Has the cost control in NASCAR gotten out of control?

Question

It seems like only a few teams win all of the races anymore. Mainly Gibbs, and the Roush and Hendrick have had their dominance. What has happened where teams like RCR, Penske Racing, Robert Yates Racing, DEI, Chip Gannassi and Felix Sabates ever winning races consistently. They hardly ever win. They force older drivers like Sterling Marlin, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader, Bill Elliott, and Terry Labonte out of full time and competitive rides. Never are their any surprise wins anymore from guys like Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner, Kyle Petty, Johnny Benson, Ricky Craven, and the late Bobby Hamilton. It's been like this for several years. I understand it may be a new generation of drivers but how come young guns like Reed Sorenson, Brian Vickers, Jamie McMurray can't ever be allowed good cars. It seems like all of the money is spent on certain drivers of certain teams each year. Many teams even Roush Racing and Evernham Motor Sports had to get a finacial partner.

Answer 1

It is called "Creative Destruction".

There were never any "surprise wins".  The sports is more competitive NOW; you don't have people lapping the entire field.

Answer 2

although i agree "cost control" in nascar has become an oxymoronic statement, i'm not sure your choice of drivers to prove your point helps your argument.  reed sorenson stepped into a decent ride, and brian vickers has made great strides with a small team - i believe he does get good cars. as for jamie mcmurray, roush put him into kurt busch's championship winning car and he immediately began turning in results worse than kurt's at penske (no offense intended superdave - as a busch brothers fan it hurts me to say it as well).

and on that topic, i don't think that a team like penske is hurting for money. they not only have penske's businesses for sponsorship - particularly the truck rentals - but mobile one and miller lite have not been slouches in the past...  there's something deeper wrong with a team that can't get drivers like newman and busch into victory lane more than once a year that penske just hasn't found yet so that money could be thrown at it...

overall, it's survival of the fittest and economic darwinism at its best. it's the name of the game and as the sport grows - more "business-minded" owners and partners are going to help rather than hurt those teams run essentially by those more on the "racing side" of things...

that's my $0.18.

Answer 3

I blame this on 3 things.

1. Kyle Busch

2. The New Car

3. The Drivers

Answer 4

That is the nature of the beast, sponsors demand results for their multimillion dollar investments, owners keep "oneuping" each other with expensive technology.  Also keep in mind the bigger the team, cost per team actually go down. If it cost 25 million a season for one car, it only cost 30 million for two, and so on.  Franchising would be the best option, but NASCAR is hard lined against it.  Today Hendrick motorsports is worth 600 million, but if he closed down and sold everything he would be lucky to get 10 million. Used, racing equipment has little to no value.  Most teams are set up under the business model of a marketing company with a HUGE operating budget.  The COT was supposed to help, but it looks as if the spending will continue until someone has a better solution.