No ID, No Green Flag.
Friday, January 18th, 2008 8:30am EST
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
So some recent buzz on Rowdy.com, attributed to a “reliable inside source”, has called members of the foil hat brigade to arms. It was then backed up by sources for David Poole.
If you can’t drink a beer, you may not be able to enter Sprint Cup competition.
That’s right.
The sanctioning body is considering raising the minimum age for the Cup Series from 18 to 21. Note the key words there, is considering.
But why?
According to the sources, the train of thought is that it could provide fewer accidents among younger drivers by ensuring that they have competed in the lower series (or had the opportunity to) for at least 3 years. Assuming they do, then realistically they should be a little smarter when entering Cup competition.
OK, I can buy that.
Something I had been considering for the past few days, although perhaps far fetched, would be with Coors being the new official beer (while no longer sponsoring one particular team) that it could be possible they were pushing for the move in order to potentially be able to use driver images/associations for advertising.
However that train of thought makes less sense to me, as they could simply just use images of drivers who are of legal drinking age.
Then something else hit me early this morning.
Could this be a move to attempt to “prop up” a fledgling Nationwide Series? We all know Joey Logano is coming. He’s the next big thing, if you believe the hype. The kid can drive, and has the potential to be able to carry the NASCAR torch as current stars almost twice his age eventually begin to retire or cut back.
That being the case, and knowing that he should have a long career ahead of him, could he (as well as other young hot shots) be the reason for the consideration?
While it may never be admitted if it is true, could it be that NASCAR would want to use a young drivers popularity potential in their lower series’ to perhaps try and stabilize their numbers, attendance and audience?
That’s one of those things that make you scratch your head. While anything is possible, that has to be something that can’t be ruled out at this point. If a driver like Joey Logano, who has the potential (although nothing is ever guaranteed) to draw a large fan base over their career, were to be ineligible for the Cup Series for three years and forced to remain in the truck or grand national divisions it could potentially be something that at least helps the draw.
Both NASCAR and Nationwide have said recently that they are looking towards big things to help establish the identity of the series. Could this be one such move?
Filed Under: Nascar, Sprint Cup
Tagged As: Conspiracy Theories, Joey Lagono
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“Then something else hit me early this morning.”
A brick?
3 year old box of Captain Crunch? (don’t laugh they’re hard and hurt)
Your theory has merit however, what happens if Logano IS the next big thing and smokes the NW Series after say two years. That makes him Champ or damn close to it at the end of the 2009 season. “ready to move up” one could rightfully claim.
But nooooo… NASCAR in their infinite asshattedness will have disallowed him from starting a cup event until spring of 2011 when he turns 21.
BTW I added a couple “crash stats” on my related post. Ya know “Mr. Crash-a-Minute” Kyle Busch. Well, he’s not so much. His rookie year, when only 20, he was 12th in number of crashes a seven behind Brother Kurt and “Mikey” who led the league. The following year the top three crash-matics were all over the age of 29.
Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest it’s not age and experience that matters when attempting to remain off the SAFER barrier.
(also note a post on possible anti-semitic behavior in NASCAR)
marc said this on January 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Well, I wouldn’t disagree that the foil hat is lying in wait, but I thought it could be a relative possibility. Combined with the fact that Nationwide and NASCAR both said they were looking to build the Series’ identity.
That being the case, to me it could be a logical conclusion to try and build up some series stars that can’t race in Cup.
I’m not really on the experience bandwagon, I can see the argument, but don’t think it holds as much merit as what they want you to believe.