Battle for top 35 never ends for those in the fight
Battle for top 35 never ends for those in the fight
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
November 11, 2006
09:49 PM EST (02:49 GMT)
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- If racing to remain in the top 35 in the Nextel Cup Series owners standings could be likened to juggling a pocketful of razor blades, it's interesting to note that everyone involved, when surveyed this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, seems to still have 10 fingers.
The reason is emotions ranging from confidence to outright optimism are held among the drivers sitting from 33rd to 36th -- though only three of the four will be guaranteed starters at next February's Daytona 500.
The reality in Nextel Cup in 2006 enables their optimism.
But next season, that pocketful of razors is going to turn into a bundle of scimitars as more teams enter the sport, raising the stakes to remain a guaranteed starter that comes with being in the top 35.
"It's going to be worse next year because we're going to have a lot more cars coming in," Sterling Marlin, currently the only one of the four on the outs, said. "It's something NASCAR's going to have to look at and say, 'the fastest 43 cars get in.'
"I don't know how they're going to do it, but it's going to be a mess."
It's at least a dogfight now.
Kyle Petty, who occupies the critical 35th position heading into Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500 and Marlin, who's 36th, 19 points behind Petty; as well as David Stremme and Elliott Sadler, who are in 33rd and 34th, and 88 and 50 points ahead of Petty, respectively, weighed in on the subject.
If starting position counts for anything, Sadler's sleeping the best Saturday night. His No. 19 Dodge starts 16th -- though he bounced from 11th to 40th in the three practices.
Remaining where he is, if not improving, has weighed heavily on the mind of the driver who's gone from competing in the inaugural 2004 Chase for the Nextel Cup to fighting for his team's early-next-season life two years later.
"We're racing to protect the top 35 [and] it's not going to be a fun last two races," Sadler said. "It's too many people trying to get a piece of the pie, and it's not working.
"There are 36 teams for 35 spots that are really, really tight. Between us and [Ken Schrader, Stremme, Petty and Marlin] it's going to be a hair-raising experience."
That was how Marlin was feeling when his weekend began. His best practice position was 30th, in Saturday's Happy Hour, which matched his qualifying position in the No. 14 Chevrolet.
Compared to where he started the weekend, Marlin was just short of thrilled.
"We were feeling the pressure when we got here, because we were in trouble early, we couldn't get the car right," Marlin said. "That's what's tough about this top 35.
"Even if you're here all year, if you fall out of the top 35 in points, and you have a problem, you're going home."
Marlin's team has had eight DNFs, he said, which makes it difficult to compete in the points. And two accidents in the last five races mask exactly how well the team's been running since Slugger Labbe joined MB2 during the summer.
"Probably the last two months we've had top 15 cars, every race, but something stupid would happen," Marlin said, shaking his head. "I've been crashed four times, I think, in the last eight races -- just from getting run over -- and that's cost us a lot of points -- you just can't have that.
"We should be 30th, but we're not. Everybody's worked as hard as they can and we're doing all we can do, but Kyle [Petty] was on the outside looking in for a long time. We were 110 points up on him three races ago and we've gone from a pretty good cushion to 19 points out.
"If we'd just have some luck, we could get back in there. It's just been aggravating because we've had pretty good cars but we can't make nothing out of them."
Petty's been a roll since his No. 45 Dodge team fell out of the top 35 in September. After finishing 11th last weekend at Texas, Petty's back in 35th and thrilled to be there.
"I think we took a little bit different approach," Petty said. "We fell out of the top 35 with 10 races to go [in the season] and really, I looked at it a lot of ways and figured that it could be the worst thing that could ever happen.
"But in the end, I won't say it's been a great thing, but we've turned it into a positive because we've taken it and really got focused more on what we're doing."
Even as teammate Bobby Labonte marched his No. 43 Dodge into the top 20 in the standings, Petty's bunch picked up its pace, the team's driver and CEO said.
"We've gotten better and better and [crew chief] Billy Wilburn has come in and made us better," Petty said. "The whole team has gotten a lot more competitive, so I think from that perspective it's important for us to stay [in the top 35]."
This weekend Petty's been consistent, but not exactly in a position he'd care to be. He qualified 34th and his practice positions in three sessions ranged from 34th to 41st. But if attitude is king, Petty's team is ready to rule.
"It's funny," Petty said. "We were 36th trying to get to 35th -- but I think we've got a different attitude now.
"You ask, 'What do you do to stay in the top 35?' We're not just looking at that -- we're looking at 34th and 33rd, because that's reachable right now."
Petty Enterprises' effort certainly hasn't gone unnoticed, particularly by the competition.
"Kyle Petty, you've got to tip your hat to those guys for being out of the top 35 for so long and making every race and making it on qualifying," Sadler said. "They've done an unbelievable job over there."
Going into Sunday, Stremme has the biggest comfort zone, though it's hardly awe-inspiring.
The recent performance of his No. 40 Dodge team, which fell out of the top 35 during the summer but then raced back within the safety zone by August, has continued in that vein, while Stremme has remained 34th in the driver standings since Michigan in August.
The team's recent strength was spelled out by its practice postings, which included the fourth-best time in Happy Hour, despite the worst qualifying effort of the quartet, 36th.
"Considering we started out the season with a whole new team, compared to what it was last year, then we had some bad luck early in the season and dug ourselves a pretty big hole," Stremme said. "We were 200 points out [of 35th] at one point, but we dug our way back into the top 35 and we've had a pretty good last half of the year."
Stremme has particularly qualified well, in the top 20 in six of the last 10 races. He's raced better as well, with seven top-26 runs in the same nine-race stretch.
"To stay in that top 35 is huge, especially in the first five races that we're in, with all the new teams coming in," Stremme said. "Next year I think our team will be a lot better because we've got a whole year under our belt."
Petty basically spoke for the group when he said where his team was in points had no influence on effort, strategy or anything else.
"You run just as hard when you're 38th as you do when you're 42nd or as you do when you're 12th," Petty said. "I think that's kind of the way that it is and that's why it didn't affect anything we've done -- we stayed true to our plan.
"Since Billy's got here we've stayed true to our plan and we're still doing the same thing."
Sadler, on the other hand, is on one team that has adjusted its goals.
"For us at the 19, we're trying to protect the top 35 right now," Sadler said. "We could go for it a couple of weeks ago, but we've had so many problems that we're not able to try to go for wins as much as getting a good top-10 or top-15 finish -- that'll keep us in the top 35."
Stremme agrees.
"We've just got to finish the year out," Stremme said. "We haven't been real aggressive on certain things -- we've been more on the conservative side, just trying to get good finishes and racing the guys around us in points.
"It's good we've got two races to go and our team is the best it's been all year, right now. It says a lot about our team, and I can't let them down now because I know they're not going to let me down."
If his bad luck doesn't abate, even Marlin proved to be the eternal optimist when he discussed the "terror factor," or lack of it -- for his team at Speedweeks 2007.
"We've got a good speedway program and we're going to build some new cars," Marlin said. "[Scott] Riggs missed the [Daytona] 500 [this] year and they're what, 20th in the points?
"With a good car and some luck, we'll be OK. But you can't have any bad luck in those first five races. You need good, solid runs -- but if we can put something like that together in these last two races we should be in the top 35."
Petty Enterprises' competition director, Robbie Loomis, said his team might have the ultimate ace up its sleeve, though, when it was suggested, in a worst case scenario for next season, if Petty fell out of the top 35 while Labonte, a past champion, remained in.
Loomis said the team would consider putting Petty in the No. 43 at the beginning of the season and Labonte in the No. 45 and then, after the five-race cutoff, reversing their roles -- but only as a last resort.
"Our focus right now is doing everything we can to keep Kyle in the top 35, after we've raced our way back up there," Loomis said. "But if that doesn't occur we'll do everything we can."