Getting Petty About the Champion's Provisional

So ... remember Kyle Petty fell to the 35th spot last week? Well, should he happen to fall out of the top 35, he's gone and lined up a former champion to ensure the #45 Dodge qualifies.

Petty had to look no further than his own teammate, 2000 Winston Cup Champion Bobby Labonte.

"Look, as long as they don't change the rules and the rulebook is written that way, we're in the business to run racecars. We have two racecars -- the 43 and the 45. Those are our racecars. Right now Richard Petty owns both racecars, and we've got one driver with the championship provisional and another driver who is on the bubble. Whatever it takes to get those in, I don't see the issue with it.

OMG! Genius! Soooo genius I can't even believe this is allowed. Why is this allowed?

I didn't used to have a problem with the former champion provisional rule in theory. It's nice to offer the former champs a spot. But the rule, as written, is too widely exploited. The way the rule is applied today can't be in the same spirit as it was when it was created, can it?

And now, Petty and Labonte's seat switching takes the level exploits to new heights! Has this ever been done before? Why should full-time drivers be allowed to use their championship provisionals for another driver on their team? How on earth could NASCAR consider this fair?

To top it off, Labonte's provisional would trump Bill Elliott's since his is more recent. That also improves Petty Enterprises' chances of keeping the #45 in the top 35 if Wood Brothers / JTG can't get the #21 in on speed.

Isn't this taking "team work" a little too far?

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-21-2007 @ 10:48AM

B.A. said...

Petty's are the "Kings" of NASCAR and NASCAR has always left a little window open just big enough for a Petty to slip through. This is nothing compared to some of the things NASCAR has allowed. One time a manufacturer made Bobby Allison take his engine out of his car and give it to Richard prior to a race. To the surprise of Allison, NASCAR allowed it.
Can you blame NASCAR? Probably not. The Petty name is what most people associate with NASCAR.

10-21-2007 @ 1:33PM

fiestymom said...

I think this is "wrong"......And I think that option needs to be changed for next season.....
I don't care how big Petty's are......I adore Richard and all he has done for the sport as well as all the great things Kyle has done but there is a limit to what is right and this is not right!!
Also needed to comment on the "race to the airplanes" today before the race..I loved that and wish they would do more things to involve drivers having fun times!
Lots of laughs watching that one.....

10-22-2007 @ 10:04AM

Maveness said...

Well, the provisional was created for Richard. It's only this year that anyone has really figured out how to exploit it to their advantage. Mikey mastered it (with DJ and Terry), Wood Brothers hoped to use it (although Bill Elliott is such a good qualifier that it's almost a moot point over there) and Kyle realized that hey, if everyone else is doing it, we're not going to be stupid.

But really, next year? That sucker needs to be obliterated. (Which points out the fact that DJ will totally not run that 7 races as planned, just a couple, since his provisional would be moot.)

10-22-2007 @ 9:40PM

CJ said...

Here's an idea, Kyle, get your sorryass out of the car! You wanna improve Petty Enterprises, then retire! I really hate what happen to Adam, i really do, but Kyle is doing nothing but driving Petty Enterprises into the ground by staying behind the wheel! When they lose Cheerios and Bobby Labonte (cause i think Bobby will get that 4th RCR car in 2009 when his contract is up with the Petty's) and no one is willing to sponsor Kyle, what'he goin to do then? Richard isnt goin to be around forever to bail Kyle's ass out the mess he's creating at Petty Enterprises. As much as he's focused on Victory Junction Camp, which is a great organization, it has come to great cost to Petty Enterprises and how much Kyle has failed to focus on that organization to making it perform better.

11-28-2007 @ 11:52AM

Arkavious said...

The signs are pointing that Bobby Labonte will leave Petty enterprises at the endo of 2008. Bobby signed a deal to drive for RCR iin the Nationwide Series. In addition Petty said they are not willing to merge with G.E.M. I heard Bobby speak at Kansas and he said that the day of the two car team is a thing of the past. He said that scernerio cannot survive in today's NASCAR. With the great equilizer of the COT, I believe the grips that Bobby had about car setups with multicar teams is a thing of the past. Remember one of the reasons that Bobby left JGR because all of the cars were primarily set up for Tony Stewart's driving style. With the inception of the COT that is not so much of an issue. Let's ask ourselves why would Bobby want to race in a series where he is not contending for a championship nor will anything that he learns in the Nationwide series will transfer to the cup race the next day due to the diffrent cars being used in each of the series. In sum, Bobby wants a repeat of 2000. Can he do it? Yes, but not in the Petty organization. The Petty's are making strides but Bobby is 43 and time is short. I hope we see Bobby in the 33 next season. However, I am a bit excited that the Petty's hired Jeff Gordon's car chief to be Bobby's crew chief. That will be interesting. However, the Petty organization only has one competitive car on the track. That is Bobby. No disrespect to Kyle but he is not very competitive week in and week out.