The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Felipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor won the 24 Hours of Daytona qualifying race. Memo Gidley returned to Daytona in the IMSA Prototype Challenge series. Rallye Monte-Carlo was one for the ages. Dane Cameron tested an IndyCar for Team Penske. IndyCar will have a few more downforce options on the ovals. American Jak Crawford will drive for Prema in Formula Three this season. Circuit of the Americas is being repaved. Peugeot will not contest the FIA World Endurance Championship season opener in Sebring. NASCAR had its first major event of the calendar year. Here is a rundown of what got me thinking.
Crowded Hall
Another three drivers were inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Friday night, including the most popular driver of the 21st century. Along with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., long-time regional racer Red Farmer and seven-time modified champion Mike Stefanik, were included in the class of 2022, delayed a year due to the global pandemic. The inclusion of these three gentlemen brings the NASCAR Hall of Fame up to 58 members, and it is getting a little crowded.
With Earnhardt, Jr.'s induction, 22 of the top 32 drivers in NASCAR Cup Series victories are in the Hall of Fame. Of those other ten drivers, seven are still active, two are not eligible for induction yet (Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth), and the other is Carl Edwards, who has been eligible since 2020 but has not made it in his first two years of eligibility, despite having more victories than Earnhardt, Jr. in the Cup Series and in NASCAR's second division. The only other drivers with at least 20 NASCAR Cup Series victories and are not in the Hall of Fame are Jim Paschal, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Burton, Jack Smith, and Speedy Thompson.
Halls of fame are meant to highlight the greatest, not the very good. NASCAR is bordering on allow every driver in.
Earnhardt, Jr. didn't win a Cup championship, but he did win 26 races, including the Daytona 500 twice. He also won the NASCAR Grand National Series championship twice with 24 victories in that series. His off-track presence cannot be ignored, and he contributed greatly to the series' growth in the 2000s. However, he provides an interesting case study on who gets in and how far success goes.
NASCAR has evolved in the 25 years since Earnhardt, Jr.'s first national touring division start. The perceptions of NASCAR Grand National Series has changed. It is no longer a secondary series to the Cup level with drivers who can make a career there, but it is more a development series where drivers are supposed to spend two or three years and then move onto Cup. Career second division drivers are not held with the same respect as they were before.
That goes for Truck drivers as well. The first wave of NASCAR Truck Series drivers, the likes of Ron Hornaday, Jr., Mike Skinner, and Jack Sprague, are held in different company than current career Truck drivers, such as Matt Crafton and Johnny Sauter.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame has attempted to be encompassing of every series NASCAR sanctions, from the highest level of the Cup Series to the grassroots series split among the different regions of the United States, and the ballot includes more than drivers. Drivers compete for votes against team owners, broadcasters, crew chiefs and other contributors to the series.
When everyone is included on the same ballot, it is hard to properly recognize the achievements of all these individuals, and honestly it is nonsensical. Stefanik and Earnhardt, Jr. should never be on the same ballot. Stefanik was a great modified driver, but to weigh his success and contributions against the driver who had 80% of the grandstand of Talladega wearing his shirt and attracting multi-million dollar sponsorships ridiculously undermines the complexity of NASCAR.
The same goes with crew chiefs. Harry Hyde has been on the ballot six consecutive years, and he has still not made it. There have been only five crew chiefs inducted in the first 12 classes! There hasn't been one dedicated pit crew member inducted in 12 years! The drivers might do 90% of the work in the race, but pit crews also decide who wins a race and who doesn't. How is it possible that in 12 years not one pit crew member has been inducted from any team? Kyle Larson's pit crew was praised for getting him out first after the final round of pit stops at Phoenix and aiding Larson win the championship in 2021. Larson will be in the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but how many of those pit crew members will join him?
Baseball doesn't put players on the same ballot as managers and executives. Hockey splits the ballot between players and builders, which is open to anyone who has contributed to the development of the sport.
NASCAR is more than just the drivers, and it is more than the Cup Series and the national series. Everyone should not be lumped into one pool of candidates. An adjustment has been made with the ballot split between the "modern era" and the "pioneer era," but more needs to be done.
It also must be acknowledged that the NASCAR Hall of Fame is reaching its limit when it comes to Cup drivers. The only champion not elected that is eligible is Bill Rexford, champion in NASCAR's second Cup season, who had one victory in 36 career starts. I feel like Earnhardt, Jr. is the floor when it comes to Cup drivers. He had a few strong years, but he was only in the top five of the championship four times in 18 seasons as a regular. Excluding 2016, when he missed the second half of the season due to concussions, he finished outside the top twenty in the championship three times! Meanwhile, Carl Edwards had six top five championship finishes in 12 full seasons and his worst championship finish in a full season was 15th! Edwards will be on the ballot for a third year while Earnhardt, Jr. got in on his first attempt.
Earnhardt, Jr. does make the case easier for some drivers to get in the Hall of Fame. Clint Bowyer had three top five championship finishes and finished outside the top twenty in the championship only once in 15 seasons. Is Bowyer a Hall of Famers? He shouldn't be, but at the rate drivers are going in, Bowyer will be inducted before this decade is over.
Jeff Burton had four top five championship finishes and the only two full seasons he was outside the top twenty in the championship were his first two Cup seasons with Stavola Brothers Racing. Burton has 21 victories, never won the Daytona 500, but he won the Coca-Cola 600 twice and Southern 500 once, two races Earnhardt, Jr. never won.
Is Burton a hall of famer? He fits in firmly in the very good category, and that shouldn't be enough to make the hall of fame. Does Burton's 27 victories in the second division do enough to put him over the edge? We can try and make it about the totality of a career, but if you are going to spend majority of your career, nearly two decades in the Cup Series, then Cup Series success, or lack thereof, must carry greater weight.
Simultaneously, what about Greg Biffle? Zero Cup championships like Earnhardt, Jr. and Burton; three top five championship finishes, fewer than Earnhardt, Jr. and Burton; 19 Cup victories, fewer than Earnhardt, Jr. and Burton; but Biffle has a Grand National Series championship and won 20 races in that series, and he has a Truck championship and 17 victories in that series. Biffle is one of three drivers with championships in each of NASCAR's lower two national series, he is one of two drivers with at least 15 victories in all three series alongside Kyle Busch, and Biffle won the Southern 500 twice while the only time he finished outside the top twenty in the championship was his final season.
Is Biffle really one of the greatest NASCAR drivers all-time? The numbers say one thing, but the mind says another. With at least three individuals guaranteed induction every year, there is going to be a load of people getting in. Some will be deserved, Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus, eventually Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin, but others will feel like they were included because they just happened to be the best left on those ballots and the spots must be filled.
This is a futile cause and bound to lose significancy quickly if everyone is getting in for doing anything.
We don't need halls of fame yet feel compelled to construct enshrinements for sporting excellence. It is an unnecessary exercise and eventually becomes a habit of just recognizing individuals regardless of if they are truly the best. We can still have a museum and properly chronicle each driver, owner, crew chief and crew member, and any other member who has participated and contributed to the growth of NASCAR or whatever motorsports it may be, but we don't need to apotheosize these individuals. We know who the greats are without having vote or hold a ceremony.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Wayne Taylor Racing, but did you know...
Sébastien Loeb won Rallye Monte-Carlo, his 80th World Rally Championship victory, his eighth Rallye Monte-Carlo victory and his first victory since the 2018 Rally Catalunya.
Chase Sexton won the Supercross race from San Diego, his first career 450cc Supercross victory.
Coming Up This Weekend
The 60th 24 Hours of Daytona
Formula E opens with its Diriyah doubleheader.
Supercross returns to Anaheim.
