NASCAR: New Cup Series eligibility requirements?

NASCAR recently made headlines after not allowing long-time Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb to race in the Cup Series.

Jennifer Jo Cobb was set to make her first NASCAR Cup Series start at Talladega Superspeedway this past Sunday.

Considering the fact that she has raced in 217 Truck Series races, including 16 on superspeedways, I don’t think anyone envisioned her having an issue being approved for the race. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

The decision was interesting to say the least, given her experience in the Truck Series, but NASCAR believed she wasn’t prepared to make her debut at the top level in a superspeedway race, given the lack of practice and qualifying.

The lack of guidelines left a lot of fans confused. Should NASCAR have defined requirements to enter a Cup Series race?

One interesting note is that Cobb was actually approved in 2015, but she never made a Cup Series start, so she had to resubmit an application for approval. It should be noted that NASCAR did say they want to be stricter with the approval process.

This whole situation should lead to NASCAR implementing some sort of guidelines or minimum requirements to either enter a Cup race or to become a full-time driver.

Drivers who are making one-off starts, such as Harrison Burton at Talladega Superspeedway last weekend or Matt Mills at Kansas Speedway this weekend, should be held to a more lenient criterion.

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I’d even throw part-time drivers into this category. Drivers jumping from the Truck Series to the Cup Series should be required to start in at least 10 or 15 races. Drivers jumping from the Xfinity Series to the Cup Series should be required to start in more like five or 10 races, considering the cars are more similar.

Additionally, drivers should have experience competing on a similar track size, meaning that if they want to qualify for a race at Talladega Superspeedway in the Cup Series, they must have run at least one race at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway in a lower series.

In addition to experience, performance should definitely factor into the approval process. I’m aware that some teams don’t have as much speed as others, so at least two recent top 20 finishes or lead lap finishes could get it done.

So somebody such as Derrick Cope, who was approved for this season’s Daytona 500 despite not having raced at Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway since 2006, should have never been approved.

The criteria for a full-time driver is where it gets stricter. At the bare minimum, a driver should have to complete a full season in one of the lower national series and have at least one victory.

Two drivers come to mind when it comes to drivers who may have been rushed up to the Cup Series despite not meeting the criteria. Daniel Hemric was moved up to the Cup Series to drive for Richard Childress Racing in 2019 following two winless Xfinity Series seasons and two winless Truck Series seasons.

Despite the lack of wins, Hemric did have two Championship 4 appearances, so the speed was there. Like most rookies, he struggled in the Cup Series, scoring just one top five finish and ending the season in 25th place in the championship standings. He was replaced the following season by two-time Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick.

The other driver who comes to mind is Anthony Alfredo. Alfredo, a Cup Series rookie this year, made 13 starts in the Truck Series in 2019, followed by 19 Xfinity Series starts last season. He had success in the Xfinity Series, scoring nine top 10 finishes.

The problem for Alfredo is his lack of experience has clearly shown in the Cup Series. He has just one top 20 finish so far this season and has crashed out of three of the first 10 races. He currently sits 29th place in the point standings, ahead of only three full-time drivers.

I understand his team, Front Row Motorsports, don’t have the speed that the top teams have, but Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 and sits in 13th in the standings with three other top eight results.

We’ve drivers such as Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, William Byron, Chris Buescher and Daniel Suarez win championships before moving up to the Cup Series. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Martin Truex Jr., and Tyler Reddick each won two championships before their Cup days.

Among active drivers, the aforementioned Alfredo, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Corey LaJoie and Quin Houff did not complete a full season in the Xfinity Series or the Truck Series before moving up to the Cup Series. Logano was arguably the most hyped prospect of the 21st century, so Joe Gibbs was eager to get him to his Cup Series team quite quickly.

Newman may be the outlier here, as he won a race in his rookie season and finished in sixth place in the championship standings. Houff is a whole other story because he drives for an underfunded team. He has had a few few key instances in his limited time behind the wheel that make NASCAR fans question if he belongs in the Cup Series.

It seems that for the most part, drivers who take the time to gain more experience in the Xfinity Series and Truck Series tend to have more success in their Cup Series careers. If nothing else, NASCAR just needs to have a defined set of guidelines so drivers won’t be caught off guard when they aren’t approved to race.