So much for seniority! Has NASCAR peaked?

By Mike Harper

In cycling a team finds one bicycle rider who has extraordinary talent and they build their team around that person. For example, the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team built their team around Lance Armstrong. In doing so Armstrong won seven Tour de France tours. An amazing accomplishment for any team.

What makes this concept unique is each team is made up of members who are loyal to their number one guy. When things click just right, the entire team wins.

In NASCAR we find the team concept in tact, however each driver who is associated with a multi-car organization races against his fellow teammates. He doesn’t race with a teammate like what’s found in professional cycling, in NASCAR it’s all out racing against your brother.

Currently, the younger guys are leaving their senior teammates in the dust. Just look at the points. Matt Kenseth is once again out performing Mark Martin. Kyle Busch is beating out his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin has jumped in front of his teammate, Tony Stewart.

Kasey Kahne left Jeremy Mayfield in the dust prior to Mayfield’s termination from Evernham Motorsports and first season Penske driver Kurt Busch is currently 73 points in front of Penske veteran driver Ryan Newman. Bobby Labonte is in his first season at Petty Enterprises and he’s 352 points ahead of Petty owner Kyle Petty.

So much for seniority!

50 teams next season, who’ll sit out?

It seems everyone is talking about adding another team to their stable next season. Rumors have Richard Childress, Robby Gordon, Evernham Motorsports and Morgan-McClure just to name a few, all wanting to add another team to their organization.

Red Bull Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing will be new racing organizations next season. And with Bill Davis Racing’s recent announcement of adding a second car to the 2007 roster with Jeremy Mayfield driving it, one really must wonder what seven cars will become habitual offenders on missing the show as a result of the immediate growth found next season in Cup racing.

Based on the current 2006 qualifying statistics, Kyle Petty, Michael Waltrip, Travis Kvapil, Tony Raines, Scott Wimmer, David Stremme and Dave Blaney are guys who do not qualify well and could end up missing the majority of the season in 2007.

Owners and their drivers who sit outside the top 25 in Cup Series owner points this season, will find themselves under extreme pressure next season. Their goal of competing for a race win will take a back seat to the fact that these teams will need to make the race and run inside the top 25 in each event. Anything less will put them on the verge of not racing the entire season. The result will bring a much earlier beginning to what we know as Silly Season and sponsorship retention could become a major issue in NASCAR.

The times are changing and it will be an interesting show to watch.

Goodbye Bristol!

I’m disappointed in last weekend’s Cup event at Bristol. In my opinion, the Busch Series event out entertained the Cup event by leaps and bounds. And even more disappointing is the fact that Bristol will never be the same again.

With the implementation of the Car of Tomorrow, who knows what kind of an event we’ll see at Bristol next season. Just a guess, but I would think the futuristic wing on the COT and the "splitter" found on the base of the nose of the COT will change the way the drivers race at Bristol. I can’t imagine using the bumper on a competitor without damaging the "splitter" and I’d think your day would be ended if you knock the wing off the back of the car when making contact with the wall.

My guess is once everyone realizes that what we saw at Bristol last weekend from the Cup guys could become the new standard racing practice at Bristol, there will be a lot of sad, sad folks. Including me.

I hope the excitement of the beatin’ and bangin’ at Bristol won’t become a distant memory like so many tracks have in NASCAR. If it does, 2006 might go down in history as the year when NASCAR hit its peak!