(originally posted July 13, 2007)

Kyle Petty said it best during the Pocono broadcast:

“NASCAR is a business six days a week and a sport one day a week.”

More than any other year in recent memory, this business aspect has made itself increasingly evident as the year progressed. From Dale Jr. to Aric Amirola, business decisions have played out front and center at the expense of the “sport” of NASCAR, and the ripples haven’t yet left the pond.

It was all anyone was talking about when Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he was leaving DEI. And while the world anxiously awaited the announcement of where he would land, the experts talked. And speculated. And thought out loud. And predicted. And guessed. Everyone said he had three teams to choose from for what he wanted. And logically, they are probably right. JGR, RCR, and Hendricks are the only Chevy teams that stand a chance to do what Dale wants as fast as he wants it done, and that’s earn him a championship.

But logic has never come into play in NASCAR. The reality of the situation is that Hendricks is leaps and bounds beyond RCR and JGR (and the rest of NASCAR for that matter) on all fronts. In reality there was only one choice for Dale, and that was Hendricks.

The question was never where is Dale going. The question was how is Hendricks going to make this work. I expected a buyout of Casey Mears’ contract, low man on the totem pole, and all that. He is also the weakest of the four Hendricks drivers, but that really isn’t saying much, as Gordon, Johnson, and Kyle Busch are easily three of the top five drivers in NASCAR (the other two being Stewart and Mark Martin). If you notice, I don’t list Dale Jr. in that top 5 group. It’s debatable whether I would even list him in a top 10 group. Why then, would Hendricks dump Kyle Busch, perhaps the most talented young driver to hit the circuit since Tony Stewart was a rookie, for a driver who, in NASCAR years, is having the equivalent of a mid-life crises?

Business. All business, all the time. Kyle may bring in more top 10’s and more victories, but Dale Jr. is the single biggest draw in NASCAR. Teaming him up with Johnson and Gordon give Hendricks the top 3 draws in NASCAR. Those three drivers had a revenue stream of over $170 million just last year. Yes… One hundred seventy million dollars… Just Gordon, Earnhardt, and Johnson. That is something sponsors sit up and take notice of. The saying “it takes money to make money” is frighteningly appropriate when it comes to NASCAR, and by dumping a superior driver for a superior marketing tool, Hendricks has all but ensured they will remain dominant for years to come. This is the Superteam that NASCAR was worried about when they crushed Rousch’s fifth team. This one business deal has likely sealed the fate of single car teams at the cup level.

And even though that is easily the most prolific business decision of the year, it surely isn’t the decision that is most indicative of why NASCAR has traveled further and further away from being truly a sport. That dubious distinction belongs to JGR and occurred at Michigan International Speedway. The sponsor of the #20 car is headquartered in MI, and they wanted to see Denny Hamlin in the car. But Denny is a full time Cup driver who is currently in the top 5 in points, and Cup was in California that weekend. Not to worry, however, as JGR has Aric Amirola, a talented your man they are grooming for the Busch series, who can take over pre-race duties while JGR flies in from California. Aric practices the #20 car. He qualifies it on the pole. And when Denny is late, Aric starts the race. Denny arrives, sees that Aric is driving, and talks on TV about potentially filling in for another driver who is feeling ill.

And then the unthinkable happens. Aric is leading the race, and they pull him to the pits and put Denny in the car. Why? Because that’s what the sponsor wanted. It wasn’t enough for them to have their logo out front, they wanted the Cup star to be behind the wheel. And shame on JGR for saying ok. That single decision has turned that entire organization sour in my mind. They let the business of Monday through Friday interfere with the sport of Saturday and Sunday. You can be sure that Aric won’t forget it anytime soon. And, what’s worse, you can be sure that the sponsor, and other sponsors around the league, wont forget it either.

NASCAR isn’t a sport. It’s a business. What’s more, it’s a privately held business, where the drivers and crew members exist at the whim of the corporate mogul. There are no driver unions, or crew unions, designed to protect the participants. There are just the few who make the rules and collect the coins. But all that doesn’t stop us (yes, I include myself) from tuning in each and every week. I don’t drink Budweiser, but I know that it’s on Dale’s car. I prefer Lowe’s over Home Depot, but cheer for Tony Stewart and against Jimmy Johnson. And there’s no way in hell I am joining the Army (I am not nearly courageous enough), yet if Mark Martin is on the track I have someone to cheer for above all others.

In fact, in Mark Martin we may have the sole bright spot of NASCAR. Here is someone who is racing because he loves it. He races on his terms, and his terms only. And now there is word that Nemechek and Marlin are both interested in similar, part time schedules. They love NASCAR the sport, and, it seems, have grown tired of NASCAR the business. I can only hope that this attitude is infectious and works its way through the rest of Corporate NASCAR.