SOZ on RTR - Owner's Points are a Freakin' Joke by Shultz

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Owner's Points are a Freakin' Joke

3/14/08: SOZ Studios, MI -By Gregg Shultz (RaceFanVote.com)

Back in the day owner's point were given to reward the team owner for his contributions and dedication to the sport and so they would have something of value if their driver decided to leave. Does this even closely resemble what we have today?

There are rules in NASCAR that need to be written in stone and others that need to be discretionary. The owner's points and ability to swap them from one car to another should be the latter. The no. 2 and the no. 77 car are reportedly considering swapping points once again. Kurt will have to keep on piggybacking his teammate by raw-guts racing his way in or relying on his (NASCAR gimme) past champions' provisional to get in the show.

Even though NASCAR doesn't want to be in the position of determining intent with penalties, etc. when it comes to owner's points being swapped for reasons that were not the intention of the rule that allows it, the governing body needs to put their foot down. In a case like this the intent is not only obvious, but the benefit to the team is not what the rule was even designed to accomplish in the first place. Not even close.

Utilizing "loopholes" are a way to circumvent rules, but make the rule maker look weak and not intelligent enough to write a firm enough regulation to prevent such things from happening. NASCAR has the potential to come out looking weak in this one, big time.

Regardless of what's allowed or not allowed, this is just wrong. Back to the discretionary thing, NASCAR does have the authority to step in and they need to do it.

Take into consideration this scenario. Casey Mears drops out of the top 35 after Texas. Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish, Jr. have already traded points. In order to guarantee Mears a starting spot, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears swap owner's points. Kurt blows a tire and Johnson totally misses his line during qualifying and needs his past champion's provisional to get into the show. Kurt Busch goes home. Hopefully Miller Lite won't have an issue being the sponsor of the No. 77 car that weekend.

Blah, blah, blah… too many "what ifs" and this could never happen, right? Some of the finagling that's already occurred is the sort of thing that you wouldn't have believed even just a year ago; so don't be too quick to say never.

None of this is personal against any one driver at least as far as this article is concerned, but what is personal is preservation of the integrity of the sport. If you've even been amongst a group of people who weren't necessarily fans of NASCAR and as a supporter you had to endure the typical comments such as the sport is "fixed" then you will surely cringe if this is allowed to happen. This particular proposed point swap requires a deeper understanding of the sport that an outsider looking in isn't going to possess, so it's just going to look like another wrestling comparison to them as well as to the casual fan. Hit them with a chair, break a concrete block over their head made of Styrofoam and let them swap points. See, it's all fixed just like wrestling… I told you so.

If it does go down then Kurt Busch is basically agreeing to be a martyr of sorts and willing to take one for the team which might earn him some kudos with the Penske organization and definitely his car owner, but it could also be seen as just plain ignorant by his fans. In addition to the above scenario, Kurt only has four more champion's provisionals left and a couple of bad races could definitely put him in jeopardy.

This is a tough sport and giving away any little advantage has the potential to not only kill any chances at a championship, but could also be your means to an end. It's easy to slide down in this sport and a nearly impossible task to climb back up on top once your down.

Kurt may agree to go along with this for now, but if he gets the short end of the deal even once you can bet that his attitude about it would change quickly. All I'm saying is that this game is a double edge sword and since the sponsor of the 77 car happens to be the team owner (Penske) it would be a shame for them to loose a sponsor like Miller Lite, have your past champion gone off to another team and in his place have a driver that never pans out.

Not every rule that can be circumvented needs to be for the purpose of short-term gain by a team. Penske isn't the only team proposing such a swap at this point, but the general consensus seems to be that they have already had one "manipulation" of the rule this season and how did that work out for them? It's this added element, which is making more of a mockery out of the rule than maybe NASCAR should be comfortable with. If there's ever been the opportunity to call a halt to it then this would be the one.

There are a lot of fans that pull for the underdogs, but not when they get everything handed to them on a silver platter and without merit. A "feel good' story emerges when an unknown steps up and showcases his talents, not when a "well known" from another series gets handed a free pass over and over.

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