NASCAR: Should underfunded teams such as BK Racing target young drivers?

Every NASCAR team needs to have a starting point, and those starting points need capable drivers. But are teenagers the right targets for underfunded teams?

Small NASCAR teams know what they’re getting into when they start a Cup Series team. There are going to be a lot of struggles for many years and not many bright spots along the way.

You have success stories like that of Furniture Row Racing, who played the little guy in a David and Goliath-style tale. They’ve laid out the blueprint for smaller teams to follow, but many teams have yet to catch on.

Currently, these small and underfunded teams are electing to target younger drivers to race full seasons in their cars instead of veterans. The problem with this is the fact that these young drivers are being handed the keys to a full-time Cup Series ride and are taking this fast route over properly developing themselves in the lower ranks of NASCAR.

I’m assuming that all these young competitors thought jumping straight into the Cup Series with an immensely underfunded team was a good idea as opposed to doing it the old-fashioned way and earning their stripes in the lower series of NASCAR.

Maybe they thought that it would give them exposure, although I don’t understand how running between 30th and 40th place every race could be considered good exposure.

This is something I’ve noticed drivers doing with many small budget Cup Series teams, but the most frequent abusers of young drivers is definitely BK Racing.

BK Racing is a controversial team in many regards both on and off the track. Unlike most smaller teams who choose to let veteran drivers test their equipment and use the experience as a means to further the team, they choose to target younger drivers.

I want to highlight three young drivers that have fallen prey to this team’s temptations and whose careers I believe suffered as a result of it.