Darby says modifications are possible to Top-35 qualifying rule

[NASCARWidow]

I understand that the rule came about to make sure that the fulltime sponsored teams got into the race. But now there are more than 43 fulltime sponsored cars. Is Ginn's sponsor more important than NAPA and UPS? If they want to guarantee spots, guarantee 25 spots, that's the number of teams that get bonus money each week. That would give 18 spots for the other teams to fight over. That would be a little fairer while keeping the top sponsors happy.

[muggle not]

Hmmmm, this sure beats the chit out of the way it was a few years ago with the field fillers.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Muggle, that was because the last 4 cars were teams that were only there to run 10 laps and then retire before they had to pay for a second set of tires. Now we have 50 plus cars showing up for races. To see guys out qualify half of the top 35 cars and still be going home sort of flies in the face of all logic......

[Lee Roy]

If the 35/8 rule is so bad, can anyone explain why the car count each weekend has gone up since the rule was instituted.

Looks like the people who actually race don't seen to agree with everyone's assessment of this rule.

[blakebeatty]

Exactly. It seems that the NASCAR community likes it just fine

[Sparky1329]

Exactly. It seems that the NASCAR community likes it just fine

John Darby pretty much said that. He said with 49 or 50 team vying for a spot somebody is going to go home no matter what they do.

[Alexamateo]

If the 35/8 rule is so bad, can anyone explain why the car count each weekend has gone up since the rule was instituted.

Looks like the people who actually race don't seen to agree with everyone's assessment of this rule.

Not to rain on your parade, but IIRC the 35/8 rule was done in response to the fall Atlanta race in 2004. There were a lot of one-offs for that race and they were fast. The seven provisional spots were used up, and Scott Riggs and Scott Wimmer did not qualify. Sponsors and owners complained, because they were heavily sponsored , so they came up with the 35/8.

I am not sure Red Bull and MWR would agree that the rule is good. When there are more than 43 heavily sponsored teams, once out of the 35, it's almost impossible to race your way in. I wonder if the old provisional system would not somehow be "fairer" now, although no system is perfect.

[Sparky1329]

Not to rain on your parade, but IIRC the 35/8 rule was done in response to the fall Atlanta race in 2004. There were a lot of one-offs for that race and they were fast. The seven provisional spots were used up, and Scott Riggs and Scott Wimmer did not qualify. Sponsors and owners complained, because they were heavily sponsored , so they came up with the 35/8.

I am not sure Red Bull and MWR would agree that the rule is good. When there are more than 43 heavily sponsored teams, once out of the 35, it's almost impossible to race your way in. I wonder if the old provisional system would not somehow be "fairer" now, although no system is perfect.

MWR, Red Bull and BDR knew very well what the rules were coming in. They just underestimated their performance compared to the other already established manufacturers. The only one I hear constantly whining about the rule is Michael Waltrip.

[Sparky1329]

I understand that the rule came about to make sure that the fulltime sponsored teams got into the race. But now there are more than 43 fulltime sponsored cars. Is Ginn's sponsor more important than NAPA and UPS? If they want to guarantee spots, guarantee 25 spots, that's the number of teams that get bonus money each week. That would give 18 spots for the other teams to fight over. That would be a little fairer while keeping the top sponsors happy.

There will still be teams that go home. Those sponsors are just as important as the top 25 teams' sponsors so it works both ways.

[Lee Roy]

Not to rain on your parade, but IIRC the 35/8 rule was done in response to the fall Atlanta race in 2004. There were a lot of one-offs for that race and they were fast. The seven provisional spots were used up, and Scott Riggs and Scott Wimmer did not qualify. Sponsors and owners complained, because they were heavily sponsored , so they came up with the 35/8.

Not to rain on your parade, but if you were to actually do some research you'd see that the number of cars that were showing up for races the year before the 35/8 rule was implemented had dropped to barely 43, sometimes only one or two more than that . . . . and the number was continuing to drop.

I remember tracking the numbers because on another website the folk there were predicting all the awful things that would happen with the implementation of the 35/8 rule (as is the usual way people do when anything new is introduced). The reality was just the opposite.