There’s been another round
of last-minute owner points shuffling prior to the start of Speedweeks 2012 at
Daytona.
 |
| Mike strikes again! |
Traditionally a major player
in the annual transfer of owner points from one team to another, Michael
Waltrip Racing is a big winner again this year, orchestrating a deal to obtain
owner points from Frank Stoddard’s FasLane Racing for MWR’s No. 55 Toyota, to
be driven in 25 races this season by veteran Mark Martin.
Martin will now be a
guaranteed starter in the Daytona 500, while FasLane Racing will rely on the
Past Champion’s Provisional owned by driver Terry Labonte to ensure itself a
spot in the “Great American Race.” Meanwhile, FasLane has reportedly worked a
deal with Roush Fenway Racing to acquire 2011 owner points from RFR’s No. 6
Ford for the four races immediately following Daytona. Roush Fenway will field
the No. 6 with driver Ricky Stenhouse. Jr., in the Daytona 500, but has no
plans to enter the car after that. FasLane will run the entire Sprint Cup
schedule with drivers Labonte, Ken Schrader and others.
Waltrip will drive the #55
entry in Saturday night's Budweiser Shootout, before turning the car over to
Martin for the remainder of Speedweeks and campaigning the No. 40 Aaron’s Dream
Machine Toyota for Hillman Racing in the Daytona 500.
If NASCAR has not found points transfers to be sketchy in the past.. This one has to take the cake.
ReplyDeleteI was under the impression that you could not sell or transfer points unless there was some ownership stake in the teams.
So.. does Rauch-Fenway (ford team) now have an ownership stake on MWR (Toyota team)?
And does MWR now also have a stake in Fast lane (ford team)?
So this is a messed up and as much an abuse of the system as I have ever dreamed .. let alone seen.. NASCAR HAS to act or lose all credibility in 'qualifying'
Just my .02
Alan
Do any of you honestly think bobby ginn owns a portion of the 33 car. Bowyer and mikey are down with opp. Other peoples points.
ReplyDeleteLike you said in an earlier posting, "Lets go back to real qualifying!" Or something close to that. why have rules if you don't follow them. OOPS, I forgot they do what they want when they want, etc....
ReplyDeleteAnother record for Mike Waltrip, the most owners points used to enter a race that weren't earned by the race team using them. He is proving that you don't have to race the whole season to be in the big show. This record means as much as the most starts in all NASCAR series that he is bragging about. Wonder why he didn't count his late model feature starts too?
ReplyDeleteThis is out of hand. I like Michael and MWR, but, I hope this is the straw that broke the camels back. Something needs to be done.
ReplyDeletethis is bs there are other teams that should get in before this guy
ReplyDeletethis sucks it's not racing it's politics. should be the fastest 40 cars and 2 promoters options just in case a big star has problem in qualifying period
ReplyDeleteI really -- REALLY-- dislike this trading/selling of points. I don't care that "they own them, they can do anything they want with them" or "it's just business." We've been complaining that our sport is not taken seriously. I suggest we act more like a sport (ref. Dave's piece on qualifying) and tone down the growing talk about the business aspect of the sport. And, I might add, let's drop the old habit of referring to the race as "the show." It always make me think about professional wrestling!
ReplyDeleteAm I missing something here? Didn't the 00 finish in the top 35 last year? And the 00 is now the 55, so . . .? I don't get why this was even necessary. What am I missing?
ReplyDelete