Michael Waltrip Gets Owners Points To Git Into the Daytona 500

I'm wondering how confused the casual NASCAR fans are getting with all this "owners points" swapping taking place, going into the Daytona 500.

Michael Waltrip Racing snagged themselves a deal that nets them owners points from FasLane Racing for Michaels No. 55 Toyota team, which will be driven by Mark Martin.

Thus. now Mark Martin has a guaranteed spot in the Daytona 500 this year while Faslane will be using a Past Champion Provisional for their driver, Terry Labonte.

But... check out the musical points game

After the D500, FasLane will get the No. 6 points from Roush Fenway Racing.

Top-35 Owners Points Explained, And Why Owner Points Are Important

With the Danica Patrick tizzy regarding the owners points shell game and her getting into the 2012 Daytona 500, fans are once again refocusing some of their attention on the owners points system instigated by NASCAR and how the top-35 in owners points are guaranteed starting spots in the next race, with the exception of the first five races of each year.  I think there will be some credibility lost in the fans' minds with this special deal, but in the end, the bad is usually forgotten by enough people that some business decisions are worth the risk.  (Anyone know/remember what Calvin Ball is?  Remember Calvin and Hobbs... check out rule # 1.2 if you follow the link at the bottom of this piece.)

So what Is This Top-35 In Owner Points?

In NASCAR, there are several tiers of points within the sport.  When you watch a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on TV, there are several things happening behind the scenes that aren't immediately apparent, if you're the casual TV fan.  One of those items is the points structure.

When a car and driver cross the finish line, the driver gets driver points and the car owner also get points.  The most commonly referred to points standings are the driver points.  When a driver wins a race, he gets the coveted 43+bonus points awarded.  The car owner also gets points and for the most part, in the top half of the field, car points and driver points look like they work the same.  But there is a slight difference.

For instance, last year Robby Gordon finished the year 34th in driver points, with 268 points.  But his car owner (In this case, his own car), was 38th in owner points, with 334 points.  See the different in points?

That's because owner's points are distributed to ALL cars who attempt to qualify for a race, and that becomes important to the teams near the top-30 in points.  Here's how it's put by NASCAR:

"The 43 owners who make the race earn points equal to the driver points. Those who do not qualify for the race are awarded points, starting with the fastest car that failed to qualify, down to the slowest car that attempted to qualify. These points establish priority in gaining provisionals for future races."

So what this equates to is that Robby Gordon ran/qualified for 25 of the 36 races in 2011.  He had 268 driver points.  But as an owner, he/his car had 334 points, because he attempted to qualify for 33 races, only making 25 of them.  This rule even makes qualifying attempts valuable to some teams!  Like those who don't make the race, but they can still muster some spare points or so.

So...

Danica Patrick's Top-35 Points Gift Has Fans Wondering

Check out this shell game of owners points so that Danica Patrick can race in the Daytona 500 (D500):

A month ago, we were introduced to Danica Patrick driving the No. 10 GoDaddy Chevy and the announcement included that this NASCAR Sprint Cup effort would be a Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) endeavor.

Then, we heard that Danica Patrick will be using Owners Points from another team to be able to race in the Daytona 500.

We then learned that that Dave Blaney gave up his points with Tommy Baldwin Racing (TBR) so Danica Patrick can race in the D500.

And finally, we heard that in a collaborative effort, Danica Patrick won't be driving an SHR car, but rather, her 10 Sprint Cup races will be driving under the auspices of TBR.

There...  how hard was that?  Right?

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Wait... she is driving what with who how?

The bottom line is that in some of the best media hub-bub to come along since Kurt Busch disrespected ESPN's Jerry Punch on camera and got himself fired, I mean, off to "have fun" racing, a situation has been made possible so that Danica Patrick's very first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race will be the Daytona 500.

MWR Switches Up Car Numbers

Here's a real switch up of a surprise for me:

Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) is picking up the car No. 47 for the last 4 races of the 2008 Cup season, and Marcos Ambrose will be driving the car at Atlanta with Little Debbie as their primary sponsor.

MWR will be returning the No. 44 car number to Petty Enterprises and the owners points that the No 44 accrued this year will be switched over to the No. 00 for the 2009 season. It kind of works out for everyone, right?

Does this have something to do with the talks that Petty and DEI are having?

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