User blog:Ajaxcupseries/Why 2022 is a Make or Break Season for Chris Barrymore

The Fallon Corner - February 2022

When Chris Barrymore was promoted to the Ajax Cup Series full time at the ripe young age of 19, many fans and pundits alike thought that by the time he entered his sixth season in Cup he’d have close to double digit victories to his name and maybe even a championship under his belt.

After all, this was the son of multi time CJ Barrymore that had been hyped up as this “wunderkind” for YEARS before he ultimately made his ASCA debut at the age of 17.

He won the 2015 Sprint Developmental Series championship, became the youngest driver to make an Ajax Cup start at the 2016 Ajax 200, followed that up by winning his first career Craftsman race in just his 3rd start, setting a record that stood until his younger brother broke it last season, and won the Craftsman Series Rookie of the Year honors by two points over future Cup star Greg Healey.

There’s no doubt that he deserved the MASSIVE amount of hype he got as a rookie back in 2017, and why many people thought that Barrymore would be the “next big thing”.

The mystique around Barrymore continued to grow when he scored his first career Cup win in the 2018 Apple 225, and when Ronnie Woods called him the “most talented driver in the sport” prior to the 2019 Windows 300.

Looking back at it, Chris Barrymore was most definitely the most anticipated driver to come into the Cup scene during the Modern Era, and potentially throughout all of ASCA history. The pressure on him to become the sport’s next young superstar was exponential.

He had the last name, the talent, a likable personality, and the pedigree to do so. The ASCA was 100% behind promoting him as the next face of the sport.

Entering his sixth season with only 2 career Cup wins and zero top five points finishes, its hard not to call Barrymore’s Cup career a total disappointment to this point despite that he’s still only 24 years of age.

Now staring down a contract season in 2022, CJ Barrymore Racing was supposed to be a powerhouse at this point with their promising young driver superteam of Ryan Dixon, Caleb Henderson Jr, and Barrymore. Instead, they’re struggling to compete for race wins on a weekly basis.

So where did things all go wrong?

Its hard to not look at all the hype Barrymore got, specifically after his first career win in 2018 and not think that the pressure eventually got to him.

For the next almost three full years, it seemed like every time Barrymore led the most laps or was leading in the closing stages of a race, he wouldn’t be able to close the deal. While part of it was events out of his control like the 2019 Windows 300, there were plenty more instances like the 2020 Apple 225 where Barrymore clearly had the dominant car but blew the race on pit road with a speeding penalty.

Furthermore, Barrymore’s aggressive nature has also led to a lot of avoidable mistakes that cost him tremendously with DNF’s and massive loss of points. Add in the fact that, even with five years of Cup experience under his belt he has only slightly developed on road courses and plate tracks and you see why he’s been unable to seriously compete for a title to date in his career.

Finally, part of it is simply due to bad luck competing in a half decade absolutely dominated by Diego Orkedi and Randle Woods while Barrymore is just now entering his “prime”. Over the course of the last five years, Orkedi and Woods have combined to win 25 of the 72 races run over that span, an astonishing 34.7% clip.

Think about that - over 1/3rd of the races run from 2017-21 have been won by two drivers. They’ve also combined to sweep the last four championships in a row as well. Let’s be real, NOBODY has stood a chance against those two during this time span.

However, this is what makes 2022 so important for Chris Barrymore.

At age 24, he has now reached the age that Diego Orkedi was when he scored his first title in 2015. While he technically is still a “young” driver being that he’s still under the age of 25, realistically Barrymore is entering his sixth season in Cup - he’s a full on veteran at this point experience wise.

While it is indeed a contract season for the Computerville native, its almost a guarantee he’ll return to CJ Barrymore Racing no matter what happens.

But if Chris Barrymore wants to prove that he can be still be the face of the sport even after a disappointing first five seasons of his career, he needs to put together an EXTRAORDINARY campaign in 2022. I don’t just mean multiple wins, he needs to be a championship contender right up there with fellow young drivers Greg Healey and Todd Kidd.

Otherwise, he’ll just be another example of nepotism running rampant in this current day and age of the ASCA.