NASCAR: Should small and uncompetitive teams be allowed to compete?
By Asher Fair
Field sizes (continued)
In many cases, the issue of field sizes outweighs the issue of a driver’s desire to compete, as it should. There are drivers who want the opportunity to drive in the Cup Series, and they take advantage of those opportunities when they arise, even if it means running in 34th place every race.
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However, this has come at the expense of other drivers, such as Ryan Blaney at Bristol Motor Speedway earlier this year. Blaney, a championship contender, was in the lead of lap 118 of the 500-lap race. He had led 100 laps of the race up until that point in time.
That is what Harrison Rhodes, a part-time driver for the one-car, underfunded Rick Ware Racing who was already two laps down, was involved in an accident in his #51 Chevrolet. No, he didn’t cause the accident. In fact, two other drivers who were not on the lead lap and drive for slower two-car teams did.
However, it was Rhodes who ended up sliding up the track in front of Blaney, who had nowhere to go and smashed right into him, ending what could have been a race that resulted in a victory for the driver of the #12 Team Penske Ford.
Here is a video of this accident.