Jan 7, 2008

Another Strange Ruling by NASCAR

The process of qualifying for races has always been one of the most interesting and unique aspects of motorsports. Over the course of nearly 100 years, the Indianapolis 500 has turned qualifying into a nearly month-long ritual that can be nearly as suspenseful and heartbreaking as the big race itself.  Qualifying for Formula One races is most often crucial to success in the races themselves, since one's place on the grid is so important in that vaunted series. And then there is NASCAR. The series holds a qualifying day before each Cup race, many of which are televised, but the great untold secret about NASCAR "qualifying" is that it means practically nothing. 

The latest evidence of this is NASCAR's peculiar ruling in the case of former open-wheel champion and Indy 500 winner Sam Hornish Jr., who is now trying to make his way in what will this year be called Sprint Cup. Last season, as he went through his apprenticeship period, Hornish was unsuccessful in qualifying for NASCAR Nextel Cup races in his first six straight attempts.  It wasn't until the penultimate race of the season -- Phoenix -- that he finally qualified for a spot on the grid, and he also turned the trick in the final race at Homestead, Fla. Both races turned out to be forgettable for the talented open-wheel driver, as he finished 30th in Phoenix and 37th at Homestead.

Okay, that simply indicates there is a long learning curve and that driving a NASCAR Cup car at the highest levels is not nearly as easy as it might appear. This is no knock on Hornish, because other top open-wheel racers have experienced very similar things. 

But what happened next is, to racing purists, utterly amazing. In an attempt to ease Hornish's transition into Cup competition, Penske Racing requested that "owner points" that had been accrued by Kurt Busch last year be transferred to Hornish. With those points, Hornish will be guaranteed a grid position in the first five races of the year no matter how he does in qualifying. Meanwhile, Busch has nothing to lose since he is a former Cup season champion, which means he, too, gets a grid position no matter how he qualifies (or not).

Incredibly (or perhaps not so incredibly, if you've followed NASCAR for awhile) the folks at the sanctioning body said, "Sure thing, Penske team, no problem." So despite the fact that he failed to qualify in six of eight attempts in his Cup career, Hornish is guaranteed a starting spot in the first five races of the upcoming Sprint Cup season. Meanwhile, other drivers who were not able to tap into this peculiar twist on "qualifying" -- including fellow open-wheel refugees Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier -- will have to work their way into the field the traditional way, by actually going faster than other drivers.