Even though he was 6th in points Bliss has been fired by Phoenix Racing Getty Images/Jason Smith
When Mike Bliss got out of his car at Iowa he was sitting sixth in the Nationwide Series Drivers standings, had won a race in 2009, had 4 top ten’s and 10 top ten finishes, and had won nearly 700,000 dollars in purse money. In a lot of ways this was his best season in the Nationwide series, but then the phone rang and owner James Finch let him know his services would no longer be needed.
WHAT?
Sure Finch wants to win, but it seems his best chance to win was with Bliss in the car. Granted having Ryan Newman drive your Nationwide Series car at Watkins Glen may be a good move to win one race, but Bliss was given him a chance to win a series title. Maybe not a great chance, but a chance none the less.
It is not like Finch is running an operation on the scale of Rick Hendrick or Jack Roush. In 16 years of Cup racing he has one win, and in 19 years of Nationwide series ownership he has but 12 wins.
It seems that winning that cup race earlier this year has made Finch think is Phoenix Racing team is more high profile than it really is. Having a driver in the top ten in driver’s standings at this point in the season is nothing to disregard so quickly. There are plenty of owners and teams who would jump at the chance to be in that position.
Of course the other side of this coin is Bliss himself. Mike has run cars in this series for Joe Gibbs, he ran a full truck campaign for Jack Roush, and has bounced around with several teams that were mid to back of the pack kind of teams.
Maybe just maybe this is on Bliss, but it seems like a very odd move this late into a season.
Comments
I have to agree with what was said before . My older brother works on a cup team and has said that Mike thinks he is the main reason the car does good . He thinks the crew is there just to wash and polish the vehicle.He is a big time jerk and deserves to be dumped !!!
This is the second time that I have been baffled by a Mike Bliss release. The first was when he was driving the 0-Net Zero car in the cup series. Back then he was dumped for Ward Burton, when he was actually doing a good job. Ward Burton came in and ran that team into the ground. I see a pattern forming and maybe it is something to do with his personality and not his ability.
mike i have been a nascar fan for some time now and i believe that you are one of the natural talents out there i also believe that you are a very competitive racer and represent the sport very well i would like to see you do well in 2010 for keymotorsports and or keyed up motorsports teams i think it could go far
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