August 28, 2008
By Doug Demmons
Here’s a recipe for disaster.
Take one beer company that for years sponsored NASCAR’s pole awards and the preseason, non-points Shootout that features the pole winners from the previous year.
Now have that beer company drop the pole award sponsorship but keep the Shootout. And then have the pole award sponsorship picked up by a rival beer company. Shake well.
What you get is a half-baked idea for a new Shootout format.
The format was going to have to change somehow, because no one in his right mind would think Budweiser would sponsor a race featuring all the Coors Light Pole Award winners.
So here’s what they came up with -- instead of the pole winners, the field will have 24 drivers with six from each of the four manufacturers. The top six Chevy teams in owners points, the top six Fords, Dodges and Toyotas.
The idea, as laid out Tuesday in a teleconference by officials from Daytona International Speedway and Anheuser-Busch, is to make it more of a race among manufacturers. They said they envisioned Ford teams working together, Toyota teams ganging up, etc.
So far, so good.
But they apparently didn’t consider a few what-ifs. For instance, what happens if a team switches manufacturers in the off-season? Do they drive for the old manufacturer or the new one?
That question was asked Tuesday and they were stumped.
If this new format had been in place this year, what would they have done with Joe Gibbs Racing? Would Gibbs drivers have been in the Shootout representing Toyota or Chevrolet? Would GM want them knowing they just bolted to Toyota? Would Toyota be hacked off knowing the elite team they just snagged is back driving Chevys?
Here’s another potential problem.
The 2009 Bud Shootout will not include Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman or Clint Bowyer.
That’s because the top six from each manufacturer will be based on car owner points, not driver points. So Stewart and Newman, who are going to Haas teams that have hovered around the cutoff for the top 35 all year, are out.
That means the defending Daytona 500 champion will be excluded from the Shootout.
And how about Clint Bowyer? Bowyer is switching from the No. 07 car to the new fourth team at Childress, the No. 33 car which has no owner points. So he’s out too.
And here’s another potential problem.
One of the perks that made winning a pole special was the idea that you got your ticket punched for next year’s Shootout. Not any more.
In fact, you won’t be seeing Joe Nemechek, who won the pole at Talladega, in the Shootout. Nor will you see Patrick Carpentier, assuming he’s even still around next year, who won the pole at New Hampshire.
As David Poole of the Charlotte Observer pointed out in the teleconference, it’s yet another example of the high-powered, well-financed teams winning out over the smaller, underdog teams.
If the field for the 2009 Shootout were set by the owner points at the moment, the field would look like this:
- Chevrolet -- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears.
- Ford -- Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray and Travis Kvapil.
- Toyota -- Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin, Brian Vickers, David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip.
- Dodge -- Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Elliott Sadler, Juan Pablo Montoya, Bobby Labonte and whoever ends up in the No. 12 at Penske.
If Brad Keselowski had accepted Penske’s offer to drive the No. 12 he might have made his Sprint Cup debut in the Shootout.
This is all just ridiculous. But it is easily solved.
Just get rid of the whole top six in owner’s point idea. That solves the problem of what to do when a team switches manufacturers.
Instead, have the manufacturers choose which six drivers will represent them. Chevy undoubtedly would put Stewart in the race. Toyota might still want Logano in the race and could make it happen.
And since this is all about enhance the competition among manufacturers, have one trophy for the race winner and a separate team competition that gives a trophy to the manufacturer whose six drivers amass the most points.
That way, even if you’re having problems, blow a tire and you’re running 23rd, you still need to get out there and fight for every position to help your manufacturer win.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow
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