When Is One Ready For Cup?

WhiningSmoke

WhiningSmoke

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My thread about Austin Dillon brought up an interesting subject, that being him not being ready for Cup next year despite very stellar stats in the lower series. Personally, I believe that he is ready for
Cup, but many people disagree with me. That leads me to ask, when is a driver ready for Cup full-time?
 
when someone pays him to drive. either you can do it or you can't.
 
BOWTIE GUY said:
when someone pays him to drive. either you can do it or you can't.
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This is false, yet true.

If you can drive a car in the lower series you can drive a car in cup.

Question is whether that driver is ready or not however.

I say a solid 2 years in the lower series is all you need. Of course that's dependent on your skill set.

Like I said, you can drive a cup car but it doesn't mean that you are ready to compete at that level.
 
I think that it depends on the individual driver but no one ever knows for sure until they're in cup. David Ragan at Martinville comes to mind :eek:

Carl Edwards made only 1 NWS start before heading to cup.
 
There isn't an answer to the riddle. you ask a local yokel at the dirt track and he could say he is ready for cup, hell he might be, but I think car owners and sponsors have the most influence on who goes where at what time. the driver can do some things to make themselves more marketable. running good, being personable, notice all are clean cut, no "born to lose" tattoo's on their foreheads etc.
 
BobbyFord said:
My opinion is, you're ready for Cup when you dominate the Nationwide Series.
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Technically that's true but doesn't have to be always the case.

To dominate any type of sport you need to devote time and you're simply not going to do that in lower series of certain sports.

All you really need to do is show promise. To prove yourself in NW you dont even have to win. Just show you can run with the guys.

NW is poluted with Cup guys nowdays that the barometer has become, keep in touch with the likes of Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Kahne etc.

If you can do that or maybe even win over those guys, then you've proven yourself to an extent.
 
reck said:
This is false, yet true.

If you can drive a car in the lower series you can drive a car in cup.

Question is whether that driver is ready or not however.

I say a solid 2 years in the lower series is all you need. Of course that's dependent on your skill set.

Like I said, you can drive a cup car but it doesn't mean that you are ready to compete at that level.
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some drivers will never be ready. when the boss ask if you can do the job, the answer is yes.
 
I think that all of the answers are correct . I particularly liked the one that said 'when somebody is willing to pay you' .:D Driving in cup used to have a progression to it . You drove a couple years at the back of the pack ,wrecking a lot . Then you drove for a couple of years mid pack , learning the subtleties from the masters around you . Then , when a spot opened in the top ten , you were in line for it . Today , it seems that if you aren't ready to replace Jimmie Johnson in victory lane , you shouldn't even get started at the back of the pack . I'd like to see Austin and Kyle and Ryan Truex and Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace and the others move up to cup . I'd like to see them run 25th to 35th for a couple of years , then I'd hope to see one of them make it to the top ten. Don't know if it will happen , but it could.
 
ted@economy said:
I think that all of the answers are correct . I particularly liked the one that said 'when somebody is willing to pay you' .:D Driving in cup used to have a progression to it . You drove a couple years at the back of the pack ,wrecking a lot . Then you drove for a couple of years mid pack , learning the subtleties from the masters around you . Then , when a spot opened in the top ten , you were in line for it . Today , it seems that if you aren't ready to replace Jimmie Johnson in victory lane , you shouldn't even get started at the back of the pack . I'd like to see Austin and Kyle and Ryan Truex and Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace and the others move up to cup . I'd like to see them run 25th to 35th for a couple of years , then I'd hope to see one of them make it to the top ten. Don't know if it will happen , but it could.
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The thing is, if you run 35th for a couple of years, you'll never be considered for a vacancy in a top tier ride. I'm guessing Nemechek's phone isn't ringing off the hook come Silly Season.
 
BobbyFord said:
The thing is, if you run 35th for a couple of years, you'll never be considered for a vacancy in a top tier ride. I'm guessing Nemechek's phone isn't ringing off the hook come Silly Season.
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I hear he's going to the 48 because in todays dollars, Nemecheck has won 235 million.......something.
 
BobbyFord said:
The thing is, if you run 35th for a couple of years, you'll never be considered for a vacancy in a top tier ride. I'm guessing Nemechek's phone isn't ringing off the hook come Silly Season.
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Yeah , but Nemechek's problem would be his age . A guy like Vickers still has a shot at a good ride . It always comes down to timing anyway .
 
ted@economy said:
I think that all of the answers are correct . I particularly liked the one that said 'when somebody is willing to pay you' .:D Driving in cup used to have a progression to it . You drove a couple years at the back of the pack ,wrecking a lot . Then you drove for a couple of years mid pack , learning the subtleties from the masters around you . Then , when a spot opened in the top ten , you were in line for it . Today , it seems that if you aren't ready to replace Jimmie Johnson in victory lane , you shouldn't even get started at the back of the pack . I'd like to see Austin and Kyle and Ryan Truex and Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace and the others move up to cup . I'd like to see them run 25th to 35th for a couple of years , then I'd hope to see one of them make it to the top ten. Don't know if it will happen , but it could.
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You are right. It does have a progression to it more often than not. But some think that the only way you can advance is to "dominate". Yeah that is one way, doesn't happen very often though. Most of the time it is progressive, do well in the lower levels and move up if there is an opportunity. OR move down if you are ride less. Look at Regan Smith, been kicked around on various cup teams, got to drive Jr's car when he was hurt, did a great job...oops he didn't "dominate" just did a good job, and now he is in a JR/Hendrick ride and competing for top spot in N'wide. Steady job in N'wide is much better than a hit or miss in cup in his case.
 
StandOnIt said:
You are right. It does have a progression to it more often than not. But some think that the only way you can advance is to "dominate". Yeah that is one way, doesn't happen very often though. Most of the time it is progressive, do well in the lower levels and move up if there is an opportunity. OR move down if you are ride less. Look at Regan Smith, been kicked around on various cup teams, got to drive Jr's car when he was hurt, did a great job...oops he didn't "dominate" just did a good job, and now he is in a JR/Hendrick ride and competing for top spot in N'wide. Steady job in N'wide is much better than a hit or miss in cup in his case.
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you have 43 drivers there not all going to dominate, finding the one that does dominates is answer.
 
WhiningSmoke said:
My thread about Austin Dillon brought up an interesting subject, that being him not being ready for Cup next year despite very stellar stats in the lower series. Personally, I believe that he is ready for
Cup, but many people disagree with me. That leads me to ask, when is a driver ready for Cup full-time?
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When the sponsors decide they're ready for Cup.
 
Some are never ready and some squander their big chance. Their may be 43 cars in the field but only about 25 to maybe 30 decent rides. Nascar isn't like other sports in development area, you can't just be good in a race car, you need the sponsors, connections and a good enough car to rise up the ranks..

It's why when people like Elliot Sadler get their shot and perform not up to standard that their not likely to get another good ride in cup.
 
Different drivers have different learning curves. It's hard to say when exactly one is "ready" for Cup. Some guys were also-rans in the developmental series and then lit the world on fire as soon as they got a Cup ride (Jimmie) and some dominated in the developmental series and struggled once they moved up (Stenhouse).
 
FLRacingFan said:
Different drivers have different learning curves. It's hard to say when exactly one is "ready" for Cup. Some guys were also-rans in the developmental series and then lit the world on fire as soon as they got a Cup ride (Jimmie) and some dominated in the developmental series and struggled once they moved up (Stenhouse).
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yeah for sure, I've seen that..I would have used Logano instead of Stenhouse. He is doing pretty good for his first year almost in the top 20 with quite a few races to go. haven't seen him do anything rookie stupid yet either.
 
StandOnIt said:
yeah for sure, I've seen that..I would have used Logano instead of Stenhouse. He is doing pretty good for his first year almost in the top 20 with quite a few races to go. haven't seen him do anything rookie stupid yet either.
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Rookie Ricky doing fine. Don't know why people are quick to call him a failed rookie when we have so many examples of other drivers who were rushed to Cup and underperformed early (Casey Atwood says hi).
 
StandOnIt said:
yeah for sure, I've seen that..I would have used Logano instead of Stenhouse. He is doing pretty good for his first year almost in the top 20 with quite a few races to go. haven't seen him do anything rookie stupid yet either.
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I think Logano did a little bit better his first year. He at least had a win and a few other Top 5 finishes. I think Ricky will turn out fine but a lot of drivers have had better rookie years. I will give him credit for keeping his car in good shape. He probably remembers Jack getting on his ass about tearing up equipment when he was a Nationwide rookie.
 
KevinWI said:
Rookie Ricky doing fine. Don't know why people are quick to call him a failed rookie when we have so many examples of other drivers who were rushed to Cup and underperformed early (Casey Atwood says hi).
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He's not a failed rookie, he's just (IMO) on the side of the spectrum where you have drivers who ran well in the lower series and took more than a year in Cup to take off, like Kurt Busch.
 
StandOnIt said:
yeah for sure, I've seen that..I would have used Logano instead of Stenhouse. He is doing pretty good for his first year almost in the top 20 with quite a few races to go. haven't seen him do anything rookie stupid yet either.
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FLRacingFan said:
He's not a failed rookie, he's just (IMO) on the side of the spectrum where you have drivers who ran well in the lower series and took more than a year in Cup to take off, like Kurt Busch.
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I said he was doing pretty good..where you got failed rookie out of that is anybodies guess.
 
Who knows. I'm pretty sure no one except Jeff Gordon knew Jimmie Johnson was going to be as good as he's turned out to be. From what I've seen, Austin's done alright thus far, with checkered flags in both the trucks & the Busch series he's proven he is a diverse driver that can win in various types. I think he's ready & i'm interested to see him especially since it seems he'll be bringing #3 back to the track...
 
To answer the thread question, When Is One Ready For Cup?, answer: when the coffee is ready
 
Depends on the driver. But at a minimum they should have 2 years in NW series or 3 years in the trucks. Preferrably some ARCA time too.
 
With the way the competition is nowadays 14 DNF would put you well outside the top 30.

For all those DNFs he still finished 14th in points. You couldn't dream of having as many DNFs today and finish that solid in points these days.
 
You are ready for cup when you can bring big money with you. Ask Danica.
 
ElliottFan said:
You are ready for cup when you can bring big money with you. Ask Danica.
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True but its very sad when you get into a sport just for the money. Not saying Danica is only in for the money but lets be honest, she's not going to amount to much here.
 
reck said:
True but its very sad when you get into a sport just for the money. Not saying Danica is only in for the money but lets be honest, she's not going to amount to much here.
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You're such a keen judge of talent , why aren't you working for one of the Nascar teams ?
 
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