by Mike Maruska
12/17/2007
NASCAR needs to make a stand. Penske Racing officially moved their owners points from the #2 car to the new #77 car over the weekend. It solved one problem for Penske Racing, but opens a handful of problmes for other teams and NASCAR’s integrity as well.
To be clear, Penske is not doing anything illegal-they have NASCAR’s backing. The issue is not with Penske, but for NASCAR it’s another example of the trademark inconsistency fans have grown to loathe. Two years ago Penske disbanded the #77 team and relinquished the owners points associated with it. Now NASCAR is essentially allowing them to take back that guaranteed place. Penske is not deserving of any exemption. The team has never had a driver win a championship. Rusty Wallace won his under Raymond Beadle and Kurt Busch won his with Roush Racing. Neither should be credited to Penske, but that is what NASCAR is allowing to happen. A driver can’t take his top 35 position to a new team, but a driver can transfer a champion exemption. It seems like any season result, whether it’s first place or 35th place should be attributed as a team effort. The driver is only one part of that team.
Not only is the move unfair to teams outside the top 35 like Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull and Evernham, it could also affect teams with other past champions. The rule only allows for one provisional per race and priority goes to the most recent champion. That means that Busch would trump Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott or Bobby Labonte if one or more failed to qualify on time or current points. Suddenly a sponsor like UPS or Little Debbie that had banked on making the first 5 or 6 races might have a change in plans. It’s doubtful Busch will struggle enough to fall outside the top 35 after race 5, but it could happen in one of the first five races.
Last year NASCAR reduced the number of times a driver could use a champion provisional from 36 down to 6. It was a needed change because teams had begun abusing the rule. A similar change should be addressed with owner’s points versus the past champion provisional. Consistency is the key. Link both provisionals to either the driver or the owner, but choose one. The one that makes the most sense is the team. Not only are drivers one piece of the team, but with so many drivers changing every season it would get mighty confusing for fans to track. The other problem if NASCAR moved the top 35 points to drivers is that it would discourage the hiring of drivers outside of the Cup series. That would mean less rookies, less open wheel stars and more action for Jeff Green and Tony Raines. With all due respect to Green and Raines, NASCAR would be worse off without young guns and established open wheel stars. Associating all guaranteed spots to the team owners is the only real solution.
Now it’s up to NASCAR to act before other teams try something similar. If you think this is an isolated incident think about this. Two of the current top teams in Cup are Gibbs Racing and RCR. Both have considered expanding from three to four teams in the next year or two. Under the current rules Gibbs could take Tony Stewart’s owner’s points, assign them to their new fourth team and have Stewart’s past champion provisional for a safety net. RCR’s current driver lineup does not boast a past champion (although Dale Earnhardt obviously won 6 with the company) and would therefore have to rely on speed to make the first five races. The “Penske rule” will pop up again.
With that said, kudos to Penske for utilizing the loophole in the rules.The move guarantees newcomer Sam Hornish Jr will make the first five races while Kurt Busch can also fall back on his past champion’s provisional for the first six races. It’s a smart move that assures Hornish will log laps and gain experience instead of fighting every Friday to make the race. It means Hornish’s season will be closer to Juan Pablo Montoya’s debut than AJ Allmendinger’s. It’s not to say that Hornish will finish in the top 20 or win a race, but it’s a lot better than what fellow open-wheelers Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier are facing. Getting a full season of seat time, including all the weekend practices, will pay off more in the long term for Hornish. He is only 27 and is now entering the typical prime for drivers. Right now Penske also has better equipment than Ganassi, so Hornish could do better, maybe even much better, than his dreadful 2007 debut.