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NASCAR burning issue of the week: Is the top 35 rule obsolete?
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More and more the economic crisis is affecting NASCAR. Since this is a sport so dependent on outside sources of money any crisis has long lasting effects. As corporate sponsorships continue to dry nothing will be affected more then top 35 qualifying rule.
We have to look at history to see why we have this rule. Personally I live to call this the Joe Ruttman rule. Ruttman tried to qualify for a race without employing a pit crew. This practice of start and park is one of the biggest flaws in the NASCAR system.
More then that though a 2004 accident at Darlington Raceway involving Jeff Gordon and field filler Andy Hillenburg is the reason NASCAR adopted the top 35 rule.
For the casual NASCAR fans out there the top 35 drives in owner’s points are guaranteed a starting spot in each week’s race regardless of how fast they qualify. Since the races offer 43 spots this leaves 8 spots for cars outside the top 35 in owner’s points.
Jayski is reporting that only 37 cars have committed to the entire NASCA cup schedule. Of those only 29 are fully funded. That means that this year there will be a tremendous opportunity for field fillers to make a little profit. Finishing 38th in a Cup race pays at least 70 grand. That is a lot of money for guys who can field a team on the cheap.
A great example of this is Marcia Parsons owner of the MSRP Nationwide Series team. Marcia started at least one car in every Nationwide race on the schedule in 2008. Her cars failed to finish any of those races. Along the way she earned 643,678 dollars. A good percentage of that is profit since her cars started the race, parked and did not tear up a lot of equipment. If only 37 cars are running the entire schedule this leaves significant opportunity for this kind of manipulation at the cup series level.
We already know that the Wood Brother team is only running a part time schedule, along with furniture row racing. The Daly planet is now reporting that the #43 car has been merged into the Gillett organization so that eliminates another ride as the 5 cars that were Gillett Evernham and Petty Enterprises become 4 or maybe even three.
We could be looking at only 35 cars starting a good portion of the schedule, Especially when we consider the cost of transporting team to the West Coast. The three races in the state of California, one in Las Vegas, and two in phoenix could be in real jeopardy of not even having 35 teams show up for.
The question then becomes is it better to have 43 teams at the race each weekend, or to have 30 some quality teams at the track each weekend?
The Top 35 rule has been highly controversial since being adopted by NASCAR, but with the economic crisis it hardly looks like it will be factor in 2009. For me that takes away an element of Cup series competition, I like watching guys race for different reasons, which is yet another victim of a bad economy.
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