User blog:Ajaxcupseries/Season 7 Ajax Cup Series Preview

Season 7 Ajax Cup Series Preview
By: Charles Fallon, asca.com

'''Season 7 will mark the 8th straight season the ASCA will be broadcasted live on Instagram, as well as entirely new era for the sport. '''

'''With the last owner-driver in the sport and a two time Ajax 200 as well as Windows 300 winner now retired and the oldest man in the league being 35 years of age, the youth movement has officially taken over. '''

'''11 full time drivers will enter the season 25 years or younger, with only five drivers entering the year age 31 or older. Its become a changing of the guard of who’s who in championship contending rides, and as the young guns continue to develop and figure out how to win races, eventually we will see new title contenders asserting themselves as well. '''

'''Here’s a look at a few storylines I’ll be watching extremely closely heading into this upcoming season. '''

The Dawn of a New Era?
'''Seasons 4-6 have been widely regarded as the Diego Orkedi/Randle Woods show. Two of the best drivers of all time, in the prime of their careers, putting their talents on display week after week competing against each other to win a championship. Oh and did I mention these two HATED each other? '''

'''Orkedi and Woods have combined to win the past three Ajax Cup titles and 15 of the past 44 races overall, just over 1/3 of the events held over that time span. Let that sink in for a second. And while Woods had an “off” Season 6 with a 7th place points finish, he still finished 2nd and 1st respectively in Seasons 4 and 5 while Orkedi has finished no lower than 2nd in points over the same time span.'''

'''However, these two aren’t getting any younger as the seasons pass by. Both drivers are now over 30, and as we saw with Jimmy Hood Father Time doesn’t care how good you are, it can strike with the blink of an eye. '''

'''What we’ve also seen seemingly in the background is the development of these young, hotshot prospects over the past few seasons into bonafide championship contenders who can win races on a weekly basis. While people were expecting this title form from Todd Kidd, Greg Healey came out of nowhere after his massive contract extension and nearly stole the championship out from everyone’s noses. '''

'''Add in the late surge of Jared Ayers to a top 5 points finish and consider the fact that he’s only 22, Ryan Dixon’s flirting on the border of competing for a title over the past couple seasons, and the potential that we’ve seen from Doug Bowden and we could very well have a brand new wave of title contenders in Season 7. '''

ROTY Battle for the Ages?
'''Season 7 will see an Ajax Cup modern era record SIX different drivers fighting for ROTY, all coming up from the Craftsman Series. '''

'''While last season’s ROTY battle was a massive disappointment considering both drivers finished outside the top 15 in points and failed to score any top 5’s, this season should be a vastly different story. '''

'''Of course the main two favorites to win the award will be the two drivers that battled all last season for the Craftsman championship in Shane Park and Devin Smith, but I’m here to tell you it won’t be that cut and dry in terms of who comes out on top. '''

'''While you can probably count both Tico Bowden Motorsports rookies out of it (sorry Cherry and Painter), Nick Carey and Derek Lewis both nearly won a Craftsman title themselves back in Season 5, even in inferior Chevy equipment compared to their Ford Development Program counterparts at the time. '''

'''Dexter Andrews Motorsports was the worst team in the sport last season, with team owner Dexter Andrews now fully focused on fixing his cars instead of driving it could lead to a possible resurgence of the group at least back to their Season 4 levels. '''

'''And while Revolution Racing could have a Snoots Enterprises total disaster of a first year, that rookie team/rookie driver pairing they have with Nick Carey could also become something special that we’ve never quite seen before. '''

'''However, I’ll go with the safe pick here and say Devin Smith picks up right back where he left off last season. Despite his need for speed off the racetrack, Smith also has a ton of speed on the track, and when you combine that with him joining arguably the second or third best team in Cup currently…..watch out is all I can say. '''

Breakout Star of Season 7 - Doug Bowden
'''Hear me out. Before everyone says “you just picked Bowden last season, how could you pick him again??”, yes you are correct, and yes that prediction was wrong. To an extent. '''

'''The first five races of Bowden’s 2020 campaign proved that he had arrived. 4 top 5 finishes, multiple 2nd place runs, and despite the blown engine at The Stoneyard this #24 camp looked like they would be title contenders all season long. '''

'''Then…..the rest of the season happened. '''

'''Only 3 top 5’s, 4 top 10’s, and 4 DNF’s over the last 11 races led to a freefall from 2nd to 10th in the final standings, along with a failure once again for the son of Tico Bowden to score his first career win. This time, with even more notable chokes at Advocare and Belltown. '''

'''That being said, I most certainly have not forgotten about Bowden beating Randle Woods head to head for a Craftsman championship in Season 4 in a TICO BOWDEN MOTORSPORTS car. You know, the car Nathaniel Cherry finished 10th in points in this season. '''

'''The kid has talent. Sure, maybe not as much talent as guys like Todd Kidd and Greg Healey, but again, Bowden is only 24.'''

'''That first career win is coming for him this season, mark my words. '''

And the winner of the 11th Annual Windows 300 is…..
So last year I picked Chris Barrymore, and he ends up putting it in the wall well before halfway and once again not getting the job done.

'''This season, I’ll go with a less obvious pick in hopes of looking like a genius afterwards. '''

'''Obviously the favorites to get the job done are Greg Healey after his dominant performance last season, Diego Orkedi because…..well he’s the all time Windows 300 wins leader, three time champion, and he’s Diego Orkedi, and Chris Barrymore despite his numerous amount of chokes is just oh so good at his home track. '''

'''However, I think one guy is definitely flying under everyone’s radar right now that should be talked about a lot more as a Windows 300 favorite is Todd Kidd. '''

'''Kidd has had an up and down track record in the Windows 300, but the down part of that has not been his fault. In Season 3 he blew a motor with 17 laps to go after running in the top 5 all night long, and in Season 6 he was caught up in his teammate Doug Bowden’s engine failure running just outside the top 10. You could count his wreck in his Ajax Cup debut in this as well, but I won’t for obvious reasons. '''

'''Outside of those results, his finishes in the 300 have been: 2nd, 6th, and 2nd. Meaning he’s certainly no slouch at Computer Motor Speedway. '''

'''And this year, I think is his year to finish P1. '''

And the Season 7 Ajax Cup Series Champion is…..
'''Last season, while it certainly didn’t seem that way about six races in, the safe choice was definitely the right one in picking Diego Orkedi to bring home his third title in six seasons. '''

'''However, while Orkedi once again is the overwhelming favorite to take home the title, I don’t think he gets the job done yet again. In fact, personally I think this title battle is the most wide open its been in a long time. '''

'''Diego Orkedi, Greg Healey, Todd Kidd, Nick Orkedi, Jared Ayers, Ryan Dixon, Randle Woods, Brynn Rennerd and Doug Bowden are all drivers I think have a legit opportunity to take home the hardware this season. Hell, you can throw Chris Barrymore and Jimmy Hood in there too if they both suddenly decide to have a career resurgence. '''

'''That’s 11 drivers, nearly HALF the field that could win a championship this season. Let that sink in!'''

'''That being said, after much debate, I’m taking 24 year old Greg Healey to give himself some redemption for last season. '''

'''Now that he has that year of experience finally competing for a championship, and now that the TEAM has that year of experience as well, plus you add in the fact that his job is secure and he’s right in the prime of his career…..I think its a no brainer folks. '''

Either way, I have high hopes that Season 7 will be the best one in ASCA history, and you won’t want to miss a second of it that’s for sure!