingham during that string of races.
Season lowlight: Spencer was wondering if he was cursed for much of a
four-race stretch last season, when he was
knocked out of three of those races due to engine problems at both Watkins
Glen and Bristol, and a crash at Darlington. Another low point was when he
finished 36th at Talladega in the spring, immediately dropping from 16th to
22nd in the standings. That disappointment was short-lived, however, as he
rebounded back to 17th the following week with a seventh-place finish at
California.
|  |
| Jimmy Spencer claimed two poles during the 2001 season. |
Key stat: While he may not be one of the highest qualifiers on the Cup
circuit, it's rare that Spencer fails to make the starting field. To
illustrate that, Spencer used only three provisional entries all of last
season to make a race. Also of note, Spencer managed to finish 29 of the
season's 36 races, being knocked out by crashes or mechanical malfunctions in
seven events.
2002 outlook
What needs to be done: After seven seasons and seemingly having gone as far
as he could go performance-wise with Haas-Carter Motorsports, it was pretty
much about time for Spencer to move on to another team. And
he couldn't have picked -- or been picked by -- a much better team than Chip
Ganassi with Felix Sabates Racing. Paired with crew chief Doug Randolph and
having the deep pockets and deep racing knowledge of primary team owner Chip
Ganassi, Spencer becomes an immediate threat in 2002. Knowing Ganassi's
success in open-wheel racing (four CART championships), his ability to work
with and improve individual drivers' performance, and the immediate splash he
made on the Winston Cup circuit last season with Sterling Marlin (finished
third), it's very likely Spencer will enjoy the best season he's ever had in
Winston Cup in 2002.
Prediction: Spencer's best single-season finish in his Winston Cup career
thus far has been 12th-place in 1993 in a one-year driving stint for
then-team owner Bobby Allison. Now that he's racing for Ganassi, and knowing
Ganassi's penchant for success, Spencer has a realistic chance of making the
top-10 in 2002.
Your take
How do you think Spencer will do in his first season with Ganassi Racing? Here are your thoughts.
Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
