Kyle Busch’s untimely death highlights a rare but serious concern with driver healthcare in the sport. Teams are on the road around 40 weeks per year, and missing a race, for whatever reason, ultimately ends your chances at a good points finish. Sure, there is the medical waiver system, but drivers get zero points for missed races, making it next to impossible for a driver to recover from a missed race and still have a chance in the playoffs. In cases like Alex Bowman, who missed several races due to vertigo, that may be a fair outcome. But what about a one-race situation, such as a serious illness or the birth of a child? The question comes to mind: Is it time for NASCAR to adopt “drop races” or maybe even a provisional system of some sort?
What would a system like this look like in NASCAR? Luckily, we have a few examples used in the motorsports world. The Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing series, owned by NASCAR’s very own Kyle Larson, uses a unique medical provisional system. If a driver misses a race and is granted a medical provisional, they are given points equal to five positions below their season average finishing position. If a driver is averaging a 14th-place finish for the season, they would be credited with 19th-place points for races missed within a ten-day window. High Limit races multiple times per week in some cases, so NASCAR’s version would have to be incremented per race rather than per day.
The other, even simpler, option is to implement “drop races” into the regular season. The current regular season is 26 races, so with a two-race drop, you’d take the best 24 races for that driver and count those towards the season standings. The two worst point finishes would be “dropped” or ignored in the standings. Not only would this be a simple solution, but it would also create a little more excitement in the season-ending race, as drivers would have a chance to unseat their lowest-points driver to close out the regular season.
Stick-and-ball sports, particularly basketball, have seen “rest games” upset fans. But this isn’t the same concept, and racers are some of the fiercest competitors on the planet; they’re not going to sit out unless they absolutely have to. And even if they’re told they need to, they may not listen if they feel like they’ll be letting down fans and sponsors. A system like this would give the sport’s biggest assets a way to take care of themselves personally without ruining their entire year professionally.
Image and Article by Clay Guthrie/ Seriously Fast Motorsports