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Will Penske Do It Again?

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Right now the #77, driven by Sam Hornish, Jr., sits 34th in the Owner Standings. The cars of his current teammates, Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman, sit 19th and 17th respectively in those standings. You might recall that team owner, Roger Penske, gave Kurt Busch’s team points to Sammy Ho-Ho to start the season to ensure starts for the #77. So…

If the #77 drops out of the Top 35, what is to keep Penske from doing the same thing again? Actually, it would even be simpler this time around because he could simply put Hornish in the #12. Of course, if Sam can keep the #77 35th or higher, the issue is moot because he has a guaranteed start for the first five races of 2009.

This brings up several oft-discussed issues:

The ease with which Owners can shuffle points around…

The Past Champions’ Provisional…

Starting the first five races based on the previous year’s standings…

The wisdom of the Top 35…

It also illustrates why the Top 35 rule is in place and why it is unlikely to go away… money. Just consider how much a guaranteed start for those first five races is worth. I don’t know the terms of Penske’s deal with Mobil, but I know he doesn’t want to negotiate for 2009 on the strength of a Hornish piloted ride ranked outside of the Top 35. The rule exists to appease the teams, in order for the teams to appease the sponsors. Nobody is going to commit big money to a team if they’re not sure their logo will make it on T.V., especially for the Daytona 500. Perhaps, we will see a day when we’re talking about the Top 30 or Top 25, but the rule will never be discarded. While we, the fans, would love to see the fastest 43 teams start the race - the sponsors would hate it. In this day and age, the sponsors’ opinion trumps the hell out of ours.

~Cutler

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TAGS: Penske Racing, Sam Hornish Jr., Ryan Newman, Mobil, kurt busch

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The calculations get even more complicated when you consider that Tony Stewart is changing teams for next year. With the swap this past season, Kurt Busch was in good shape to make the first 5 races thanks to his 2004 championship. However, it looks like Tony will be counting on his 2005 title as a backup plan with at least one of his cars. That puts him in any race over Kurt. So, you can't really trade points with Kurt. If Hornish is not able to stick in the top 35, I think he's stuck with what he's got, unless they want to do that to Stremme or whoever the new guy--assuming there is a new guy--is going to be. It strikes me that that the difference between 35th and 36th is probably worth a few million in sponsorship cash--because those 5 guaranteed races really help you get and stay in the top 35.