Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Gaughan: New qualifying procedure will hurt NASCAR for years to come

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.

Under NASCAR's new procedure for determining the starting fields for its races in its top three national series, Brendan Gaughan failed to qualify for last week's Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

NASCAR in January opted to guarantee the top 30 trucks, based on 2004 owner points, a spot in the starting field. Because Gaughan is competing this year in a truck that had no owner points from the previous year, he was one of 10 drivers who had to make the field based on his qualifying speed. The new rule also applies to the top 35 teams in the Nextel Cup Series and the top 30 in the Busch Series.

Gaughan's qualifying speed at Atlanta would have placed him 30th in the 36-truck field under the old rules. Instead, he was the ninth fastest of the 10 who had to qualify on speed and was one of four drivers who missed the starting field.

Gaughan, who was not a fan of the rule even before it forced him sit out last Friday's race, said the new qualifying procedure will spell the end of independent teams in each of NASCAR's top three series.

"This new qualifying deal, I'm telling you, is going to hurt NASCAR for years," Gaughan said. "I was a big supporter of the 'Chase for the (Nextel Cup) Championship' from the get-go. I always say, 'let's see how things play out' and I said the same thing about this ... but this new qualifying thing is really going to hurt the sport."

Gaughan, who oversees his family-owned Orleans Racing team, said he also sees the new qualifying procedure changing the way sponsorships are done in the Nextel Cup Series.

"All that's going to happen with this is you're going to see the days of DuPont being on Jeff Gordon's car all year and (having) one sponsor for one team are over," he said.

"All these independent teams are done. You're going to end up with Jack Roush, Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, Chip Ganassi, Robert Yates, Richard Childress -- you're going to end up with eight teams and all they're going to do is take less money from a sponsor and give them (fewer) races."

Gaughan said owner/driver Robby Gordon, who is running the full Nextel Cup Series schedule with multiple sponsors (Harrah's, Fruit of the Loom and Jim Beam), will be the model for future Cup teams if NASCAR decides to stick to guaranteeing teams spots in the starting fields.

"Robby Gordon is the first genius behind it," Gaughan said. "He's got four sponsors each giving him a certain amount for so many races and Robby is just going to barely squeak in and make it because he's the first to do it. What sponsor is going to give a new team money to go try to make a show when they know that they can give less money to a bigger team and be guaranteed (to be in the race)?

"If I want to get somebody to sponsor me, I want them to give me $15 million -- which is what it takes. But hold on; why are they going to sponsor me for $15 million when I'm not even guaranteed to make the race? Why not just give $5 million to Rick Hendrick and put it on Jeff Gordon's car and run seven races?

"I really think this is going to be a bad change for the sport because you're going to get rid of small teams, you're going to get rid of small sponsors and you're going to create 10 small sponsors on one big team."

CHAMP CAR IN CHINA: Champ Car World Series officials announced this week that they have reached an agreement to stage a race in China in 2006.

The race, to be held in Beijing, is tentatively scheduled for May or September 2006.

"This is a major step forward for the Champ Car World Series as we continue to establish our presence in the Asian markets," series co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven said. "We believe these markets are fundamental to our series growth and future success.

"Adding an exciting new event in China to go with races in Korea and Australia solidifies our presence in a very important region of the world."

MILLER STEPS DOWN: Bill Miller announced his resignation as president of California Speedway in Fontana, effective March 31.

Miller did not state why he was resigning the position he had held since September 2000, but there has been speculation that he was under pressure from International Speedway Corp., the track's parent company, for failing to sell out the past two NASCAR Nextel Cup races at the 92,000-seat facility.

California Speedway began hosting two annual Nextel Cup races last season.

LAZIER LANDS 500 RIDE: Panther Racing announced Thursday that it was teaming with Jonathan Byrd II and David Byrd and would field a car for Buddy Lazier in this year's Indianapolis 500.

"Everyone at Panther Racing is excited to have the Byrd Brothers join with us for this year's Indianapolis 500," Panther co-owner John Barnes said. "The Byrd family has a long history at the Brickyard and with this partnership, we are proud to be able to bring them back to the Speedway."

Lazier, the 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner, will drive the No. 95 Chevrolet-powered Dallara for Byrd Brothers/Panther Racing. Lazier, 37, will be teamed with Panther Racing drivers Tomas Scheckter and Tomas Enge.

"After you get a win at Indianapolis, all you can think about is winning it again," Lazier said. "Now that I'm going back to Indy with the resources of the Byrd Brothers/Panther team, Chevy power and two great teammates, I believe that I can make it back to victory lane at the 500 this year."

SCORE EXPOSURE: The SCORE desert racing series is hoping to capitalize on an upcoming rash of exposure thanks to an upcoming feature-length documentary film and Thursday's announcement that the four remaining races of the 2005 SCORE Desert Series will be televised.

Aura360, an adventure sports marketing group, will produce the balance of the 2005 SCORE Desert Series for television, including the inaugural SCORE Las Vegas Terrible's Cup I non-points races in July at the dirt track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the 10th annual SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300.

According to a SCORE press release, SCORE International and Aura360 expect to announce by May 2 which networks will televise the races.

"Dust to Glory," which was filmed during the 2003 Baja 1000 and supervised by critically acclaimed director Dana Brown, is set to debut April 1 in Los Angeles and New York and April 22 in Las Vegas.

"With the upcoming world premiere of the 'Dust to Glory' feature-length documentary about the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, the interest level in SCORE desert racing as a television property has gone up significantly," SCORE president Sal Fish said. "Aura360 is an extremely professional group to work with, as they proved to us during last year's NBC telecast of the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000.

"We are comfortable that they will be able to develop the show content and the TV networks to provide significant exposure for SCORE International, our racers and sponsors. We are very enthusiastic and welcome the opportunity to work with Aura360 for the rest of 2005 and even beyond."

SCORE will get additional television exposure this weekend as the Speed Channel will air highlights of the SCORE Trophy Truck race from the season-opening Laughlin Desert Challenge as a half-hour show Saturday at 3 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. (PST).

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