[Motorsports One]

Here's the lineup for Sunday's Ford 400.

Lineup for Ford 400 - Motorsports One

[Robertdjr]

Wow! Look at the front row...David Reutimann on the pole and Scott Speed #2. And where is Jim Johnson and Cousin Carl? Jim's starting 30th and Carl's starting 4th. Wonder how Jim and Chad will handle that, and if it makes them a little nervous started back there.

[Racer Duck]

This is what wrong with the Chosen rule:

• Mikey runs 20 mph slower than any car on the track and yet he gets in the race at 42nd - if it had been during a race he'd have been black flagged for not maintaining a reasonable race speed!!!
• AJ runs the same time as the 34th place car and yet he has to start last (fastest not in the top 35 owners points, i.e., Go-Or-Go-Homers)
• Sam Hornish, the slowest of the GOGH'ers and apparent 2008 Rookie of the Year, ran a faster time than Jeff Gordon (37th fastest) as did Max Papis and Ken Shrader, but they are all 3 going home.

OK, Chosen defenders, defend that!!!

[bob101]

Why is everyone worried where Johnson starts and Edwards? All he has to do is make 1 lap - 2 at most.

Even Rick Hendrick said so this week in a radio interview. With the other team cars and the satellite teams that Hendrick controls he has enough cars to park and let Johnson make 2 laps if needed and finish ahead of his team mates and satellite teams.......

That's the way it works.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

This is what wrong with the Chosen rule:

• Mikey runs 20 mph slower than any car on the track and yet he gets in the race at 42nd - if it had been during a race he'd have been black flagged for not maintaining a reasonable race speed!!!
• AJ runs the same time as the 34th place car and yet he has to start last (fastest not in the top 35 owners points, i.e., Go-Or-Go-Homers)
• Sam Hornish, the slowest of the GOGH'ers and apparent 2008 Rookie of the Year, ran a faster time than Jeff Gordon (37th fastest) as did Max Papis and Ken Shrader, but they are all 3 going home.

OK, Chosen defenders, defend that!!!

Good luck, Charles. I've been waiting all season for a Chosen 35 proponent to explain why it is right for one group of cars to show up at the track with a game plan aimed toward winning, and another group showing up with their main effort is centered in just making the race?

[BiscuitMan]

Originally Posted by bob101

Why is everyone worried where Johnson starts and Edwards? All he has to do is make 1 lap - 2 at most.

Even Rick Hendrick said so this week in a radio interview. With the other team cars and the satellite teams that Hendrick controls he has enough cars to park and let Johnson make 2 laps if needed and finish ahead of his team mates and satellite teams.......

That's the way it works.

All Jimmie Johnson has to do is finish 36th or better, regardless of what Edwards does, to clinch his record-tying third straight championship.

However, experience has shown that "weird things" can happen. Look at Kyle Busch and his mechanical problems experienced in three consecutive races and you can have a feel that something could be up with the #48 team that NEVER makes a mistake.

Jimmie Johnson should not get too comfortable back there with all that "trash" as Joey has said. That's where most "weird things" happen. Past performance has shown that "clean air" is the key to making this CoT Cup car work. He's not going to see clean air for a long time.

If he gets pinched against the wall before Rick Hendrick can call in his troops to pit, Jimmie's season is lost.

Sounds like I'm a pessimist. But, weird things can happen.

[Bob Tanner]

Almirola, Ambrose and Mikey ought to be going home.

Schrader, Papis and Hornish should be starting the race.

Thank you for the last time this season Chosen 35 Rule. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by BiscuitMan

All Jimmie Johnson has to do is finish 36th or better, regardless of what Edwards does, to clinch his record-tying third straight championship.

However, experience has shown that "weird things" can happen. Look at Kyle Busch and his mechanical problems experienced in three consecutive races and you can have a feel that something could be up with the #48 team that NEVER makes a mistake.

Jimmie Johnson should not get too comfortable back there with all that "trash" as Joey has said. That's where most "weird things" happen. Past performance has shown that "clean air" is the key to making this CoT Cup car work. He's not going to see clean air for a long time.

If he gets pinched against the wall before Rick Hendrick can call in his troops to pit, Jimmie's season is lost.

Sounds like I'm a pessimist. But, weird things can happen.

Actually I think it is wishful thinkin.... I'm on board with your thoughts

[WestCoast]

I’m thinking JJ is going to do some defensive driving, just like the old timers do in restrictor plate racing, hang out in the back, wait for the field to dwindle down to 36 cars in the race and then race for the win.

[WestCoast]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

Good luck, Charles. I've been waiting all season for a Chosen 35 proponent to explain why it is right for one group of cars to show up at the track with a game plan aimed toward winning, and another group showing up with their main effort is centered in just making the race?

Don't mistaken: making the race for winning the race.

Those guys set their cars up for only 2 laps, as they know that most likely they won't be in contention once the race starts and just be back markers as usual.

Also, although I like guys like Papis, what exactly have they contributed toward Nascar throughout the season? whereas the top 35 have paid their dues the whole year.

[Robertdjr]

Originally Posted by bob101

Why is everyone worried where Johnson starts and Edwards? All he has to do is make 1 lap - 2 at most.

I'm pretty sure he's gonna have a lot more to do than just make 1 or 2 laps at most.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Don't mistaken: making the race for winning the race.

Those guys set their cars up for only 2 laps, as they know that most likely they won't be in contention once the race starts and just be back markers as usual.

Also, although I like guys like Papis, what exactly have they contributed toward Nascar throughout the season? whereas the top 35 have paid their dues the whole year.

uh, what dues did Scott Speed pay? he's in the race in someone else's car (#83) because he underperformed in the one he was in (#84) and let it fall out of the Chosen (it's now 36th). Almirola is in because of Mark Martin's expertise, not because he was fast .. he drove 7 or 8 races this year, what dues did he pay?

contrast that with Sam Hornish (37th on the list) who's been in and out of the Chosen all year but fighting every week for a spot.. how didn't he pay his dues?

and why should a "regular" (#55) get a break that a "non-regular" (#96) doesn't get? If this were a country club or something, I might be pursuaded to go along, but this is supposed to be the best of the best in auto racing. so how does having a bad day qualifying get dismissed and you get a spot in the field anyway?

those kinds of arguments just don't fly. it's not about paying dues (you pay dues to belong to the country club), it's about racing. if one car & driver is faster than another, then the faster car should be in the race. this is not a situation where qualifying was rained out and they're lined up by points standing, it's a situation where those in the club get coddled and everyone else has to draw a number. what about the guys in 38th or 39th? haven't they paid their dues? haven't they had to pay expenses to each race, buy tires, run competitive laps, keep their sponsors happy, etc.? what "dues" did they not pay?

so the winner cannot say he won against the fastest cars/drivers. just that he beat his bunkmates.

that's the really sad thing about NASCAR: it's turned into a closed shop - if you don't have connections or a rich daddy, you can't get in.

is NASCAR a country club? sure smells like one.

[WestCoast]

Maybe I should have said the Car Number has paid its dues.
But nevertheless, I neither buy the argument nor see the logic, as the guys that "don’t qualify" in most cases only make a few laps under green and just park and get paid or have mechanical problems.
Is it a club, more so than some guy showing up on Saturday Night in the parking lot trailing a race car, you bet.
I for one see the reason behind the madness.

[wingkey1]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Don't mistaken: making the race for winning the race.

Those guys set their cars up for only 2 laps, as they know that most likely they won't be in contention once the race starts and just be back markers as usual.

Also, although I like guys like Papis, what exactly have they contributed toward Nascar throughout the season? whereas the top 35 have paid their dues the whole year.

However good or bad one may view the "35" thing it was not meant/intended to be associated with in any way (advantageously or dis-advantageously) individual pilots/drivers. Yet many will argue the topic (the "35") north and south basing their position on exactly that. Whether one might comment for or against, driver names had no place in the original goal/intent.

The participating owner(s) landscape as it is today (multiple actual or ghost teams "under" one owner) is significantly changed, making the "35" outdated. It seems possible the thought/intent for the "35" envisioned a future where something closer to one team = one owner would be the "norm". Oops!

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by WestCoast

Don't mistaken: making the race for winning the race.

Those guys set their cars up for only 2 laps, as they know that most likely they won't be in contention once the race starts and just be back markers as usual.

Also, although I like guys like Papis, what exactly have they contributed toward Nascar throughout the season? whereas the top 35 have paid their dues the whole year.

Generally we see things pretty much eye-to-eye. Guess this is the exception, eh?

Para 1: I'm not mistaken. My point exactly. The Chosen show up pretty much ready to race. The Non Chosen show up just hoping to make the field. Two entirely different objectives.

Para 2: Exactly. The Chosen 35 Rule makes seven or eight cars automatic back markers and non-competitive.

Para 3: It's easy to be considered a "contributor" when you don't have to show up each race playing by a different set of rules and when you don't have the door slammed in your face each week , preventing you from "contributing."

I believe , to the depths of my soiled little heart, that there is N-O-T-H-I-N-G, repeat nothing, right, just, correct, equippable, fair, or acceptable with The Chosen 35 Rule. It's simply NA__AR's way of weeding out the players they don't want to mess with and keeping "The Good 'Ol Boy" group of team owners safe from upstarts and new comers.