Unintended Consequences

[Alexamateo]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/Trevor-Bayne-ineligible-for-NASCAR-Sprint-Cup-rookie-of-the-year-award-021011

Anytime rules or laws are changed, there's always unintended consequences. We have our first one with drivers having to declare what series they are running in. Nascar has said Trevor Bayne cannot be rookie of the year this year in Sprint Cup because because he is running for the Nationwide championship. He is scheduled to run 17 races for the Wood Brothers this year and in all likelihood would be an excellent rookie of the year. As things stand right now, he would be ineligible in the future because he ran more than 7 races in a season. They are talking about waiving that, but do we really want rookies of the year in the future to have more than half a seasons starts under their belt before they run for it?

Personally I don't see why a guy cannot run for the Nationwide Championship and Cup rookie at the same time anyway. Rookies seldom figure in the championship race, and there is a separate (though seldom published) formula for figuring rookie points anyway.

[Alexamateo]

Also if nothing changes, Brian Keselowski will be rookie of the year with a season not unlike Kevin Conway's last year.

[slorydn1]

Its what everybody wanted, right? They wanted the drivers to compete in one series. They got what they wanted. Now Trevor can compete for the Natwide Championship unmolested by Cup drivers. He'll probably win that, too. If he's concerned about Cup ROY cut back to 7 races in Cup and preserve his eligabilty for 2012.

[Lee Roy]

I don't think that RoTY means all that much anyway. JIMHO

[beachgirl]

Who was ROTY in 2010?

[slorydn1]

Who was ROTY in 2010?

Kevin Conway

[NASCARWidow]

You have to get points to become ROTY and if Trevor has declared that he is running the Nationwide Series then he won't be getting any points in the Cup Series no matter how well he runs. I figure this is NASCAR's thinking.

[e2mtt]

Yup. Bad rules, unintended consequences.