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Bowyer, Reutimann Among Drivers Messed Over by “Junior” Rule

by NASCAR
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No less than 8 drivers have been messed over by what I am officially calling the “Junior” Rule.

For those of you who have not heard, it was announced today that the Budweiser Shootout would be changing its driver criteria once again for 2010.

For more info on that, click here.

Briefly, I would like to correct a point I made in that article. I said that the top 6 drivers in owner points for each manufacturer would have been in. I neglected the “wild card” each manufacturer received, which allowed a 7th driver from each make to race in the Shootout.

The drivers who got messed over by the rule(meaning that, under the old criteria they were in, and now they’re out) include, but are not limited to:

Clint Bowyer

Sam Hornish Jr.

Brad Keselowski

David Reutimann

Marcos Ambrose

Robby Gordon

AJ Allmendinger

Elliott Sadler

Let me start out by saying that I do not intend to bash Junior here. I simply mean to stick up for these poor drivers, and their fans.

Some of you may claim that not all of these drivers were worthy of racing in the Shootout. Heck, some of you may say that none of these drivers were worthy of racing.

Well here’s the deal. Like it or not, they were eligible. They, as well as their fans, thought that they would be racing in the 2010 Budweiser Shootout. And they were excited about it. Now, they have had that stripped away from them. It isn’t fair to these drivers. It isn’t fair to their fans.

NASCAR can’t keep changing its rules like this. I know Dale Earnhardt Jr. is popular. I know he puts fans in the seats. But he said it himself. That shouldn’t give him a free ride, especially at the expense of other drivers.

These drivers, as well as their fans, have been messed over by the “Junior” Rule. It isn’t fair to any of them.

Topics: "Junior" Rule, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Budweiser Shootout, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr, David Reutimann, Elliott Sadler, Marcos Ambrose, Robby Gordon, Sam Hornish Jr.

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Comments
  • bobbie1231

    Perhaps it should be the Joey/Kyle rule.

    Junior qualifies with 3 of 5 criteria (Daytona 500 winner, July Daytona winner, past shootout winner)

    Neither Kyle nor Joey could qualify by meeting more than one criteria.

    Call it what you may but it appears they were more interested in getting Kyle and Joey in the race.

    • hopper

      Actually Bobbie, the reason I call it the “Junior” Rule is because, under the old criteria, Junior would not have made the field. Under the new criteria, he now does.

      Under the old criteria, Joey and Kyle would have been in anyway.

  • bobbie1231

    But the old rule would not have filled the field with so few Dodges running CUp next year.

    I wonder if Budweiser had concerns that the face of Bud for eight years wouldnt be in the race…. just a thought. I still see the red Bud car and think of Junior

  • Steve

    I like bobbie’s point of view on this, looking at a semi-major sponsor’s subtle influence in a money decision. Like bobbie, I still associate Bud with the former #8 driver, and watching Kasey in his snack peddling jumpsuit is vaguely disturbing, which may also be a viewpoint that Bud’s advertising agency agrees with. Also, Nascar in its pursuit of only a few big money teams being part of their ultimate solution, figures that Junior’s fan base totals more fans than the other group of drivers combined! I will restrain myself from other issues that I spew “BS” on! Hopper, thank you for reminding us all of the real reason for the season! Peace on earth!

  • MarcDiecast

    Nascar should tweek again. Let’s say “Let any female that has won a IRL race in Japan” race too. That’s just as ridiculous as what they’ve done this year. If Jr. were eligible under the old rules, would they have made a change?

  • http://MSN Btheborg

    This could all be resolved if Nascar would just take the Shootout sponsership away from Bud, give it to Coors, who sponsers the pole awards now, and go back to having only pole winners and previous shootout winners as before. It should also have a stipulation that the driver be full time. That would eliminate the eligability of Elliot, Marlin, Schrader, and Bodine.

    • hopper

      Do you know how many issues could be resolved if NASCAR went back to the old everything? Car, points system, rules, schedule, race formats. There’s an old NASCAR saying that goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If NASCAR would have abided by that, the sport would be 10,000,000 times better.

  • http://MSN Btheborg

    Yes, I know if,if,if….. but this problem started last year. I was not Nascar that caused it, it was Budwieser. They didn’t want to sponser the pole award anymore, so Coors picked it up. Bud should have released the rights to the race as well then we wouldn’t have Nascar changeing the rules on this issue too.

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