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Interesting how a 16th place car is bumped for a car in 37th,,
Shootout changes still leave NASCAR nursing foot wounds
LIFE IN THE TURN LANE
By David Poole
[email protected]
Friday, Jan. 16, 2009
Bless NASCAR's heart, it's trying to fix something that is broken beyond repair and it just keeps digging the hole a little deeper.
The new format it came up with for the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona was never the best idea NASCAR's ever had. It had to come up with something since the old way of qualifying for the event - winning a pole for a Cup race - is now part of a sponsorship deal for a beer company (Coors) that's a direct competitor for Budweiser.
You're not going to have a Budweiser-sponsored event featuring Coors Light Pole Award winners. It's just not going to happen.
So NASCAR decided to let the Shootout "emphasize" the manufacturers by making the top-six Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges and Toyotas in each year's owner points make the field for the next year's Shootout.
The timing of that, of course, turned out awful since manufacturers' involvement in the sport is not actually something some of them want to call attention to right now, but NASCAR wasn't in position to know that last summer when the change was made.
It's sort of a flawed concept anyway, though. Martin Truex Jr.'s team finished 16th in points last season and he's not in the Shootout. But the No. 10 car that finished 37th last year and isn't planning to run a full schedule in 2009 is. Justifying that is a stretch.
Then came Friday's addition of "wild card" teams for each manufacturer, expanding the Shootout field from 24 to 28. NASCAR added stipulations that got Tony Stewart, who drove last year in a Toyota but will start '09 in a Chevrolet for a team he's never turned a lap for, into the Shootout.
You can argue that Stewart's inclusion is sort of righting a wrong, since he's a former winner of the event and under the old format that would have had him qualified.
But what Robby Gordon is going to be allowed to do makes no sense. Gordon would have been in the sixth car eligible among Dodge teams. But he's not driving a Dodge any more. He's switching to Toyotas. Only, he's still got a Dodge left that he's going to drive in the Shootout. And NASCAR is OK with that.
Now Juan Pablo Montoya finished nine spots ahead of Gordon in the 2008 owner points and would have been eligible in the No. 42 Dodge. But Montoya is switching to Chevrolets and his team apparently doesn't want to run a Dodge one more time. I guess you could argue that it's the driver's and team's call, but it's still a mess.
NASCAR keeps talking about how much it loves the fans. If you can't come up with something better for the Shootout format, why not just let the fans vote on who should race in the Shootout? Give the fans 10 picks, by vote. Fill 10 more spots with the drivers highest in the previous year's standings who aren't voted in and run the race.
That's not the best idea in the world, but given the mess NASCAR has on its hands now it clearly isn't the worst.
Shootout changes still leave NASCAR nursing foot wounds
LIFE IN THE TURN LANE
By David Poole
[email protected]
Friday, Jan. 16, 2009
Bless NASCAR's heart, it's trying to fix something that is broken beyond repair and it just keeps digging the hole a little deeper.
The new format it came up with for the Budweiser Shootout at Daytona was never the best idea NASCAR's ever had. It had to come up with something since the old way of qualifying for the event - winning a pole for a Cup race - is now part of a sponsorship deal for a beer company (Coors) that's a direct competitor for Budweiser.
You're not going to have a Budweiser-sponsored event featuring Coors Light Pole Award winners. It's just not going to happen.
So NASCAR decided to let the Shootout "emphasize" the manufacturers by making the top-six Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges and Toyotas in each year's owner points make the field for the next year's Shootout.
The timing of that, of course, turned out awful since manufacturers' involvement in the sport is not actually something some of them want to call attention to right now, but NASCAR wasn't in position to know that last summer when the change was made.
It's sort of a flawed concept anyway, though. Martin Truex Jr.'s team finished 16th in points last season and he's not in the Shootout. But the No. 10 car that finished 37th last year and isn't planning to run a full schedule in 2009 is. Justifying that is a stretch.
Then came Friday's addition of "wild card" teams for each manufacturer, expanding the Shootout field from 24 to 28. NASCAR added stipulations that got Tony Stewart, who drove last year in a Toyota but will start '09 in a Chevrolet for a team he's never turned a lap for, into the Shootout.
You can argue that Stewart's inclusion is sort of righting a wrong, since he's a former winner of the event and under the old format that would have had him qualified.
But what Robby Gordon is going to be allowed to do makes no sense. Gordon would have been in the sixth car eligible among Dodge teams. But he's not driving a Dodge any more. He's switching to Toyotas. Only, he's still got a Dodge left that he's going to drive in the Shootout. And NASCAR is OK with that.
Now Juan Pablo Montoya finished nine spots ahead of Gordon in the 2008 owner points and would have been eligible in the No. 42 Dodge. But Montoya is switching to Chevrolets and his team apparently doesn't want to run a Dodge one more time. I guess you could argue that it's the driver's and team's call, but it's still a mess.
NASCAR keeps talking about how much it loves the fans. If you can't come up with something better for the Shootout format, why not just let the fans vote on who should race in the Shootout? Give the fans 10 picks, by vote. Fill 10 more spots with the drivers highest in the previous year's standings who aren't voted in and run the race.
That's not the best idea in the world, but given the mess NASCAR has on its hands now it clearly isn't the worst.