NOTES FROM THE NASCAR NATION: Brisk Trading on the NASCAR Stock Exchange
So, once again a NASCAR team has found a way to bolster their potential status by acquiring owner’s points from another team. This latest round of commodity trading involves Stewart-Haas Racing and their driver Danica Patrick. This particular deal is interesting due to the fact that some a new NASCAR rule change, going into effect beginning with the Daytona 500, may actually impact the value of acquiring those owner’s points. Here’s the highlights from this deal:
We’re all aware that Danica Patrick will be running the full 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule in the #10 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing, (SHR).
Patrick will be starting the new season with zero owner’s points. She ran ten Sprint Cup races last year via a partnership between SHR and Tommy Baldwin Racing, (TBR). Driver David Reutimann ran the remainder of the races in the #10 car and earned enough owner’s points to place the team 33d in the final owner’s standings. However, earlier this year, TBR exercised their right to transfer those points to driver Dave Blaney and their #7 team. That’s why Patrick has no owner’s points for this year.
Meanwhile NASCAR finally felt it was time to eliminate the long standing rule that said teams within the top 35 in owner’s points were guaranteed a starting berth even if misfortune hampered their qualifying attempts. The new rule for 2013 will set the first 36 cars based on qualifying speeds. The remainder of the field will be set on owner’s points provisionals with at least one of those berths available for a past champions provisional.
In order to ease the tension of the #10 team’s owner’s points situation, SHR, back on February 8th, announced they had made a deal to acquire the owner’s points from Robinson-Blakeney Racing, the owners of the now defunct #49 team. The car was driven last year by J J Yeley which, due to a frequent start and park status, finished 42nd in the 2012 owner’s points standings. According to NASCAR rules these newly acquired owner’ points can be used as qualifying provisionals during the first five races of the season.
Does this mean that SHR has in effect purchased a starting berth for their #10 team into the Daytona 500? Not necessarily. That’s because the Great American Race has a unique qualifying format that separates itself from the other 35 points paying events on the schedule.
The starting field for the Daytona 500 is traditionally based on qualifying speeds and the results of two very intense 150 mile heat races: the Budweiser Duels. That process sets the first 32 positions in the race based on the top 15 finishers from each race. Positions 33 through 36 is awarded to the fastest four drivers from qualifying day who didn’t race their way in via the Budweiser Duels. Positions 37-42 are provisionals based on owner’s points. The final position is a past champion’s provisional.
If Patrick, and her #10 team, experiences difficulty with either qualifying or the Budweiser Duels, and it has been known to happen in the past, then she might have to rely on the owner’s points provisionals to make the race. The possibility that her newly acquired 42nd ranking in owner’s points may not be enough to earn that provisional start could exist. On the opposite extreme, it’s also possible that the newly acquired owner’s points could actually get the team in the race.
That likely could create an outcry from NASCAR media and fans regarding a team buying their way into the Daytona 500. NASCAR recently received high praise for eliminating the guaranteed starts for the top 35 teams in owner’s points. Now they need to address the policy of transferring owner’s points. Those points should remain with the teams that earned them, even if that team is no longer in the business of NASCAR racing. They should not be allowed to be purchased like a commodity on the New York Stock Exchange.
3 Bold Predictions for the Truck Series in 2013
With the new Camping World Truck Series Season less than two weeks from starting, everyone is making their final predictions for what they believe will happen in the Truck Series this season. The new additions to the Truck schedule like Eldora and Mosport in Canada make the expected excitement level very high. 2013 could be like last season where our expectation level was way too low and the actual season was epic. But, we won’t make that same mistake this season. We all expect the action to be top notch in the Truck Series this season. Below, I give some bold predictions I have for the Truck Series this season.
Bold Prediction 1- Kyle Busch Motorsports wins the most races as an organization
Going into 2013, we all know that Kyle Busch Motorsports will be the team to beat. They will have, at most, three trucks trying to get to victory lane all season. Two of those trucks will be going after the championship. KBM is taking part in the youth movement in NASCAR and they have two of the best younger drivers in the Truck Series. Darrell Wallace Jr and Joey Coulter will be teaming up this season to bring KBM a boat load of success. These two young guns definitely have potential to get to victory lane often this season.
With the talent level at KBM, they should be in victory lane multiple times this season and I predict that their organization will have the most wins in the Truck Series at season’s end. In the ten races Kyle Busch will be racing in, he could easily win nine of them. That may be a stretch but, anything could happen going into the new season. Expect KBM to be in victory lane a lot this season and with all of their drivers. 2013 may just be KBM’s year.
Bold Prediction 2- Turner-Scott Motorsports will not have the same amount of success this season as they did in 2012.
2012 was probably the best season in the history of Turner (Now Turner-Scott) Motorsports. A truck championship, six Truck wins and two Nationwide Series wins made the whole season a reason to celebrate. After an extremely successful season like that, can they have a repeat performance? It is highly unlikely since we have never seen a team have that much success in one season and then have a repeat performance in the following season.
I’m not saying they won’t win races or compete for the championship this season, I’m just saying they won’t be in victory lane as much as they were last season. James Buescher will once again be a dominant figure in the Truck Series but, maybe the defending champion won’t be as dominant as he was last season with all the other drivers chasing him. Buescher and the rest of Turner-Scott Motorsports will have another great season but, I don’t believe their 2013 will be as good as their 2012 was.
Bold Prediction 3- The list of first time winners won’t be as big this season as it was in 2012.
Almost half of the Truck Series’ races last season were won by guys who had never won a Truck race before. Nine to be exact. Having nine first time winners in a season is a huge stat and it will be hard to be repeated. I predict that in 2013, we won’t see as many first time winners. We will definitely see some guys win for the first time in a Truck but, not nine different guys. The action in the Truck Series will be intense and really anyone can win but, the list of possible first time winners is short and therefore, it will be harder for the drivers on the list to get their first Truck Series win.
An exciting, wild and just plain crazy season is in-store for the Truck Series. Whether its trucks flying into the catch fence at Daytona or trucks sliding around on dirt at Eldora, anything could happen in the Truck Series this season. Last season, the action in the Truck Series went beyond our expectation and the same thing could happen this season. In just over a week, the Trucks will be back and under the lights at Daytona to kick off their season. Expect the unexpected in 2013 because the Truck Series will be as wild as ever.
