Sunday, July 02, 2006

Ask Doctor Z About Improving Dodge's NASCAR Effort

Daimler-Chrysler honcho Doctor Dieter Zetsche appeared during the Firecracker 400 weekend, to witness his Dodge racing fleet on the high banks and also to reaffirm Dodge's commitment to NASCAR, even to stating an expansion of that commitment is in the works, which appears to take the form of alliance between Daimler's F1 program and its Winston Cup effort through Ray Evernham.

Given the struggles Dodge's Winston Cup effort has gone through, it would seem that a part of that commitment should be the One Team program that worked so well in the Craftsman Trucks when Dodge first commited to that area in the 1990s. The One Team program was the starting point for Dodge's Winston Cup effort, but got lost in the shuffle of Chip Ganassi's entry into Dodge's Winston Cup ranks, and was further pushed away by Roger Penske's high-profile switch to Dodge.

Now, with Dodge last in NASCAR manufacturer standings, a recommitment to One Team is overdue. Getting Dodge's teams together and committing to open-ended information sharing - on shocks, springs, camber, body placement on the chassis, everytthing - is necessary to get all the Dodges back on the same page and making them stronger. In the Firecracker 400 in particular Bobby Labonte and the Penske Dodges would no doubt have wanted some drafting help from the other Dodges to challenge the Chevrolets, who worked better together than the Dodges despite Hendrick Motorsports' inter-team battle that helped Tony Stewart roll up into the lead again.

One Team is a concept that worked with Dodge in the Trucks and will work in Winston Cup. So Doctor Z, how about it? Would it not be better if all three Ray Evernham Dodges, all of Petty's Dodges (a third team is needed here), and all of the Dodges of whoever else is part of the One Team were all battling to the front?


FOLLOW-UP: see also this take on Dodge's marketing angle known as "Branding."

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