superstartreatment wrote:Is anyone else not surprised that all the drivers that did not qualify for the 500 were Toyota's?
Toyota outside of Joe Gibbs Racing has been woefully inconsistent, despite Reutimann's win last season. Kyle Busch had a boffo season in 2008, 8 wins I think, but missed the chase. But I think this simply had more to do with the number of Toyotas outside the top 35 than anything else.
Still think it would be better under the old way - top 14 finishers in each duel get in (pos 3-30). Rest have to rely on speed (31-36, or 38 some years), and/or being high enough in last year's owners points for a provisional (37 or 39-42). The first year they had the top 35 rule, I think it worked out where the 7th place finisher in one of the duels didn't make the 500. Think it was Robby Gordon.
The whole top 35 rule came into being one freak race where there were so many provisionals used by drivers in the top 20 in owner points that some drivers in the mid-20s in points missed the race.
Johnny Benson may have been one of them with the 10 car. (Was half right - it was 10 car but it was Scott Riggs driving it - 2nd Atlanta race in 2004 -
http://www.racing-reference.info/race/2 ... MBNA_500/W" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - also Scott Wimmer in the Bill Davis #22, they ended up finishing 29th and 27th in the points) All told, 15 drivers missed the race, and the provisionals were used by 17 Kenseth, 15 Waltrip, 40 Marlin, 5 Labonte and 21 Rudd. In the points, they comprised the 8th, 21, 22, 24, 26. Ah, here we are. in 2004, it was 38 on time, 4 provisionals, and 1 past champion provisional.
http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2004/33 ... ineup.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They say that hard cases make bad law. Well, a hard case led to a bad rule. The old-style way meant there was an incentive to be as high in the points as possible - someone 5th in points was going to get in no matter what. The further down the list, the less certain you were. Of course, they also had 2nd round qualifying on Saturday, which opened up 26-38, for drivers to post a better time and improve their position or leave their time stand and hope for the best. I forget when the 2nd round Quals disappeared, but they were gone by this Atlanta race. This led to cases where the fastest qualifying time, and sometimes track record holders, were not the polesitter, but the 26th starter.
Should be interesting to see how the "big one" at Daytona affects the point standings, since the floor is so much lower (as a % of total points avail) than it was under the old system. Maybe their new one will work, in that if the lower positions are more painful, drivers will try harder to get higher ones?
