Top 35 Rule provides changing landscape
by REA WHITE, Special to FOXSports.com
For the opening five races of the season, the top 35 cutoff guaranteeing teams starting spots in each race was based on 2007 owners points. This both rewards the traditional teams over a new group and allows a team to overcome a bad race and not drop out of that point range early in the season.
 |
| Rea White (NASCAR Scene) |
By the end of the fifth race, things have generally settled down for Cup teams with the points standings more closely matching the competitive level of each of the teams.
So with the first off weekend of the 2008 Sprint Cup season looming, the top 35 based on this year's points is now locked into place for the upcoming race at Martinsville Speedway. Each week's top 35 will be set based on results through the previous race, with some fluctuation possible within it. Now, though, last year's points are just that and the current season dictates that group.
That's good news for the Michael Waltrip Racing trio of Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann and Michael McDowell, as each is now locked into the field for the first time in the organization's history. Rookie McDowell is stepping into the No. 00 that Reutimann has been driving, while Reutimann moves over to Jarrett's car as of the Martinsville race.
It's also good news for 2004 Cup champ Kurt Busch, who can stop walking to the back of the garage to visit his high-performing Penske Racing team, and to Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers, who will also be locked into a points race for the first time since 2006.
|
Those have been the early successes this season.
"It will be nice to show up at a race track and know that we are locked into the race — I haven't known that feeling," says Reutimann, who is in his second full season of Cup competition. "The deal is that we have to keep moving forward in our points to insulate things. I'm proud of my guys."
But for a slate of other teams, March 28 at Martinsville Speedway now looms like a monster. And once they're past that, Sunday won't be much better for all the teams hovering below or near that top 35 mark.
There's a tight-knit group in the standings on each side of that line. Below it are some powerful organizations, including Roush Fenway Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Gillett Evernham Motorsports. Those 36th and beyond include Jamie McMurray (Roush Fenway), Dave Blaney (Bill Davis Racing), Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi), Regan Smith (DEI), Kyle Petty (Petty Enterprises), Joe Nemechek (Furniture Row Racing), Ken Schrader (BAM Racing), Mike Skinner (filling in for AJ Allmendinger, Red Bull Racing), Wood Brothers Racing (which has fielded cars for Bill Elliott, Johnny Sauter and Jeff Green this season), John Andretti (Front Row Motorsports) and Patrick Carpentier (Gillett Evernham).
Only slightly above the line are five teams within 34 points of the 36th-place group: J.J. Yeley (Hall of Fame Racing), Jeremy Mayfield (Haas CNC Racing), Casey Mears (Hendrick Motorsports), Reutimann (in the No. 44 car now) and Sam Hornish Jr. (Penske Racing).
Last season, once a team fell below that marker, it proved very difficult to get back above it. Scott Riggs and his No. 10 team, then known as Valvoline Evernham Racing, dropped outside the top 35 after the opening five races — and ended up spending the rest of the season trying to make races. Only Bill Davis Racing's Dave Blaney and Wood Brothers Racing's No. 21 team were able to move back into the range once they fell out, but even the Wood Brothers were unable to remain in that group.
The problem is that teams outside of it need very little to happen to force them to go home. And once a race is missed, the points against a group start stacking up. Last year, Riggs was within 10 points of breaking back in to the top 35 when he missed the next race.
Just like that, his team was climbing the ladder again.
It carried over into this season, where Carpentier entered the year outside of that group and then watched the field lock in without him as qualifying was rained out twice in the opening five races.
To say it's a difficult position to be in may be the understatement of the season for the drivers trying to break into the locked-in group.
Vickers can certainly sympathize with those drivers — though he's exceedingly thankful not to be one of them.
"Starting next week I will be able to sleep well on Thursday nights again," he says.
Some others won't, including crew chief Doug Richert. Last season, he was with Vickers as the team was forced to qualify week after week. Now he finds himself in that position again, this time with Raybestos rookie contender Smith.
"I hate it," said the former championship crew chief. "I was in this predicament last year, and I don't like to be in it, but we've got to go to Martinsville, and we've got to qualify for these races. Now our focus is going to turn. We're going to show up, and now it's all about one lap now and let's see what we can do."
Several of the rookies are outside the top 35, struggling as they adjust to racing in the Cup series.
Most are trying to take the must-qualify situation in stride — though they'd clearly like to be on the other side of the line. With time, each clearly believes he will be.
"It's tough to be learning everything that we're learning racing against these type of people," former open-wheel star Franchitti says. "These guys know what they're doing, so it's very difficult for us to even stay in the top 35 right now, but hopefully by the middle to the end of the season we'll have figured it out."
Rea White is a writer for NASCAR Scene, which is published weekly, 50 weeks per year. Visit www.scenedaily.com for more information. © 2007 Street & Smith Sports Group.
advertisement
