NASCAR: Pay attention to this other key battle at Phoenix

It won’t just be the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship battle that takes place at Phoenix Raceway this upcoming weekend.

The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 is set, with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. set to battle for this year’s title at Phoenix Raceway this coming Sunday afternoon.

But this isn’t the only crucial battle to keep an eye on during Sunday’s 312-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) oval in Avondale, Arizona.

The other key battle to watch? The battle for 33rd place in the owner standings among the 36 charter teams.

I know, it sounds about as exciting as it is. In fact, it’s really the battle for 34th — even more exciting! — considering the fact that the 27th place #37 JTG Daugherty Racing team is actually a non-chartered team.

But in reality, this battle for 33rd place is a crucial battle that could have huge ramifications within the garage moving forward because of which team is one of the teams involved.

There is a minimum performance standard in the Cup Series to which charter teams are held, and that standard makes clear that if a charter team finishes in the bottom three of the owner standings among the 36 charter teams (so from 34th to 36th place) for three straight seasons, NASCAR reserves the right to repossess that team’s charter.

There is no guarantee that repossession would occur, but NASCAR would have this option, and that could prove huge.

Entering the 2021 season, the #51 Petty Ware Racing team had finished in this bottom three range for two straight seasons; no other team had done so. In 2019, the team finished in 34th place, and in 2020, it finished in 36th (last).

With just one race remaining on this year’s schedule, the team sits in 33rd place, just four points ahead of 34th.

Take a look at the standings from 32nd to 36th place.

• 32nd place – #52 Rick Ware Racing: 213 points (+9)
• 33rd place – #51 Petty Ware Racing: 208 points (+4)

——————BOTTOM 3 CUT LINE——————

• 34th place – #15 Rick Ware Racing: 204 points (-4)
• 35th place – #53 Rick Ware Racing: 197 points (-11)
• 36th place – #00 StarCom Racing: 175 points (-33)

Rick Ware Racing could technically work to ensure that the #51 team isn’t passed by the #15 team or the #53 team for 33rd place in the season finale, though a finish of 34th or worse for the #53 team would put that team in this very position next year since it finished in 35th last year.

The other team in the bottom three last year was the #00 StarCom Racing team (34th place), and that team will finish this year in the bottom three as well. But that team’s charter has reportedly already been sold for next year, eliminating any repossession threat for 2023.

Do make note of the fact that the #51 team is classified as Petty Ware Racing because Richard Petty Motorsports allow Rick Ware Racing to use one of their charters to run it. So even if repossession does become an option for NASCAR, it’s hard to see them resorting to that option without at least allowing the team an opportunity to make a sale on their own.