The much debated Top 35 qualifying rule saved Martin Truex at Martinsville Speedway. Truex will race on Sunday by virtue of his spot in the Top 35, while Kyle Petty watches from the sidelines. The other three drivers who failed to make the field, John Andretti, Tony Raines and Joe Nemechek posted the three slowest laps of the 47 drivers who took laps.
Three of twelve drivers, led by Jamie McMurray and caboosed by Dario Franchitti, all outside the top 35 posted laps fast enough to guarantee spots in the field without a Top 35 rule. Consequently, the only driver injured by the rule was Kyle Petty.
At a glance the Top 35 rule, at least at Martinsville Speedway had little effect on the starting field. Kyle Petty probably doesn't feel that way, but the Petty name aside one of twelve is a small percentage.
Given control of the rulebook, in my world the Top 35 rule would simply go away. There wouldn't be a complete reversion to the days when the Top Twenty qualified on Friday and the remainder of the field on Saturday. As one who is comfortable with the Chase format I would take the concept one step further. One reward for qualifying for the Chase would be a guaranteed spot in every race the next year. However, the guarantee would go to the driver and not the car owner. Everyone else, no exceptions, no former champions rule, would qualify for every race based on time.
Such a plan could alleviate the problems team's currently out of or hovering near that top 35 spot face as they attempt to attract the sponsor dollars needed to elevate the performance of the team.
Think of the excitement such a change would plug into the Race for the Chase as several drivers not only raced for the final spots in the Chase, but also for a guaranteed starting spot in the 36 point races the following year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment