by Darrell Waltrip

Updated: December 28, 2007, 4:03 PM EST 116 comments

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One thing I don't think many people know is that no race team works for NASCAR. We are not committed to NASCAR. The governing body of the sport provides us a place to race, they provide us with rules, provide us with officials, and they oversee the events. As a matter of fact, back in the day I can remember when we'd be at a race and before we would leave that weekend, usually on Sunday morning, we would go to the back of the big red NASCAR hauler and they take off this week's event schedule off the back of the trailer and they would replace it with a sign that read "Our next event is at ..." Basically, that was their way of saying "Here's where we are going to be next week. If you want, you can join us, we'd love to have you."

NASCAR is responsible for providing the rules, the enforcers and a level playing field. It's up to the owners what they do with their respective teams. (Jamie McMurray / Getty Images)

NASCAR doesn't make us run all the races, they've always enticed us to run all the races, and that's why we have the kind of point system which is set up to reward consistency.

The thing that NASCAR does is that they invite you to the next race, and they do it week in and week out. I don't care how many years you've been in racing, I don't care how long you've been driving or how long you've been a car owner — every week you get an entry blank for the next event. You get the form a few weeks before the next event, except for the season-season-opening Daytona 500, most teams probably got their entry blank for that event by this time of the year. That entry form has a deadline on it that it has to be turned in by, and if NASCAR doesn't get it by the date specified then you don't get any points for competing in the race, so it is very critical to have it in on time.

Basically, that blank is your invitation to come to the next race. Now you'd probably say, like I have a million times, "Look, I'm going to run all the races. That's a commitment I made between my sponsor and I." And that's where the commitment comes in. It's not between you and NASCAR, it's between you and the sponsor. You make a deal with the sponsor, you don't go to NASCAR and say "Look, I'm going to run all 36 events, and I want you to pay me this much money." You make that deal with your sponsor.

Every week, NASCAR sends your invitation, it's up to you to decide whether you want to go or not. Along with being your official invite, the entry blank is pretty important because it almost supersedes everything else that NASCAR does, it can even supersede the rulebook. There can be special things in the entry form pertaining to that particular event. For instance, if it is an impound race there's rules for what should happen, but basically the racetrack decides in conjunction with NASCAR what the schedule of events at their track is going to be and it may or may not be different from what the rulebook specifies.

Speaking of the tracks, they are similar to team owners. Tracks are not guaranteed a race. Just because the Coca-Cola 600 has been run in May since the early 1960s does not mean that it has to be run in May in the future. The racetrack has to sign a sanctioning agreement, and they have to do it every year — no track has agreements for five, 10 years down the line. So track officials have to sit down with their people, make their entry blank with all the specific details they require: Times for practices, qualifying and the race, the purse for each position, how the TV money impacts the purse, how the contingency money is divided (such as the Winner's Circle program for race winners from the year before — all these additional plans are the reason why a driver may finish better than somebody else yet make less money than that person). Everything is spelled out in the entry blank.

There's so many things that the entry form explains that you have to take the time to study it so that you not only find out how much money you can make, but also because you have to be aware of any special rules for each race weekend. Sometimes, we have to call NASCAR for clarification about specific things — it could be something as simple as when we park the haulers inside the track to specific rules concerning qualifying procedure.

All sorts of little things go on behind the scenes that most race fans don't realize. Race teams are independent contractors, they are not guaranteed anything from the start. The guarantees are only binding once NASCAR releases the entry blank for each event because once NASCAR puts their seal of approval on that piece of paper, you know you are going to get everything they spell out.

We don't have to go to every race. It's not mandatory. Yes, NASCAR has a point system and some contingency programs where it is beneficial to run every race, but there is nothing that makes you show up. On the other side of the coin, however, each owner has deals set up with their sponsors where they may spell out that they will go to every race and do certain amount of appearances and such, but that's not because they are under obligation by NASCAR to do so.

NASCAR is an entity into itself, each owner is an entity into him- or herself, and every driver is a separate entity. These are the three major players, and for the benefit of everybody they all work together: Driver works with the owner to keep the sponsors happy, the owner works with NASCAR to keep the various parts of NASCAR happy and so forth.

There really is no agreement between NASCAR and the owners, however, until they sign each entry blank, and that's why they make you fill one out every week.

That's what makes us independent.

I'll tell you this folks. I've promoted races in the past, I've raced cars in every division that there is — from USAC to ARCA, ASA to NASCAR — I've owned my own team, I've driven for the greatest car owners, In short, I've done a lot. I'm not telling you this because I'm bragging, but because I have so much knowledge that I can share with you all. I tell people all the time, I'm like a computer — I'm just an old computer. When you turn me on it takes a while to boot up. When you push a button and you want information, I've got it but it just doesn't come out as quick as some of the new computers, but I've got it if you just give me a minute.

I enjoy telling you about our sport. I enjoy trying to educate you. I enjoy trying to show you why things are the way they are and sometimes why they don't turn out the way we would like for them to.

Just remember, these are just some of the small pieces of the puzzle — and NASCAR has to deal with the whole thing. So you have to give them credit for keeping everything under control. It's not like a football or baseball game where you have two opponents on the field, you have 43 teams on the field at one time in NASCAR. It's a hard sport to manage. I think that times when we are critical and being hard on our buddies down there at NASCAR headquarters in Daytona Beach, Fla., we need to step back and realize that this is a big, big show and there's a whole lot that goes on seven days a week. NASCAR does a pretty good job of controlling and managing everything.

Oh, by the way

In case you were wondering, yes you can have your entry blank turned down. Some reasons why they would turn it down include that you are placed on probation, you haven't paid a fine, or any other reason why NASCAR officials would look at your entry blank and say no. But that really hasn't happened in a long time to my knowledge.

The important thing is to make sure those forms get in on time, that's why we will send them in via FedEx or UPS to make sure they get there by the right time and land on the proper desk over at NASCAR headquarters.

There's so many little odds and ends that go on behind the scenes that I could take a lot of time to break down every little intricacy of the sport for you all — and that still wouldn't be enough. But I thought it was important to explain this one because I want you all to know that when you are looking at the teams that you are really looking at individual businesses. These team owners are really small business owners taking their product and putting it on display at a NASCAR track, that's basically what it amounts to.

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This is all pretty much a big rope, and each link has to be hooked to the next one in order for it all to work properly.

Nobody makes us show up, but when we do we have to follow all the rules as set forth by NASCAR and the entry blank for that weekend. Even though we have hard cards that give us admission at every track, we have to go in and sign a form every weekend that releases NASCAR of certain liabilities. You have to do that before you are allowed to go to work in the garage — nevermind being given permission to go out onto the racetrack for practice or qualifying. If you don't sign it, you are not allowed to go do your job, and that goes for every crew member, owner and driver in the NASCAR garages every race weekend.

I hope I haven't confused you all more by explaining all of this, and if I have please send me a message and let me know because we could take the entry blanks, release sheets, NASCAR's responsibilities, the contingency programs, and what the owners roles are in all of this and dissect them for days. But the bottom line is that we may all be separate, but we all work together to make it better. No one of us is smarter than all of us put together — and that's why NASCAR is so successful. It's everybody helping each other, everybody helping grow the sport, everybody making the sport better, everybody showing up and doing what they are supposed to. There's lots of gentlemen's agreements, lots of things you don't agree with that you do anyways because you know its better for everybody.

And that's what makes the sport work.

Oh, by the way, too

It used to be that we sign up for the race, we show up and we go out there and do our thing.

It's not like that anymore.

There are so many commitments, whether it be sponsors, media or any other thing that happens in order to put the show on that drivers, owners and teams just want to get through the week and just to the race. They are tired of all the inspections, all the headaches, the politics ... they just want to race.

There's a lot more responsibility than there used to be before.

One final 'Oh, by the way ...'

A friend of mine asked me one day, "DW, how in the world can NASCAR come in and take your car and not have to give it back to you? How can they take your engine and put it on the dyno machine? What gives them the right to do things like that?"

I bet you can guess my answer now: The entry blank.

Once you show up at the racetrack, you give NASCAR permission to do what they will with your race car as necessary. (Matthew Stockman / Getty Images)

As I was saying, once you send in the entry blank, show up at the track and sign in on race weekends, you are basically agreeing that you will cooperate and do what you are told to do by race and track officials. The guarantee that NASCAR gives you is that there will be a level playing field when you show up, they will provide the inspection procedure, they will provide you with a rulebook, and they will see that the rules are enforced — those are NASCAR's responsibilities to the team owners.

But basically, when you sign all your forms and show up at the track, you give NASCAR the power to do what they please. I remember one time that officials threatened to cut apart my car if I didn't give them information about my car — and there was nothing I could do to stop them if they followed through on their threat.

But that's what you agree to when you show up. We all know that and that's just part of the program.