New rules make slow starts less stressful
The early returns for some Sprint Cup drivers are in, and they’re ugly.
Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch and Danica Patrick are among drivers off to poor starts three races into a 36-race season. These five range from 22nd (Bowyer) to 33rd (Patrick) in the standings.
But, because of an altered Chase for the Sprint Cup format, the numbers aren’t as bad as a first glance might indicate. A key difference in the new season is that some drivers and teams think they need not grind their teeth over early-season struggles — at least not nearly as much as in past seasons.
If you stumble and fall, the checkered flag is there as a blackand-white safety net.
Though points are likely to be the determining factor in filling at least a few spots in the 16-driver Chase, the simpler avenue into the playoffs runs through victory lane. A win in any of the 26 regular-season races is a passport into the Chase, regardless of performance in previous events (as long as the winner is in the top 30 in points, a not-so-difficult achievement). If more than 16 different drivers score wins in the season’s first 26 races, the number of wins per driver will determine Chase qualifying.
Since the Chase began in 2004, the highest number of different winners in the regular season is 15. That happened once.
If the number of race winners is below 16, the rest of the Chase grid will be filled using points.
A look at how the five aforementioned drivers have fared:
Bowyer finished next-to-last at Daytona International Speedway after engine trouble and was 13th at Phoenix International Raceway before finishing 23rd and a lap down Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Truex, who moved to onecar team Furniture Row Racing after losing his ride at Michael Waltrip Racing, has runs of 43rd, 22nd and 14th.
Stewart, recovering from a broken right leg that shortened his 2013 season by 15 races, was 35th at Daytona and 16th at Phoenix and had a rotten day Sunday, finishing 33rd, four laps behind the leaders. He said his car was loose and added afterward, “Something wasn’t right.”
Busch, who is in his first year with Stewart-Haas Racing, has finished two of the races and had a sour day Sunday, limping home three laps down in 26th.
Teammate Patrick has finishes of 40th, 36th and 21st.
Busch has had a tougher start than any other driver with high expectations.
“The points format is now all about just grabbing that one win and just relaxing,” he said. “If you’re doing your job, you should be in the top 20 in points and not worry about being out of the
“If you’re doing your job, you should be in the top 20 in points and not worry about being out of the top 16.”
Driver Kurt Busch
top 16. We had car damage when we got hit on pit road in Daytona and blew a motor at Phoenix. ... We just need to get back in our rhythm.”
Kyle Busch, a multiple-race winner in six of his nine Cup campaigns but never a solid threat for a championship, doesn’t seem to be losing much sleep over the new spin.
“If I get a win or multiple wins or whatever, great, that’s cool,” he said. “If I don’t get any wins, as long as I’m in the top 16 in points and there aren’t 16 guys that have wins, then I’m fine, right?”
Kyle Busch is 10th in points despite a humdrum start (19th at Daytona, ninth at Phoenix and 11th at Las Vegas).
“My start is not terrible,” Busch said. “I’m (10th) in points or something like that, so I’m kind of already in, if you look at it that way. It changes everything the way the whole year and everybody’s strategy is and what all it’s going to boil down to.
“You never know what you will see next weekend at Bristol. You could have guys racing each other hard for the win and move the other out of the way just to get that win and lock themselves in.”
Jimmy Makar, senior vice president of racing operations at Joe Gibbs Racing, is among team executives paid to juggle the new numbers and worry about how they might crunch in the Chase run-up.
He figures to fight less stress than most because all of his drivers — Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch — are expected to score at least one win during the regular season.
Kenseth was runner-up for the 2013 title with seven wins in his first season at JGR; Hamlin won an exhibition race and one of the Budweiser Duel qualifying races at Daytona; and Busch has never gone a season without a win.
“The fact that all three have won races in the past and win on a fairly consistent basis is definitely something that makes you feel good, but, of course, anything can happen,” Makar said.
Points issues and big questions can be eliminated in a heartbeat with a win, Makar said.
“You have a lot of mulligans throughout the year,” he said.
Despite vast changes in Chase qualifying rules this year, Ford driver Marcos Ambrose, who was 24th Sunday, said he was trying to view the new season from the same perspective as before.
“I don’t want to put myself in a points hole in the first four or five weeks,” he said.
As Makar notes, part of the mystery surrounding the season’s early part involves teams’ reactions to new car preparation rules NASCAR ushered in this year.
“That is probably going to cause more up-and-down movement in the standings than before, and that should give you more chances to move up,” he said. “But, still, the win is the big thing.”