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I became hooked on the sport about 4 years ago, so i can't go back any further with stats but...
The one thing that i can't stand about NASCAR is the 43 car field. It's not that i mind 43 cars but seems since I've been a fan, I see the same thing week in and week out. You have a select few; Blaney, Nemechek, Gilliland, Bliss & Skinner that run a few laps, garage it & collect a decent size check. Why do these same guys do it? Why does NASCAR allow them to do so? I've seen these guys run as few as 2 laps and hit the garage! Vibration in the car, transmission, brakes?? There's other teams that can get the car back out there, why can't these same guys? Its always the same reasons and yet they never attempt to fix it, there gone for the day.
Has racing always been like this? Has there always been teams/drivers that NEVER finish a race? If this is the case every single week, I would love to see a 35 car field. Let these go or go homers just stay @ home! I think its bad for racing...
Start and park teams have been part of the sport for some time. I cannot say whether these drivers are true start and park drivers (I don't really pay attention to when cars drop out) but those type of drivers do it because they are making some money at it. I am sure they would all rather run a full race, but for whatever reason, maybe the team cannot afford to do that.
The last place car gets a payout every race. So as long as the payout covers the cost of running a few laps, they profit. They really don't have expenses. No need for lots of tires, engines, a big pit crew or expensive garage facility since they never use anything up. One car, a set of tires, an engine that runs... and that's it.
I guess Nascar likes it because they want full fields of cars starting races. If suddenly they weren't filling the field in half of their races, then it would damage their image.
Worse than this, before Indy/Cart merged back up last year, Indy Car was actually financing back of the pack race teams to get enough cars on the starting grid of some races to justify running the race.
The thing is that Blaney, Nemechek and others retire early to pick up an easy paycheck. Starting the race is usually an automatic $60,000 check. When they only run a few laps during practice and run a few laps during the race, they aren't spending money on tires, engine wear, or wrecked equipment. It's actually a pretty crafty move from a business standpoint. Todd Braun parks the #10 cars in some Nationwide races just to help fund his #32 and #38 teams.
It's been a trend on and off for the past 20 years or so, usually magnified when the economy is in the dumps and teams can't get sponsors. The first example of this is when Johnny McFadden would park Jimmy Means' second car in some races back in the late 80's. Except he would actually drive Jimmy's backup car in the race with a crudely decaled 53 where Jimmy's 52 would normally go.
The thing is that Blaney, Nemechek and others retire early to pick up an easy paycheck. Starting the race is usually an automatic $60,000 check. When they only run a few laps during practice and run a few laps during the race, they aren't spending money on tires, engine wear, or wrecked equipment. It's actually a pretty crafty move from a business standpoint.
Blaney and Nemechek both at $1.2 MIL earnings for the year and its only 1/2 over...I gotta be in the wrong business! From a business stand point, yes there doing a smart thing. But for the integrity of the sport, i dont like it...
I'm gonna bid on Denny Hamlins car on E-Bay and start entering races next year! Run 1 lap and park, instant millionaire
Nascar could easily stop this by simply lowering the payout for a bottom finish. However, they certainly don't want to, or they would have by now.
Blaney appears the worst offender. 16 starts, 15 DNF's, avg finish of 40.9th position. He has run less than 70 laps each race except the Coca Cola 600, which he did finish 1 lap down.
Hmmmm anybody that pulls for the 18 has got to be on drugs. Ahahahaha!
***To those that may take this seriously. This is just a joke***
pokrplr and I pick at each other since our drivers are rivals.
Last edited by Luvsdabeach; 07-29-2009 at 02:28 PM..
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and its only 1/2 over...I gotta be in the wrong business! From a business stand point, yes there doing a smart thing. But for the integrity of the sport, i dont like it...
