|
Seems it's between Briscoe and Tagliani... A few points:
- Many people refer to Briscoe's experience in "top seats" - they do this neglecting to acknowledge the awful lump of a Toyota engine he (and Ganassi) was saddled with in 2005. At the time, it was thought that he was actually slightly quicker than Dixon - however, the cars were set-up so close to the edge (to make up for the lack of engine) that to get that speed Briscoe occasionally ended up going over that edge.
- We could easily be talking about a series champion here... A caution at the end of the race at Homestead 2009 and Briscoe is that year's champion. He drove a flawless race in the decider, and was easily the fastest man that day - only to get beaten by Dario driving to a fuel number.
- Sure, his last couple of years at Penske perhaps underwhelmed some, but let's not forget that his ride at Penske became very much a third car - with strong support from Shell and Verizon for Castroneves's and Power's cars, and dwindling support from Izod. In addition, his car was the one in the team that would usually get the rough end of the stick - I've rarely seen one car get hit so much...
- Let's also not forget that Briscoe's entering the cockpit at Panther immediately saw a greater increase in relevance on every occasion - there were reasons (largely out of his control) that the parties didn't reap any significant reward (ie. Wilson taking Kimball and Briscoe out in Toronto), but his times were significantly more competitive than any other driver in that car. There is a reason Panther still wants him around...
- There are also reasons Briscoe has been in top teams, and Tagliani hasn't - Tags has actually been fired/benched (whatever you want to call it) from some of those lesser teams... My take is that Tags is inordinately capable of snatching mediocrity from impending promise, eg. Fontana with Ganassi. I have always liked Tags, and he's fast enough and good enough to often illicit said hope and promise, but in 14 seasons he just doesn't have the record of following through on that promise... If Briscoe doesn't get the Ganassi seat, he has options - Tags will likely be in a GT car.
|