There are a handful of under performing cars (just my opinion) week after week. The problem is, the availability of good crew chief’s out there. And that’s only going to get worse with more cars coming in eventually. Elite with 1-2 cars, Ron Capps will need to have his TF team put together by this time next year (if not sooner) and others.
Can you hire a crew chief out from under a solid team?? Do you hire a current young co-crew chief and be patient enough to go through the process of them hopefully building a good combination sooner than later?
As the number of teams shrunk into and out of Covid, and DSR went from 8 teams to zero, a lot of teams doubled up, or even before that. Out work guys found homes as a “CO’s”. Todd Smith and Jon O. on JR Todd’s car. They are both capable of running their own car. Aaron Brooks and Todd Okuhara have both run their own cars. In both cases they seem to work well together, but could you steal one away? Those are just 2 examples.
How about part time guys like a Mike Kern? Zizzo shows up for what, 5 races and qualifies # 1 at 2 of them? Would have been 3 if not for a blower belt coming off at Indy? Quite honestly it really makes the other teams look bad! Would he even be interested in giving it a shot?? Could that magic transfer from a 5 race schedule to a 20+ race schedule?
Sorry for the long post. I do expect changes to be made for a lot of teams heading into pre-season testing in 2025.