who's winning the races? can he drive or is the equipment one step ahead awaiting the next wave?
just stirring the pot before florida. cause Arizona delivered nothing more whining.
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who's winning the races? can he drive or is the equipment one step ahead awaiting the next wave?
just stirring the pot before florida. cause Arizona delivered nothing more whining.
I believe Rayburn himself said drivers win races, not cars. And anyone who has ever met CJ would probably agree he is a proud man, so I say it is mainly Davenport. What percent...who knows.
Combination of both!!
Davenport is a good driver but how was he prior to teaming up with Rumley? Not criticizing him but I think it's an 80%-20% with those two. Take your pick of good drivers, put them in that car and you would have near instant success
JD has a lead foot for sure!!!! BOTH!!!! these guys at the top level I'm guessing are pretty much equal in talent.
I think it just the formula of both them. Jd can wheel a car and Rumley took the time to understand jd driving abilities and where make the car better for jd when jd needs something to be change make car better for him. Just like when Chris fox and jimmy was together it was a good formula.
Davenport has always been a great driver. He had good success with Barry and even I believe he would of had better results at Bowyers, but they gave up on him. His main issue for some time was his personal issues and he now seems to have those under control and I couldn't be happier for him. With that said Kevin is a great mind that thinks waaaay outside the box that's producing a ton of speed. The combo of the two of them is something you just don't see everyday and they really gel. I'm happy for the both of them because they are both really good guys and a blast to be around.
Short memory anyone? It was Davenport's absolute tear in the 49 car that earned him a seat in the 15 car. People forget that JD won 100 lappers and 75's well before getting in the 6. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he won Magnolia and Whynot pretty close to each other against very stout fields. Also battled Madden to pretty much a draw on their home turf when Madden was the top dog in the region. Davenport has the ability to wring just about everything out of the car that is there. It's why guys like himself and, although it pains me to say it, Josh Richards, get more out of their equipment than the other guys who have shared the seat in recent years. The obvious caveat was Sheppard winning the DTWC, but remember that Eckert ran like a 3 legged dog in the same car. Steve Shaver was a threat at VMS, Florence, WV Motor, and a few other tracks in the 6, but he wasn't up front everywhere like JD.
At some point people have to accept that Davenport is one of the top talents in the sport. Pair him with a savvy and intelligent guy like Rumley, and you. Get one of the Top 5 teams in the business.
It's lightning in a bottle. 70-30/60-40 with Rumley taking the edge. You talk to any driver on the national scene these days and they'll tell you that the cars are 60-70% of the equation now. Sure, driving ability is still a critical component of success, but not near as important as it once was.
the most important part of any racecar is the DRIVER I don't care who sets it up !!!!
jd seems to get the most out of the cars given to him by rumley, but I would think that there are many other drivers out there that would have as much success in it as jd has. 70-30 in favor of rumley. and, their key to success has yet to be revealed.
You have to give JD a lot of credit. That 6 car never ran this well until he got in it. It isn't like they went from being an average team until Rumley just woke up one morning and was smarter than he had ever been before. JD had more success than the team before they got together...
I think the car ran competitively well when they were part timing it with the drivers that were in it.....it just never was consistently doing it nor doing it at the frequency of racetracks they are now.
The rumley car has ALWAYS been stout.( as in , every national race they pulled up into , people didn't want none of that little local Greensboro team stout).........it's just now being showcased on a national level.......
I think you will get your answer after the first few Lucas Oil races when the technical advantage is taken away.
That's a good place to be fast at........
First off I'll be blunt, I used to hate Davenport. The talent was always obvious on track, but he had little respect for equipment, his or anyone else's. Off track at times he seemed even worse.
Long story short from my surface level view point, he's finally gotten out of his own way. He's crazy gifted behind the wheel, and that's pretty obvious to everyone now. I don't know if it's age, fatherhood, or a combination of the two, but he just carries himself different now. Not saying he's a saint, but who is really? I've grown to really enjoy watching him race. Plus he's a GA boy so I naturally want to pull for our guys.
It's not all him though, Rumley is as good as there is at setting a car up to fit his driver. He's smart, yeah he knows it too, but confidence and success sometimes rubs folks the wrong way. I don't know him personally, but outside looking in seems like a funny guy who's great at what he does.
So to me it's both. Kind of like the Gordon/Evernham days of old. They're both good separately, but together they're lethal.