NASCAR - Drivers can run for only one championship

[Littleman]

As of now, and at least for 2011. What follows was found on Jayski's website:

"Drivers must choose which series to run for championship: Drivers in NASCAR's three national series will have to elect a single championship to chase in 2011, eliminating the ability of drivers such as Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Paul Menard -- who were full-time double-dippers in 2010 -- to chase two championships at once. NASCAR has scheduled a "competition update" on Jan. 21 with NASCAR president Mike Helton and vice president for competition Robin Pemberton as part of the "Preseason Thunder" Sprint Cup test session at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp declined to comment on the change in 2011 license applications Monday except to say, "I'm sure we can answer all your questions at our competition update." But when Kenny Wallace picked up his 2011 NASCAR competition, membership and license application last Saturday while taking a break from a Grand-Am Rolex Series test at Daytona, he knew at least one rumor was true. Wallace stopped on his way to the U.S. Post Office on Monday to tear open his license application and read the news. "The brand-new license forms that are out, there's a box and in it, it states that you have to mark -- put an X -- what championship you're running for," Wallace said, quoting his application. "A driver will only be permitted to earn driver championship points in one (1) of the following three series: NASCAR Sprint Cup, NASCAR Nationwide or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Please select the series in which you would like to accumulate driver championship points. Choose one."(NASCAR.com)(1-11-2011)"

[Jimmy_22]

Told ya so......

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/sho...ghlight=choose

[Danny Noonan]

I have to admit I'm impressed with NASCAR on this decision. It was the right thing to do for the teams and drivers who focus on the lower tier series.

It will be interesting to see what happens to track attendence and tv viewership for the Truck and Busch (or whatever it's called now) series.

[MoparsRule]

Good move. One well past it's time.

[diftw]

This is a good move.

[Doctorindy]

Well, if the Cup drivers still run a full schedule in NNS (for the money and for the testing opportunity) and they still manage to win all the races, we could see a NNS Champion with zero total wins for the season. And maybe a scant handful of top 5's for that matter,

[indyrjc]

Are we talking only "driver's" championships here? Correct me if I'm wrong but can't a Cup driver still run nearly fulltime in Nationwide winning races and just not get the points personally? But doesn't the car owner still get the points like always. And don't car owners get paid the same anyway if their "car" wins the championship even if the driver can't. Unless, I misunderstand you could have some 7th or 8th place Nationwide driver "winning" the championship but his car owner wouldn't share in the championship prize money; but some regular Cup owner could if his car was still the "champion" for the season.

If anyone can clear this up it would be appreciated. Thanks....

[Littleman]

Are we talking only "driver's" championships here? Correct me if I'm wrong but can't a Cup driver still run nearly fulltime in Nationwide winning races and just not get the points personally? But doesn't the car owner still get the points like always. And don't car owners get paid the same anyway if their "car" wins the championship even if the driver can't. Unless, I misunderstand you could have some 7th or 8th place Nationwide driver "winning" the championship but his car owner wouldn't share in the championship prize money; but some regular Cup owner could if his car was still the "champion" for the season.

If anyone can clear this up it would be appreciated. Thanks....

Good point! From the original posting, it was worded that "Drivers" had to mark what championship. Let's see if there's some forthcoming news about the owners!

[cbreez99]

I am not sure this is a good idea. I recall in the USAC days, a driver could be a midget champ, sprint car champ, and champcar champ all at the same time if he wanted to.

I think it will hurt to lower series not to have the "names" running. Also if you can't tell a sponsor that you will be running for a championship it won't be positive.

[DavidM]

Are we talking only "driver's" championships here? Correct me if I'm wrong but can't a Cup driver still run nearly fulltime in Nationwide winning races and just not get the points personally? But doesn't the car owner still get the points like always. And don't car owners get paid the same anyway if their "car" wins the championship even if the driver can't. Unless, I misunderstand you could have some 7th or 8th place Nationwide driver "winning" the championship but his car owner wouldn't share in the championship prize money; but some regular Cup owner could if his car was still the "champion" for the season.

If anyone can clear this up it would be appreciated. Thanks....

I was thinking the same thing. NASCAR still does not have this right!

[3Paige14]

It's about time they did this!

If they can't run for a title, they might not run all the races. Hopefully, the flying cross-country will stop.

[Seadog]

We will have to wait about 10 days for the details, but here is a little more from NASCAR.

http://www.nascar.com/news/110110/rule-change-drivers-one-championship/index.html?eref=/news/headlines/cup

[jonesi]

I'm sure there will be unintended consequences, there always is when Nascar changes something.
(Be real interesting if some drivers like Kyle Busch or Carl Edwards check the NW series box, then get hot in Cup. Nascar then has to justify why someone with multiple wins and should be leading in points, doesn't show up in the points standings at all.

[crsfulk]

What Cup driver is going to tell their sponsor that I am not good enough to win in the "big leagues" with you, so I am going to the "minor league" where I can win. That sounds like a quick trip to the unsponsored line for the team!

[Sweaty Teddy]

I am not sure this is a good idea. I recall in the USAC days, a driver could be a midget champ, sprint car champ, and champcar champ all at the same time if he wanted to.

I think it will hurt to lower series not to have the "names" running. Also if you can't tell a sponsor that you will be running for a championship it won't be positive.

My guess is that in the long run this will be better for the Nationwide and Truck Series and ultimately for Sprint Cup. You are correct about USAC; I believe that Tony Stewart won all three championships in one season and I also believe someone has done it since (I'll admit to not being as up on my USAC history as I should be. I'll make up for that right now by saying "Mel Kenyon"). There are a couple key differences

1) Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the USAC Midget, Sprint and Silver Crown series considered to be separate but more or less equal. In other words, different disciplines but equally prestigious? Camping World and Nationwide are part of a feeder system that starts with local tracks, up through Camping World East and West and ultimately up to Sprint Cup. Sprint Cup drivers dropping down to Nationwide and Truck is like a major league baseball player playing for a Triple-A team on the side.

2) Some argue that having the Cup drivers in Nationwide and Camping World races has raised the level of competition. This might be true if the Cup guys weren't also bringing their engineers and crews, but they are and the end result is more of a match race between slumming Sprint Cup drivers than an actual race. You know that if Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and/or Kyle Busch are racing on Friday or Saturday one of them is going to win the race.