November 12, 2005

NASCAR Puts a Cap on Teams

(Filed under: Rules)

This week NASCAR announced a new rule to take effect in 2006 limiting the number of teams an organization can field in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series. The team cap is set at four, though a fifth team will be allowed to compete on a limited schedule under special circumstances, like breaking in a rookie.

Roush Racing, the only team to currently be over the four-team cap, will be grandfathered in and allowed to run their five teams for an unspecified time period. Currently all Roush teams have sponsor commitments through 2008.

NASCAR CEO Brian France defended the decision, saying NASCAR had to step in sooner or later or else multi-car teams would make it impossible for new owners to enter the sport without a vast operation already underway. He also said that they picked four teams because it seemed like a good place to start, though they may readdress it in the future. He denied any attempt to penalize Roush Racing, the only organization with more than four teams, all five of which are in the Chase for the Championship.

Jack Roush wasn't exactly pleased.

"There are no details," said Roush. "It has the feel that we're going to make it up as we go. The WWF has their ways of determining who is going to win and what the ranking is and maybe NASCAR behind the scenes is trying to do the same thing. ...

"The thing they did by picking on five rather than four is they singled me out," Roush said. "I'm the only guy with five viable teams and the worst of all scenarios is we put all five of them in the Chase and, of course, that gave the bonus to our sponsors for the exposure that they got for being involved with us rather than somebody else and they want to diminish it to some extent.

"I take it personally. I do take it personally," said Roush.

And you can't blame Roush. He helped pioneer the multi-car team strategy and it's finally been paying off for him with two championships in two years, and now five teams in the Chase for the Championship. Other owners have certainly had more championships, but I think the threat of half the Chasers being Roush cars really scared NASCAR. It's kind of odd that a monopolizing organization like NASCAR would be so against monopolies.

Posted by kevin at November 12, 2005 10:47 AM

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Posted by: MsShadow at November 12, 2005 3:21 PM