2/18/01: Purvis and Finch's return another footnote to Earnhardt tragedy

SOURCE: FOX Sports

On February 18, 2001, Jeff Purvis picked up the 2nd last-place finish of his NASCAR Winston Cup career in the Daytona 500 at the Daytona International Speedway when his #51 Phoenix Construction Ford was involved in a single-car crash after 47 of 200 laps.

It was Purvis’ first last-place finish since October 5, 1992, when his #12 Raybestos Brakes Chevrolet lost an engine after 35 laps of the Tyson Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro.  It was also the first last-place finish for Phoenix Racing, the prolific single-car team owned by James Finch.

A lesser-known storyline overshadowed by the untimely death of Dale Earnhardt was the return to Cup Series competition for both Tennessee driver Purvis and Floridian team owner James Finch.  For Purvis, the 2001 Daytona 500 was his first Cup start since October 5, 1997, when he finished 39th in his fourth and final start for owner Larry Lockamy during the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Charlotte.  For Finch, it was his first start as a Cup team owner since July 28, 1996, when Purvis last raced for him at Talladega and came home 40th in a field of 42.  It was also the first time Purvis had raced for Finch since the XFINITY Series finale at Homestead in 1998, though by then the two had raced together for nearly a decade.

Purvis’ XFINITY Series debut at Charlotte on October 7, 1989 came in Finch’s unsponsored #49 Buick - engine trouble left them 40th after just 21 laps.  Following Purvis’ Cup debut with Bobby Allison at Martinsville the next spring, the two reunited at Dover that fall where Purvis finished 33rd.  It was Finch who was to field cars for veteran Neil Bonnett during his return to Cup in 1994, but following Bonnett’s own death at Daytona, it was Purvis who raced in his honor.  And two years later in 1996, Purvis scored Finch’s first two NASCAR victories in the XFINITY Series at Richmond and Michigan, coming home 7th in points.

Bill Elliott closed his owner-driver operation after the 2000 season, making a number of his Ford Tauruses available for start-up teams.  Finch acquired at least one of them and set his sights on making his first Daytona 500 as an owner since 1996.  To make the race, he again tabbed Purvis to drive.

52 drivers showed up to make the 43-car field for the 2001 Daytona 500, including a sponsorless Ford that didn’t even have headlight decals on the nose.  Finch had painted the former Elliott car flat white with a red roof with the number 51 on the door, making it resemble one of the cars he fielded and Purvis raced back in the 1990s.  The car struggled to find speed in practice and qualifying, meaning that they would have to race their way into the 500 field.  Purvis would start 25th in the 26-car field for Race 1.

The Duel races run that Thursday were some of the most competitive on record as the popular restrictor-plate package from the previous years’ Talladega race made lead changes commonplace.  Under the second caution of Race 1 with fifteen laps to go, Purvis and 1990 Daytona 500 winner Derrike Cope stayed out while the rest of the field pitted, putting the #51 up front for the restart.  In those frantic final few laps, Purvis and Cope fell back into the three-wide pack.  On the final lap, Purvis was in the high lane pushed by the unsponsored Eel River Racing #27 Pontiac of Kenny Wallace.  Purvis and Wallace finished 8th and 11th, making the field.  Rick Mast, his #50 Midwest Transit Chevrolet just a couple carlengths behind, joined Cope as one of the nine sent home.

Purvis started 17th with Finch's Phoenix Construction company logos on the car and held his own during the opening laps of the Daytona 500.  Despite the aggressive racing afforded by the new aero package, the first 48 laps were run under the green flag.  Among the drivers who exchanged 43rd during that stretch were last-place starter Brett Bodine, Jeremy Mayfield, Johnny Benson, Jr., and Rusty Wallace, who lost a lap after a unscheduled Lap 28 stop and penalty for a flat tire.  Wallace was still 43rd on Lap 49 when Purvis, running around 35th, lost a right-front tire in the high lane and made contact with the outside wall in Turn 4, drawing the first yellow of the day.  His car made it to the apron without involving anyone else, but the damage was too severe for the #51 to continue.

Finishing 42nd that day was Dave Blaney, whose #93 Amoco Ultimate Dodge lost an engine just before the final quarter of the race.  41st went to rookie Kurt Busch, whose #97 Team Ford Racing / 2K Taurus Ford collided with Joe Nemechek in the trioval on Lap 158 and finished laps down to the leader.  Bobby Labonte and John Andretti, who rounded out the Bottom Five, were among the nineteen cars gobbled up in the tremendous Lap 174 wreck on the backstretch.

Just like Billy Standridge in 1998, Finch and Purvis pulled off the equally-impressive feat of qualifying for all four restrictor-plate races in the 2001 season, finishing a season-best 34th in the caution-free sprint race at Talladega.  Purvis never raced for Finch in Cup after 2001, but what driver and team accomplished that year brought Phoenix Racing another twelve seasons in Cup competition, highlighted by Brad Keselowski’s thrilling win at Talladega in 2009.  Finch sold Phoenix Racing to HScott Motorsports in 2013, but the team lives on today as the #15 currently raced by Clint Bowyer.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was the first last-place finish for the #51 in a Cup Series race since May 28, 1989, when Butch Miller’s #51 Fruit of the Loom Chevrolet lost a wheel bearing after 24 laps of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.  Despite the car number, Miller’s car was not a Phoenix Racing entry - it was owned by Leroy Throop.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
43) #51-Jeff Purvis / 47 laps / crash
42) #93-Dave Blaney / 135 laps / engine
41) #97-Kurt Busch / 169 laps / running
40) #18-Bobby Labonte / 173 laps / crash / led 3 laps
39) #43-John Andretti / 173 laps / crash

CUP: Open Team Roundup - 2016 Preview

SOURCE: NASCAR Media

In the aftermath of the Race Team Alliance (RTA)’s new arrangement, LASTCAR.info is debuting this new segment for 2016 that will focus on the week-by-week performance of the Open (non-chartered) teams running in the Sprint Cup Series.  To begin, we’ll look at the eight teams challenging for the final four spots in the Daytona 500.

LOCKED-IN

#21 Wood Brothers Racing
Driver: Ryan Blaney
Starts 4th in Can-Am Duel #1

Despite being the only current Cup Series team to have raced throughout the sport’s entire six-plus decades, the Wood Brothers were not afforded a charter for 2016 and pulled out of the RTA soon after.  Regardless, the team is full speed ahead on their effort to run their first full season since 2008 with returning young gun Ryan Blaney.  As expected by many, Blaney was plenty fast enough to lock himself in as the fastest Open team.  What remains to be seen is if the Woods can overcome the technical gremlins that left Blaney with four engine failures in 2015.  The technical alliance with Penske Racing and the new Ford Fusion should help performance, but without a charter, one struggle in practice followed by a rained-out qualifying session can still send the #21 home for future races.

#93 BK Racing
Driver: Matt DiBenedetto
Starts 12th in Can-Am Duel #2

Matt DiBenedetto did a workmanlike job during his rookie season in 2015, rebounding from two early-season DNQs and finishing a season-best 18th at Talladega.  This year, despite conceding his chartered #83 to Michael Waltrip for the season opener, DiBenedetto also locked himself in to his first 500 field on speed.  Like Blaney, DiBenedetto and the BK Racing program are benefitting from a technical alliance of sorts, having inherited cars and several crew members from the now-defunct Michael Waltrip Racing.  At least for the 500, the team has expanded from three cars to four with sponsorship on each.  Anyone in BK’s foursome could be a dark horse in the 500 itself - last year, Johnny Sauter was 13th-fastest in time trials, was sent to a backup car, and still finished 19th.

ON THE BUBBLE

#59 Circle Sport / Leavine Family Racing
Driver: Michael McDowell
Starts 13th in Can-Am Duel #1

As news of the charter program swirled during the offseason, a number of teams merged, likely to better ensure their chances of making those final four spots.  The biggest merger occurred between Leavine Family Racing, which has fielded the #95 part-time since 2011, and Circle Sport, owned by longtime team owner Joe Falk.  Helped by a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing, Falk’s #33 ran full-time by 2013 and grew to two teams with crew chief Mike Hillman’s #40 later that season.  However, for 2016, the decision was made for the #33 to merge with Leavine’s #95, bringing the Childress alliance with him for a full-season run.  Like BK Racing, the team’s chartered primary car will not have its regular driver behind the wheel - Childress’ Ty Dillon will run the #95 with sponsorship from Cheerios.  However, for the first time, the Leavine program will field two cars.  Michael McDowell, who joined Leavine in 2014, may have to race his way into his fifth Daytona 500 driving the Open team car #59.  He is the first of two drivers on the bubble, meaning that he could be locked-in depending on who finishes best among the Open teams.

#26 BK Racing
Driver: Robert Richardson, Jr.
Starts 18th in Can-Am Duel #2

Joining McDowell among the bubble drivers is Robert Richardson, Jr., driving the #26 run last year by rookie of the year candidate Jeb Burton.  In eight previous Cup starts - all of them at Daytona and Talladega - Richardson has finished no better than 18th in his series debut and has not raced in Cup since Talladega in the fall of 2012.  Although the driver and team arrangement came together less than a week before qualifying, Richardson now has a decent shot at making the 500 field, though he will start Duel Race 2 directly in front of two of his challengers.

NEED TO RACE IN

#98 Premium Motorsports
Driver: Cole Whitt
Starts 19th in Can-Am Duel #1

After several mergers and reorganizations over the past five years, Premium Motorsports earned themselves a charter spot by acquiring Phil Parsons Racing, whose #98 was an RTA member.  However, team owner Jay Robinson has since leased the #98’s charter to HScott Motorsports to secure driver Michael Annett and the #46 a spot in the race, and without enough speed in qualifying, the team is now one of the four who must race their way into the 500 field.  Behind the wheel will be third-year driver Cole Whitt, 31st in driver points last year when he drove for Front Row Motorsports.  Whitt could turn heads on the plate track - he started 19th and finished 22nd in the 2015 Daytona 500 and went on to finish a season-best 13th at Talladega.  Like the Wood Brothers, however, Premium needs to get a hold of their mechanical issues.  Last year, a broken axle and an oil leak made them miss the start at Indianapolis and Michigan, and as a Parsons car, an pre-race ignition issue kept them out of the 500 field.  If all goes well, however, Premium plans to add the #49, a second team car later this season, with the driver to be announced.

#35 Front Row Motorsports
Driver: David Gilliland
Starts 19th in Can-Am Duel #2

Whitt’s former ride, the #35, wasn’t originally set to run in 2016 as the team’s chartered #34 and #38 were locked-in with defending XFINITY Series champion Chris Bueshcer and defending LASTCAR Cup champion Landon Cassill driving each.  However, Gilliland, the former driver of the #38, will return to the site of his 2007 pole position driving a yet-unsponsored #35 that must now race its way into the field.  In 330 previous starts, the California driver has historically surprised at both the plate tracks and road courses, and will need to recapture that magic on Thursday night.

#30 The Motorsports Group
Driver: Josh Wise
Starts 21st in Can-Am Duel #1

Perhaps the ultimate underdog in Thursday’s field is The Motorsports Group (TMG), Curtis Key’s single-car team that struggled tremendously to transition from the XFINITY Series to a part-time Cup runner in 2015.  TMG made just two starts in fifteen attempts last year, finishing 42nd with Ron Hornaday, Jr. at Atlanta and a season-best 40th with Jeff Green at Richmond.  As of this writing, the team is also without sponsorship, and they were not able to find enough speed to lock themselves into the show.  What the team does have, however, is journeyman Josh Wise, who in 2014 gave Phil Parsons Racing its best-ever season after five long years of “start-and-parking.”  That year began with Wise finishing an impressive 5th in Duel Race 1 and ended with a 36th-place finish in driver points with just one DNQ.  If TMG is to make its first 500 appearance, Wise might be the best man for the job.

#40 Hillman Racing
Driver: Reed Sorenson
Starts 20th in Can-Am Duel #2

Initial reports over the offseason indicated that Hillman Racing, the single-car team Landon Cassill raced into the last two Daytona 500s, had been absorbed into Premium Motorsports.  However, just a few days ago, Mike Hillman announced that his #40 would again enter the 500.  Dismayed after being denied a charter, Hillman reported he plans to attempt at least a partial season in 2016 and has welcomed back returning sponsor CRC Chemicals for the Daytona effort.  Like TMG, Hillman has selected another veteran journeyman driver in Reed Sorenson, a six-time 500 starter who finished 5th in 2008 and 9th in 2009.  Last year, it was Sorenson who penned the feel-good story of the week when Xxxtreme Motorsports rebounded from a qualifying crash and gave Sorenson a backup #44 Chevrolet he raced into the field.  Sorenson may have an even better ride in 2016, as Hillman’s cars have excelled at the plate tracks - most notably a 4th by Cassill at Talladega in 2014.

CUP: Kevin Harvick Scores Rare Last-Place Finish In Sprint Unlimited

SOURCE: @MRNRadio

Kevin Harvick finished last in Saturday’s running of the Sprint Unlimited at the Daytona International Speedway when his #4 Busch Beer Chevrolet was involved in a multi-car accident that ended his race after 22 of the race’s 79 laps.

This race marked Harvick’s first last-place finish in any of NASCAR’s top three divisions since the 2001 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, when his brakes failed on the #29 GM Goodwrench Service / America Online Chevrolet after 19 laps.  Harvick has yet to finish last in 989 combined Sprint Cup, XFINITY, and Truck Series points races.  Two of his five next-to-last-place finishes in Cup points races came in the Daytona 500: an engine failure in 2011 and a crash in 2013.

Starting last in the 25-car field, set by random draw, was defending Daytona 500 winner Joey Logano in the #22 Shell / Pennzoil Ford.  By the end of Lap 1, Kurt Busch fell to the spot in the #41 Monster Energy / HAAS Automation Chevrolet followed by Denny Hamlin on Lap 2 in the #11 FedEx Toyota.  Hamlin held the spot until Lap 8 when Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. joined Hamlin in the #17 Fastenal Ford.  On Lap 13, Stenhouse, Jr. cut a right-rear tire in Turn 1 and spun to the left, clipping Hamlin’s Toyota as he passed.  Stenhouse, Jr.’s nose damage left him falling back on the Lap 18 restart and was 6.7 seconds behind the leader by Lap 22.  The next time by, trouble broke out in Turn 1.

Running 5th at the time was Brian Vickers, announced Thursday as the SpeedWeeks replacement for Tony Stewart, injured early this month in an off-road accident.  Vickers, making his first Cup start since Phoenix last March and his first Sprint Unlimited start since 2010, was involved in several close calls early on as he dodged his way through traffic.  Heading into Turn 1 on Lap 23, Vickers’ #14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet cut a tire just like Stenhouse, Jr. and collided with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. down low.  Vickers slid up the track and collected teammate Harvick, closing the track and collecting Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, and Clint Bowyer.  No drivers were injured, but Harvick, Vickers, and Bowyer were done for the night as the first three retirees.  It was Bowyer’s first start for HScott Motorsports, which now fields his #15 5-Hour Energy Chevrolet following the close of Michael Waltrip Racing.

Rounding out the Bottom Five were Jimmie Johnson, whose #48 Lowe’s Chevrolet suffered nose damage when he spun down the backstretch, and A.J. Allmendinger, whose #47 Kroger / Stouffer’s / Lean Cuisine Chevrolet was pinched into the outside wall by a spinning Kasey Kahne.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This is the first last-place finish for the #4 in the Sprint Unlimited since 2011, when Kasey Kahne’s Red Bull Toyota lost the engine after 7 laps.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
25) #4-Kevin Harvick / 22 laps / crash
24) #14-Brian Vickers / 22 laps / crash
23) #15-Clint Bowyer / 23 laps / crash
22) #48-Jimmie Johnson / 43 laps / crash / led 1 lap
21) #47-A.J. Allmendinger / 56 laps / crash

2/13/00: Petty Pole Award Arrangement Leaves Andretti Out Of 2000 Shootout

SOURCE: MikesDecals.com

On February 13, 2000, John Andretti finished last in the Bud Shootout at Daytona when his #43 STP / Cheerios Pontiac was disallowed from competing in the 25-lap event.

Andretti was competing in his eighth season on the NASCAR Winston Cup tour and was coming off what was to be his second and final Cup victory at Martinsville the previous spring.  Andretti’s other victory took place at the Daytona track in 1997, when he drove for Cale Yarborough Motorsports in the #98 RCA Ford.

2000 was a significant year for the Petty Enterprises team.  STP, which had been the primary sponsor of the iconic #43 since 1972, was scaling back its funding to an associate sponsor by the end of the year.  General Mills and its Cheerios brand would assume a progressively greater presence on the #43 through the season, culminating with Cheerios on the hood when the series returned to Daytona in July.  While one tradition was ending, another endured, locking-up the last spot in the field before the race even started.  While Andretti won a pole at Phoenix the previous fall, a family agreement not to run the Bud Pole Award decals on the car left them ineligible to run the Shootout itself.  Due to the team essentially disallowing themselves, Andretti is classified last in the official standings, and is thus for purposes of this site credited with finishing there.

Starting in the rear of the now 15-car Shootout field was Dale Jarrett, fresh off his first Winston Cup championship for Robert Yates in the #88 Quality Care / Ford Credit Ford.  Jarrett didn’t win a pole during his title season, so he had to earn the 15th spot in the main event by winning the Bud Shootout Last Chance Qualifier run earlier that day.  Jarrett started 6th in the event, dodged a multi-car wreck when Kenny Wallace and Jimmy Spencer tangled off Turn 4, and prevailed on the mandatory green-flag pit stop to win by more than four seconds over Jeff Burton.  It was to be the last of three runnings of the 25-lap qualifying race.  Nineteen drivers were to make the starting field, but eight withdrew prior to the start, including Derrike Cope, who decided to focus on second-round Daytona 500 qualifying in what was to be the final 500 start for Hall of Fame team owner Bud Moore.

When the green flag flew for the main event, Jarrett leap-frogged Kenny Irwin, Jr.’s #42 BellSouth Chevrolet by the end of the backstretch and began his march through the field.  Irwin was then passed for last by David Green the next time into Turn 1, Green running a one-off start for Kurt Roehrig in a #34 Chevrolet sponsored by Sunoco Lubricant and Kendall Motor Oil.  On Lap 4, Jarrett once again fell to the rear as the field remained two and three wide near the back of the pack behind then-race leader Jeff Gordon.  Jarrett passed Green to put the #34 last again on Lap 6 as the field remained within a one-second interval from front to rear.  With pit stops coming up, Green and Jarrett continued to trade last on Lap 8 with the leaders locked two-by-two.

All but two cars - Jarrett and the #18 Interstate Batteries Pontiac of Bobby Labonte - came down pit road on Lap 9.  That time by, Mark Martin was about to come into his stall, but seemed to misjudge the entry, leaving the right side tires outside the box.  In the process, he clipped his front tire changer Mike Garrett with the nose of his car, launching Garrett onto the hood.  Garrett injured his ankle in the incident, but was otherwise conscious when interviewed shortly after.  Without a completed pit stop, Martin pulled his car behind the wall, leaving him last among the starters in the race.

Moments after Martin’s incident, engine woes forced Mike Skinner to park his #31 Lowe’s Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, leaving thirteen cars to settle it on the track.  Ricky Rudd finished 13th when his first turn in Yates’ #28 Texaco / Havoline Ford ended with a  wreck out of the Top 5 following contact between Bobby Labonte and Sterling Marlin off the final corner.  Rounding out the Bottom Five was David Green, whose #34 lost the lead draft after the mandatory pit stops.

Andretti has made a total of 393 starts in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  His most recent start was the 2010 Daytona 500, where he drove Front Row Motorsports’ #34 Window World Cares Ford into the 33rd starting spot before a crash left him 38th.  He has eleven last-place finishes in Cup points races, tying him with several drivers including 1986 Daytona 500 champ Geoffrey Bodine for the 14th-most in series history.

LASTCAR STATISTICS
*This was Andretti's second last-place finish in this event.  He previously finished three laps down in 1996 Busch Clash when driving the #37 K-Mart / Little Caesar's Ford owned by Michael Kranefuss.
*Andretti wasn’t the only Petty Enterprises driver to finish last in the Bud Shootout because of the pole award arrangement.  Bobby Hamilton did in 1998 followed by Jeff Green in 2004.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
16) #43-John Andretti / 0 laps / disallowed
15) #6-Mark Martin / 10 laps / radiator
14) #31-Mike Skinner / 10 laps / engine
13) #28-Ricky Rudd / 24 laps / crash
12) #34-David Green / 25 laps / running

OPINION: Forget You, I’ve Got Mine: Charters Trap Small Teams In Catch-22

SOURCE: Outside The Track Editorial Photography

Today, the Race Team Alliance (RTA) finally announced their brand-new charter system to be instituted in the 2016 Sprint Cup Series.  36 teams have been afforded “medallions” earning them guaranteed spots in the field - so long as they remain in “good standing,” attempt every race, and follow other yet-undisclosed requirements.  Last year at Homestead was the final 43-car field in NASCAR as we’re also going to see just 40 cars cross the line in the Daytona 500, the final four of which left open for teams without medallions.

We haven’t always had 43-car fields.  In fact, before 1998, every Sprint Cup field was a different size according to track length.  This isn’t the first time field sizes have been cut, either - the XFINITY Series went from 43 to 40 in 2013 and the Trucks from 36 to 32 just last year.  But what’s just happened in the Cup Series is very different - by reducing field sizes by three and also instituting a medallion system, the RTA has created not just a floor, but a ceiling.  And in so doing, they’ve damaged an integral part of the sport.

Up until this year, whether or not you could compete in Sprint Cup was determined largely by two things: qualifying speed and your team’s rank in owner points.  It was a simple meritocracy: if your team wasn’t performing or just wasn’t fast enough, you weren’t going to finish very well if you made the show at all.  If you continued to struggle for too long and couldn’t receive financial support, the numbers alone would close your team.

For some teams within the RTA, this scenario is very much a reality.  Tommy Baldwin Racing, which this year fields the No. 7 Chevrolet for Regan Smith, last year scaled back from two cars to just one, having spent five years trying to expand.  Leavine Family Racing’s No. 95 will run full-time for the first time in 2016, but only because they were able to merge with Circle Sport and receive support from Richard Childress.  Premium Motorsports, which will field up to two cars in 2016 and lease its medallion to HScott Motorsports, contains the remnants of eight different Sprint Cup teams from 2012.

But this scenario is not the same for Hendrick Motorsports, Penske Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and the like, which have gobbled up the majority of the 36 medallions.  There has never been a danger that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. would miss a race, or that Matt Kenseth wouldn’t find sponsorship to replace The Home Depot.  But that’s the fallacy the RTA built the charter proposal - and the need for it - upon. The multi-car programs insist that they really have been in danger, that the value of their teams isn’t enough to keep the lights on.  Yet still, through this charter agreement, they’ve granted themselves added privileges they never needed in the first place to secure spots they were never in danger of losing.

But that’s not all.  Through the “good standing” requirement, RTA teams can oust people from the group of 36.  The initial interpretation of this rule was to eliminate “start-and-parks,” again falling into the myth that teams do so as some kind of scam and not to survive and build their programs.  But the rule is much broader than that - if a team simply isn’t finishing well on a consistent basis, their charter can be rescinded.  This is a big problem because there haven’t been any “start-and-park” teams in Sprint Cup for the last two seasons, meaning that any Cup team can finish last in today’s NASCAR.  Racing is an unpredictable sport, and a streak of bad luck isn’t unheard of.  Thus, it’s very likely that the Baldwin, Leavine, and Premium cars to name a few can be kicked out very early on by the program that was supposed to protect them.

Defenders of the charter system are quick to point to those final four spots in the 40-car field, saying that teams without a medallions aren’t prevented from qualifying or competing.  The first problem with this is obvious - there used to be 43-car fields, and now there’s three fewer chances of qualifying than before.  The second will come into play when teams start to fall out of the chartered 36.  The few teams already without a medallion will have an even harder time trying to qualify as they’ll have to compete against a growing number of ejected teams.  The third is due to the inflexibility of the barrier between drivers with and without medallions.  A medallion may be purchased or loaned, but the cost is based on demand with no oversight, meaning that even if the applying team can afford the fee on top of cars, equipment, tires, etc., the locked-in teams can still pick and choose which of the applying teams they feel like welcoming.  Then, when combined with the equally-nebulous “good standing” rule, that same team can have its medallion revoked again for not finishing well enough, requiring them to pay the fee all over again.  It’s a brutal business model much more perverse than the one already in place, allowing the big teams to watch the small ones fight each other to the death.

This scrum for the final few starting spots in the field also creates a logjam that will prevent any new start-up teams from breaking into the sport for years to come.  As I stated in my opinion piece last month, it is the Top 35 Rule Version 2.0, re-branded to sound less offensive.  NASCAR has no shortage of drivers trying to break into Sprint Cup - the problem has for years now been a lack of teams.  Just nine years ago, 61 cars arrived to attempt the 2007 Daytona 500, creating two Duel races with 31 and 30 cars.  Big names and teams were sent home from this and several other races that season, many because they were brand-new and didn’t have any points to fall back on.  With every DNQ, the hole just went deeper and it was impossible to break into the Top 35.  The medallion system makes this impossible task a hard-and-fast rule, adding arbitrary costs and performance requirements to make it that much more difficult.  And it’s doing it at a time where both drivers and the sport need to welcome more new teams into the fold.  In short, it’s counterproductive to the growth of the sport.

It’s already hard to make it into a Sprint Cup race.  Simply getting a car to the track and taking one qualifying lap requires the work of many staff and crew members, both seen and unseen.  To earn a good finish, to get to the next race, much less the whole season - these are accomplishments in and of themselves.  But the RTA doesn’t care about any of this.  They turned a meritocracy into a common entitlement program.  In exchange for a little added security for its richest members, those clutching medallions have slammed shut a door though which every single one of them have passed, saying “forget you, I’ve got mine.”  They have shoved the sport one more step away from the guy who soaped numbers on his Lincoln at the Charlotte Fairgrounds in 1949, making the culture in the garage area a little more bland, a little more predictable.  And with every medallion fee they collect, they are selling the soul of NASCAR racing.