It's Time for the Top 35 Rule to Go Away

October 31, 2004, Atlanta Motor Speedway - 58 cars showed up for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race and of the 15 that didn't make the show, 2 were high-priced casualties: the #10 MBV Motorsports car driven by Scott Riggs, and the #22 of Bill Davis Racing driven by Scott Wimmer. They were bumped by the likes of Tony Raines and Todd Bodine, driving cars fielded by scrub owners no one would remember and backed by sponsors no one ever heard of. But the fact that the #10 and #22 they were sponsored by Valvoline and Caterpillar, two companies with long histories NASCAR, did. And in one panic stricken knee jerk reaction, the Top 35 Rule was born.

The premise of the rule may have seemed like a good idea at that particular moment in time as a means to "protect" a sponsor's marketing investment. However, in a classic twist of cruel irony, the two cars that spawned the whole thing missed 10 races the following year as they both struggled to stay in the Top 35. Another intent of the Top 35 rule was to cut down on the number of 'field fillers' from making a race because the rule is weighted to help, supposedly, the fully-funded teams - remember, this was during a time when 50+ entries were the norm.

With the new rule announced and the big gun good old boy owners rejoicing, off in the distance there was a sucking sound that went ignored. It was the sound of their team values riding the Coriolis swirl into the sewer. But no matter, franchising was just around the corner and with it a 4-car team's worth will be on par with that of a NFL franchise! All hail NASCAR!

Wrong.

The only thing of any real value today for a NASCAR team are Owner Points. This years musical chairs payola tournament is further proof. And NASCAR has the final say who gets them. Optimism, narcissism, and shortsightedness are the makings for guaranteed disaster. As writer Thomas Tusser said over 400 years ago, "A fool and his money are soon parted." The owners foolishly handed control of their respective team values over to NASCAR in exchange for....points. And NASCAR smiled. The owners just made the sanctioning body and those precious points more valuable than the blood, sweat and tens of millions of dollars they've poured into their own teams. I have to give NASCAR credit, they are unequaled in giving back by taking more.

How much do you think the hard parts, equipment, and inventory of the #6 team are worth today? Pennies on the dollar. Same as the #7 team (this must be the parity NASCAR is referring to.) Owner Points have become GOLD thanks to the Top 35 Rule. Yeah, I can understand why Robby feels like he's stuck. He made the commitment, the investment, and they changed the rules. The Top 35 rule has dogged him since day one, and by day one I'm referring to the 2005 Daytona 500. Robby qualified 38th out of 59 cars and finished 7th in his Duel race. In previous years Robby would have had a top 20 starting spot for the big show, but thanks to the new Top 35 rule he had to put the car in the hauler and missed a minimum $250K payout. For a new start up, that's a hard kick to the genitals.

If NASCAR really wanted to help teams attract investment and retain much more hard asset value they would get rid of the Top 35 Owner Points AND all the damn provisional excuses altogether. Look at Daytona qualifying this year. After the 35 locked in spots and all the past this and that provisionals, etc., only THREE cars have a shot at making the show. Who wants to invest against a stacked deck?

Eliminate the owner points and replace it with a Top 35 Drivers Point system. This would quickly accomplish a couple of things, 1) It would place the focus of a team's value where it rightfully should be: real estate, equipment, cars, etc. 2) It would increase the value of active, experienced drivers and in the process make the chicken shit past champion provisional some team owners use obsolete.

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Permalink Reply by David Gotaas on February 22, 2012 at 6:59pm

In today's Nascar, if only 45 or 46 car's show up on a given weekend how about the top 40 rule? If that were the case teams like Robby's who showed up each week last year and spent the money and actualy tried to enter a car would not have to stress this weekend..

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Permalink Reply by WJM on February 22, 2012 at 7:56pm

Then cut it back to the top 15. They only show 10-15 cars during the broadcast anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Mouseking7 on February 22, 2012 at 8:04pm

Let's make it real interesting and make them ALL qualify on speed EVERY race. Fastest 43 cars are in!!! NO EXCEPTIONS!

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Permalink Reply by Aaron on February 23, 2012 at 6:35pm

My point! The best part of real racing is the racing! Nothing is a for sure, if it was why race. So why in the world should anyone be given a spot just because? Past champion, top 35, lucky dog....all made up B.S. by nonother that NA$CRAP, the home of big money political owners and sponsors that will be sure to get there way no matter the cost.

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Permalink Reply by blitz on February 22, 2012 at 8:04pm

nascar is irrelevent no one cares,they know who is going to win what drivers they are going to promote,they are like WWE got really BIG then the curtain was pulled back and you seen OZ.how ironic, the final nail in the coffin Mike waltrip doing it on TV love it

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Permalink Reply by Patrick G . on February 23, 2012 at 7:09pm

Yes it does and so does the past champions pro . the # 32 ( Past champ ) and the # 83 an # 93 is a joke . Thats why I Love drag racings so much . Big names miss races all the time .

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Permalink Reply by pdxracefan on February 23, 2012 at 10:56pm

WJM, sir: Great treatise. Spot on. You have stated in very exact terms what the problem is. I agree 100%. At one time, back then, it may have made sense to them. Since then, the economy went into the toilet, and the entire table changed. It no longer applies, and it no longer works.

Plus, if you think about it awhile, it never really made sense then.

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Permalink Reply by WJM on February 23, 2012 at 11:45pm

The rule was a short-sighted knee jerk reaction. It was a rule Bill Davis pushed for, got, and then was ultimately burned for. Between 2005 and 2008, Bill Davis' cars racked up 28 "not in the top 35" DNQ's.

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Permalink Reply by GLL on February 24, 2012 at 12:16pm

Amen brother. Especially at Daytona, where they have normal qualifying + the dual qual races.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley Murrey on February 27, 2012 at 9:47pm

I really hope Nascar decides to stop pushing Danicunt down our throats on both TV and online, because the real racers and race fans are getting sick of not only hearing her name, but hearing all the excuses they make for her running out of talent on and off the race track. Saturday's race was a perfect example of this, not only did Nascar make a big deal about Danica's crash after what was really a routine draft bump from her teammate, but Johanna Long a rookie female driver finished 21st in the race yet Nascar didn't even mentioned it. You would think a female driver in her first Busch race in Daytona would get some kind of mention, but maybe I guess Johanna Long's sponsors don't line the pockets of Nascar with as much money as Danicunt's sponsors do? It's a shame, because not only is Johanna Long a better driver, but she is actually a nice person, two things Danicunt is severely lacking in.

By the way nice paint job on your helmet Danicunt. Robby was running that look over 15 years ago, but I'm sure you wouldn't know that since your not really a racing fan and just more of publicity stunt and marketing tool. It only makes sense she would take someone else's look, since she feels she deserves everything else in racing, even though she has never done anything to warrant it.