Waltrip proposes changes in qualifying draws
Quote selected text Published November 26th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Michael Waltrip, along with all the other 2007 teams that failed to begin the season with “starting-field protection,” experienced tremendous difficulty, and the veteran driver has made a proposal governing the qualifying process.
Waltrip won a pole but made the field for only 14 races and finished in the top 10 only twice.
“I have been politicking since the start of the year for NASCAR to put the ‘star’ cars together in the qualifying draw,” he said. “I still don’t understand NASCAR’s hesitation in (not) doing so. It would be very fair, certainly a lot fairer than it is now. At Phoenix, I went out (by random draw) in the heat of the day. The cars I was racing against to get in the show got to go in the evening. I wish NASCAR would have listened because I think we would have been fine.”
None of Michael Waltrip Racing’s three Toyotas — Waltrip, Dale Jarrett and David Reutimann — made the starting field for the next-to-last race at Phoenix.
“It came at a time when we were seeing a lot of progress and a lot of gains within our teams,” noted Waltrip.
- Waltrip considered getting out of No. 55 car
- Waltrip has idea for fairer qualifying
- Waltrip avoiding media this weekend
- DW named starter for the Gatorade Duels
- NASCAR considering separate qualifying sessions
i think the quals are fine…people who arent fast enough dont deserve to be in the race..the top 35 rule is stupid..but its not like nascar should set aside special rules for people who cant be in the top 35…whats next? the pts leader automatically gets the pole and 5 free bonus points?? come on mikey, dont complain cause u cant drive and u switched to toyota..its gonna be a year or so b4 they get the hang on things..
they should do knockout qualifying for the non top 35 cars. then the remaining cars would qualify with the rest of the field.
sorry about the name thing Darrell.
mikeys just mad cause the 55 cant do 155
Two Words.
HEAT RACES!
I think the top 43 cars should make the race. Or, why not raise the number of cars that are going to be in the race? A few years ago NASCAR was struggling to get 43 cars to qualify. Now there are 50 full time teams that are attempting every race. Is there really a big difference between 43 cars and 50. Pit stalls might be an issue, but some tracks don’t even have 43 pit stalls.
The big difference is, Money. The tracks, NASCAR, the race Sponsor would all have to pay more money in purses if they’d have more cars.
Fisha695 wrote:
Yeah that would be interesting. :]
The truly fair way is to put the car #s of ALL cars that show up to qualify in a container and pull all the #s for start times then the fastest 43 cars get to race… Period.
Cut out all the bitching and complaining and each week only the fast cars race.
Last year was just that “last year” so each week is a new race and NO ONE gets special treatment.
that means NO past champion provisional, NO top 35 cars. If a bad weather situation comes up Qualifying will be done before the race starts or only as a last resort line up by point standings.
NASCAR needs to get back to its roots and remove all the perks for Old past winners, big teams and fat sponsors. Then and only then will the sport truly have a resemblance of fair and honest racing…
Knowing the France monopoly like I do this will never fly till they remove the strangle hold on ownership of both the governing body (nascar) and as major track owners. In any other real world this would be an conflict of ownership issue but as we all know Frances make the rules to this game…
A lot of people believe the non top 35 cars should qualify first. Then they can go home and clear the pits if they don’t make the race. Not a bad idea. I myself have always liked the fastest cars make the race and the others don’t. King Richard is the one the provisionals were created for. That era is over. The NHRA sent Force and other big names home when they weren’t fast enough. NASCAR should do the same.
Do just the way they do at the local short tracks….Draw for qualifing order.——-heat races ——-then flip a coin to invert the field or not………
every race should be like daytona gualifying duals but like daul 50s instead of 150s then positions and then race
forget the top 35 cars and let them all try and qualify. the fastest 43 cars make the race the slowest ones go home. quit crying mikey and try and make that toyota faster.
The fastest race each week is the only way to do the qualifying in a fair way. This
top 35 is bs, and favors those teams with more sponsor money to provide equipment.
(and top notch drivers!). NASCAR is
playing favorites to those teams who have big bucks sponsors —–
for get mw! he just wants to be like his big bro and pave the way for toyota. it should be the fastest 43, and for the rest of them… take your a$$es back to the shop and make a faster piece.
like others have said: it should be the fastest 43.
however, they should hold qualifying in a part of the day where the conditions don’t change as much, rather than have the last few cars run in the cooler (ie. faster) evening part of the session.
why not start at 11am and go until 3 pm (or whenever the temperature and sun angles are the most consistent from the beginning of the session until the end of the session)? That would be a lot more fair.
I agree with bj wonder woman. The fastest 43 drivers race each week. Plain and simple - - how much fairer could that be ??? NASCAR officials are just ruining the sport and won’t be satisfied until NO tickets are sold and no one is watching from their homes or bars etc. etc.
i’ll say it again,43 fastest RACE.period……no provisionals for anyone,fair for everyone.
No they should let Micheal Waltrip in every race automatically, because he’s so cool it’s a miricale he dosen’t freeze just standing =-)
even if they change it i bet u anything MW will still failk to make the show
I agree with Bob ——This makes sense,however Na$car does not do anything that makes sense