What do you feel is the ratio of driver to equipment in a successful Cup team?

Question

Do you feel it's 50% driver and 50% equipment? Or is the equation tipped more toward equipment or more toward the driver?

Answer 1

We have seen some of the greatest drivers in NASCAR struggle with the new cars on the downforce tracks this year.  When they aren't handling at all there is nothing a driver can do but if they are just not quite perfect we have seen them overcome that and take it to the front.  The guys that liked loose race cars, in general, are the ones benefiting the most from this change.  I'd say it's 55% driver and 45% equipment and personnel.  It takes a good car to be competitive but that is a relative thing this year.  Everybody has complained about the handling, it takes a superior driver to push the COT to the brink of wrecking without going over that limit to have success.

3 STR8 N 08!!!

Answer 2

i would say its got to be atleast 60 driver 40 car  casey mears gives me this guess

Answer 3

I believe that it's about 70% driver, 20% equipment and 10% Crew chief. Alot of people are going to say Equipment is higher but I disagree. Mark Martin drove for Haas last year and almost every race that he drove, because he was on a part time schedule, he would place in the top 10. I believe that if a driver knows what the car needs, as in set up, that the car will perform better. But the driver has to have that knowledge, and the Crew chief has to apply it. Look at Klye Busch, he was with the top team in Nascar, with Hendrick's. He was good but not dominant like he is now. I'm not knocking Joe Gibbs Racing, but JGR just switched to Toyota, I figured that it would at least taken them a year to figure out how the car could perform. You got to have a GOOD Driver to take care of equipment.

Answer 4

I think it's slightly more driver, a good driver can get an ill-equipped car to yield decent results.

A good car with a sub-par driver is going to yield sub-par results.

A good car with a good driver will bring inevitable success.

edit: 60/40

Answer 5

Depends with teams you're talking about. With teams like Hendrick, it's probably 20/80 (driver/equipment), with teams like Joe Gibbs, Roush, and RCR it's probably around 50/50, Yates and DEI gotta be 70/30 because they are not top form, yet they continue to do pretty well.

Answer 6

I think the driver has a lot to do with it, but it is also the equipment. We all know that Bobby Labonte is a great racecar driver, and is a past champion, but he is not doing all that great at Petty. That goes to show you that even the best drivers in the business can struggle with bad equipment.  I would say the equation leans more to the equipment. Not by much though. I would say equipment 60% and driver 40%.  A good driver can give a bad car a descent finish, but in order to win the race, i would lean more towards equipment.

Answer 7

For maximum performance, I'd say it needs to be 50/50.  That way you get the most possible from both with out giving up anything in either area.

But, I think the ratio can swing both ways.  I'd bet if almost any other driver got into the 48 car, they'd improve from where they were previously running.  On the flip side, Jeff Gordon can probably get more out of the 96 than JJ Yeley is getting out of it (love JJ but there are some issues there).