NASCAR's Big Joke: Nextel Cup Qualifying

Qualifying.

As it relates to sports, dictionary.com defines qualifying as: to demonstrate the required ability in an initial or preliminary contest.

Each week NASCAR puts on a show before Nextel Cup events, usually two days before the big race. They call it qualifying.

That’s what it’s called. It falls far from living up to any definition of the word. 

I was never a fan of the old provisional system and I’m even less of fan of what NASCAR does today to set the field for Nextel Cup races.

OK, I understand that there was a time when provisional spots, or free passes into the show, were needed in NASCAR. Back in olden times, you know when cable TV was still a dream and little boy Earnhardt was asking his daddy Ralph if he could race, there was a need for free passes.

During the days of Cup racing at dusty dirty tracks in 1-stop light towns, NASCAR’s very survival depended on the stars being in the show. And it could be said that dependence carried on as far as the 1980’s and early 1990’s. You had to have your stars in the show or the fans might not be so inclined to come back the next year. 

But in today’s NASCAR, especially Nextel Cup circa 2007 where quality teams regularly showing up number even beyond the standard 43-car starting field, there’s no more need for NASCAR’s free pass system.

The fact that NASCAR gives the top-35 teams in the owner point standings a free pass into events is a joke. It stands as one of the reasons that NASCAR still struggles to be considered a mainstream sport.

Look at this way, what if the New York Yankees struggled to a fourth place finish in the American League East. Think Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig would find it in his heart to let them in the playoffs?

I can hear it now, “You didn’t perform up the standards of the other teams you were competing against for the spot, but because fans really dig you guys and we know you’ll bring TV ratings, we’re going let you in the playoffs.”

And yet, that’s basically what NASCAR says every single week the Nextel Cup Series runs.

The days of three or four big names in the sport are so far gone and with that fact NASCAR’s antiquated free pass system should be gone too. Would the world end if, dare we say, Jeff Gordon didn’t qualify for an event? Yes his fans would surely be upset, especially the ones that had tickets to the show, and yes his team and his sponsors would most definitely be perturbed, but if it’s a competition and he wasn’t up to competing, then so be it.

Make them earn their spots in the show, fairly and equally and qualifying might just mean something again. Until then qualifying the old NASCAR way remains laughable to say the least.

Shawn Courchesne, 11:15 p.m.

Comments

[RacerX]

The rules for qualifying are not there for the drivers, they are there for the sponsors. Sponsorship is what allows NASCAR to exist – pure and simple. No sponsors, no NASCAR teams, NO NASCAR. I agree that the days of only 4 or 5 featured drivers are long past. However, companies spend huge amounts of money to have their name and logos plastered on race cars. They only get value from their sponsorship if, and only if, their driver is in the show. I know I would be ticked if I spent $50 to see my driver at a race and he didn’t make it. (Given that I am a Dale Jarrett fan, I only have 2 more championship provisionals until this becomes a reality!!) Now imagine how ticked you would be if you spent $14,000,000!!!

From Shawn:
Then don't call it qualifying, call it setting up the field for the big money teams that get a free pass into the race.

[Barbara Willis]

I totally agree with you Shawn. There have been so many changes in NASCAR since Brian France took over it just doesn't make it fun to watch or attend a race. We, as well as several of my friends, have given up our permanent seats. You have to pay almost a year in advance plus camping is just going out of site. Although, we had lots of fun with our friends and saw great racing, it would be more fun just to meet and camp with our friends and not nearly as expensive. Now with the COT, it will be like having IROC racing all over again. Thank you.

[Keith Cyr]

The top 35 / 36 qualifying rule that PROTECTS the big dollar teams and desimates the "new" or strugling teams should be thrown out! NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing has become a shadow of what it was it the Petty, Pearson and Yarbourgh days. Along with that my 500 tickets have gone from $60.00 each to a 2008 renewal of $160.00. Its clear to this race fan that NASCAR IS NOT about racing anymore its about protecting their $$$$$$$$$ position. I say to them, remember what happened with the IRL and CART split.... do not think that it could'nt happen here.

[Greg]

Amen!! The top 35 rule either needs to be gone or make it the top 15! Even better, line it up with the chase, and only the top 12 are guaranteed a spot. Great comparison to baseball. The only way it will happen is if the fans get on board and demand it the way they did when JR. (or was it Gordon?) didn't qualify and was out of provisionals.

[edward guyette]

been attending races many years as said before to many rules to many changes , yes everything changes but this is not the sport I signed on to. The 35 rule show just what is important to Nascar as we all know. The loyal fan is being left behind for the new only to find out that the new fan base dosent spend nearlly as mush as the old so being the pigs that they are Nascar has to be getting worried so lets see what crap they will throw at us now. I for one buy nothing at the track and use to spend a lot there Mr. France go ---- in your hat no more money from this family

[justin]

The top 35 is there to gurantee the top 35 teams a chance to race. It would not be efair for a guy who has ran top ten all year to lose an engine during qualfying and miss the race. That is total B.S. and you all know it. Look at Kasey Kahne... He is STAR! his team is doing really bad and they are barely in the top 35... his team is a million dollar corporate sponsor team, yet nascar is not protecting them. If Kasey drops to 36th.. he will have to qualify himself in to the next race.. and if he lostan engine during qualfying then he wouldnt make the race, and that is fair because he pu himself in that posotion by not running well all year. That is why the top 35 exsist. It protects the teams that show up every week and performs. Dave Blaney had to qualify every on time in every race this season. He has done a great job at making most of the races if not all ( I forget ) but he is still 40th in the points due to poor perfomances on the race track.

From Shawn:
So what you're saying is that qualifying is no longer part of the actual competition. If Kasey lost a motor on the first lap of the race should he be recorded with a top-10 finish just because his team shows up for every race? Start the 43 fastest cars afer a "competition" to get in the race. If you're not up to speed with the other teams you're competing against, you go home.

[walt]

Of course you are correct. France plans on making racing into the big-time staged show that wrestling is. No actual competition in either, but an exhibition-only. Take Atlanta as an example. Six cars missed the race that were faster than cars that got in! Wimmer out-qualified a full TEN cars, but didn't get to race because of provisionals. What if he had run pole-speed? Would he still have sat out? I would LOVE to see any one of those non-guys post a pole-winning speed some week and not get in the show. THEN we'd see some changes!

[John Newsom]

I'm not sure if the world would end if Jeff Gordon didn't qualify. Junior, yes. Gordon? Eh.

The 24 Hours of Pocono is reason enough to do away with qualifying.

[TraxnCtrl10]

A famous writer once said:

"Here’s a message to all those who love using that analogy. It’s stupid. Please stop using it. I hate the baseball analogy.

NASCAR as a whole is unique, and has long been that way..."

(Just pickin' on you!)

I like what you're doing here...'cept that you never called me to find out what really happened at the Bowl...I coulda saved you about 3-4 blog posts! ;)

-D

From Shawn: Funny, when I wrote that baseball thing last night I wondered how long it would take someone to point out what I had said before. Good going buddy.
And saved me blog posts, you would have probably had me doing 3-4 more.

[RacerX]

Okay, fine. Don’t call it “qualifying”. Call it whatever you want. The fact remains that Roush, Yates, Gibbs, Hendrick, DEI and the rest can only survive with sponsor support. Robbie Gordon was about 2 races away from going belly-up a few years ago. That was until he got Jim Beam and Harrah’s on board as sponsors. Look at what Roush did when he got nervous about Toyota’s entry into Nextel Cup – he got a bigger partner with deep pockets so he can continue to stay on the cutting edge and field superior, or winning, teams. If the big sponsors can not be guaranteed that their cars will even make the race, then they will pull their money and teams will start to fold. Does this make it difficult for new teams to enter? Sure it does. But that is the same in any sport. Major League Baseball and the NFL don’t expand too often. Maybe a compromise would be to lower the number of guaranteed spots to 25, but love it or hate it, the sport cannot survive with out sponsors.

From Shawn:
Yes the sport depends on sponsor support but that shouldn't mean that certain teams should get a competitive advantage because of that and allowing free passes is giving the best teams an even bigger advantage over the lesser teams. Should the Yankees be spotted 20 wins more than the Twins because its more important for baseball's fiscal well being if the Yankees are in the postseason rather than the Twins? Definitley not.

[Thom in Bama]

I say let them all race, every race. Qualify for your starting spot for the race. If you bring a team to the track, you race. If you need a cut off speed for non qualifiers, make it 3 mph less than the pole speed. All teams that bring a car for the race should be allowed to race. Any track over a mile can have 75 cars on the track at the same time and have plenty of good racing all over the place. Pitting might be an issue though, but that is another topic.

Oh, only award points for the first 12 spots and maybe 3 points to the pole winner.

From Shawn:
Now that sounds pretty radical even to me.

[RacerX]

Correct me if I am wrong, but the 35 teams are ranked based on how they have been performing at the track, not how big they are or how much money they receive from sponsors. A team has to earn their spot in the group of 35, they are not simply given it because NASCAR likes them. They get a competitive advantage because they are consistently excelling on the track. If we throw out the provisionals as you are suggesting and set the field solely on qualifying times, isn’t that the same thing: giving teams a competitive advantage because they are excelling on the track? The only difference is that in the current situation, a team’s past performance is taken into account and in yours, the only thing that matters is how a team did on those 2 qualifying laps.

From Shawn:
Never did I say throw out provisionals. I like the idea of the fastest 43 getting in the show, but do I believe a system where teams loyal to the sport week in and week out get a certain small amount of provisionals in case of that occasional off bad week works. I think it's entirely unfair that certain teams can show up each and every week knowing they're in the show no matter how bad they stink up the place during qualifying.

[ss]

WOW you sports fans just dont get it....
Its NA$CAR not baseball or football...
yes every team gets a free bee into the season openers all the way upto the playoffs... (Top 35) if a team would have to have a quality season in order to play we could cut the nfl and MLB in half free up some tax dollers for crappy teams in our area and see more racing.

I suppose you like DW he used 36 past champ provisionals his last 2 years racing Or should I say showing up. Its differant in NA$CAR can you imagen if the KC Royals got into the playoffs every year just becouse they won a few games in the olddays,,, Just some thoughts learn your sports history and deal with it. Nobody cares who makes the show its all about the wrecks..LOL

From Shawn:
I'm at a loss at just how to respond to that.

[motorbike]

I personally won`t buy anything sold by one of NASCAR,s own sponsors-not the car owners sponsors but nextel,sunoco etc.The racing has become as real as pro wrestling.

[Louis]

The solution is simple! Like Waterford, Thompson and Stafford the Nextel Cup Series should run a consolation race....yes, a B-Main! Take the bottom 15 cars from qualifying and put them in "dash for the cash" style race prior to the feature Sunday afternoon. Take the top 7 or 10 finishers and advance them to the the "big dance" Sunday afternoon.

This allows those who qualified poorly on the clock the the opportunity to "race" into the field. This would also provide those teams that are struggling the TV exposure they need to secure sponsorship. Fans would find this race exciting and rookie teams/drivers would gain valuable race experience to improve their operations.

This is an expensive concept to implement but that's the nature of the sport. I think all team owners would rather race in a nationally televised B-Main than pack up and go home without turning a single lap under race conditions. This would gaurantee that all sponsors would have TV exposure in some capacity on Sunday.

With all of the above being said, Shawn you need to recognize that other sports like baseball and football CAN guarantee their sponsors that "X" number of games will take place in their stadium and that the "Giant Glass" sign will have "X" amount of air time. Joe Gibbs can't gaurantee Home Depot that his car will be in every race. Without Nascar's current qualifying structure it would be difficult to attract sponsorship dollars. Your comparing apples to Oranges. On the flip side, I agree that the current qualifying structure is not fair.

[Va. Gentelman]

Remember a few years ago.. Or maybe more, when fillers were needed to fill the field in races.. Today 50 plus drivers enter each cup event.. Why? Money.... I hate the top 35 automatic.. Let the grid be the fastest on back.. and so what if a superstar doesn't make the race... Na$car has lost their compass.. It's all about the racing... Thats what made Na$car... Not the sponsors.. It was the show they put on .. Boys and Girls I hate to tell you this but.. Nascar was built by hard nose racing like on your local tracks.. Not this media circus today.. Thats what made the fans turn out.. Each week I see good drivers go home because they are not in the top 35. How in the heck does Nascar think they are going to get there if they don't race. And the lucky Dog and Champions provisional have ruined this sport.. If I had to take a provisional I would just walk away and call it quits... I don't know If DJ should kick himself or Mickie.. for leaving RYR.. At lest they make the field...

[KY1WING]

Appreciate you calling NASCAR out on the next big joke-qualifying.

Current system is about as exciting as watching paint dry and contributes to the race weekend almost as much as the TV pre-race coverage. And the top 35 lock-in all but locks out any new competition.

Louis is on the right track with the B-main idea, but we need to do away with running against the clock altogether.

Take the top 20 from last week and let them line up in positions 1-20 this week. Johnson and Gordon would be the front row this week, followed by Hamlin and Busch and E. That's the first 20.

Line up the remaining field (21-43 from last week) plus non-qualifiers, plus any new entries and let them run a short "B-Main" (less than a gas run-no pit stops should factor in). Top 20 advance filling positions 21-40. Last three are filled using whatever provisional system NASCAR wants to use.

Thats it. No one races against the clock. Everyones position is determined by racing. Everyone who enters races-may be on Sunday only (1-20), may be on Saturday in the B-Main, or may be in both. But if you enter you get to race.

Benefits are too numerous to list here, but some of the obvious ones is its a heck of a lot more exciting than running against the clock. Since all everyone races, instead of runs against the clock, they only have to deal with one setup-race setup. Everything is geared toward racing-no waste of time or resources on two laps against the clock. Last weeks close finish continues on this week. Winner gets additional reward of next weeks pole and first choice on pit position.

Races build on one another, so each one takes on additional importance. Plus we know where folks start next week so we have a lot to talk about around the water cooler all week long.

Something to think about. Its may not be the perfect solution, but its not the worst idea . . . that would be the current system.

[debbi]

who set the limit on the field to 43 & why can't it be changed? if you show up to race - you should be quaranteed a spot. One sponser is as importment as another.

[J M Hallas]

Shawn, you hit the nail right on the head. It SHOULD be the fastest 43 cars.....period!!!

One word for it NA$CAR. :^(

[pete]

make them run the flash race format ;)