When proposed in November 2005, NASCAR’s rule to limit Cup team owners to a maximum of four teams per organization had noble intentions. Having watched several open wheel series become dominated by a select few owners to the detriment of their series, NASCAR realized it did not wish to travel the same path.

Of course when the rule was enacted we were in a very different economic climate. There were still potential team owners clamoring to get in on the action when owning a Cup team seemed a license to print money. These days the only new team owners who seem to be interested in joining the Cup ranks are “start and park” organizations looking to run a few laps to collect last-place money. And oddly enough, that’s proven to be a viable economic model with those teams not having to transport a pit crew to the track, buy spare tires or risk potential damage or wear to the cars and engines.

Yeah, it’s cynical but given the fact that even well-organized teams with proven track records struggle to find sponsors willing to foot the bill for a full-on assault at championships, what other option do new and unproven teams have in this economy?

From the outset, the biggest opponent to this rule was Jack Roush. After all, he was the only team owner with five active, full-time Cup teams and thus would be the only owner made to shut one down. NASCAR was finally calling his bluff, stating that it was no longer going to nod and wink at the notion that Roush only owned one team while his mother, CEO, and presumably his barber owned the other teams, as claimed on each week’s entry list.

As usual when NASCAR rules against his organization, Roush’s comments border on paranoid, claiming he was once again singled out. To an extent, the phrase “it’s not paranoia when they really are out to get you” applies here. There have been some bizarre calls against Roush’s teams in the past, most notably a huge points penalty in 1990 for a spacer that was welded, not bolted, to the intake manifold after a win at Richmond (there was no performance advantage to the deviation) that eventually cost Mark Martin a title.

Roush is not a “good ol’ boy” like Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Robert Yates, Richard Petty and others. He came into NASCAR as a successful businessman with close ties to Ford Motor Company, having operated championship-winning race teams in the NHRA and the SCCA Trans Am Series. His engineering-focused approach to stock car racing and his etched-in-granite determination to build a large, successful and profitable entity threatened to upset the apple cart — and the other leading purveyors of apples didn’t like that one bit.

To date, the new four-car rule which goes into effect in 2010 (NASCAR did give Roush a couple years to get his team in compliance) might have had limited benefit in convincing other super-teams from expanding beyond four full-time outfits.


While the two men maintain a courteous, even friendly relationship as human beings, clearly Roush and Rick Hendrick are archrivals in the sport. Joe Gibbs Racing has become another major player in both regards as well, thus we have the perfect storm of Ford, Chevy and Toyota teams, all well-funded organizations, battling it out for wins week-in and week-out. Roger Penske (Dodge) and Richard Childress (Chevy … uber-Chevy, actually, given his once longtime affiliation with GM Goodwrench) have been players at times but struggled at others. This year in particular, RCR is clearly in disarray while the Penske organization is showing some signs of life once more after nearly flat-lining over the last few seasons. In fact, the future of Dodge’s involvement altogether is up in the air, as presumably Fiat tries to work Chrysler into its corporate culture by making sure any convertibles the company produces ship water like the Titanic during a light drizzle and all models suffer rust-out while being distributed new to dealerships. If the new Fiat is anything like the old, new cars will qualify for “Cash for Clunkers” bonuses on the showroom floor.

But to the issue at hand: It’s Hendrick that has played NASCAR’s rule to perfection. Yes, on paper, Hendrick Motorsports still has only four Cup teams — and what teams they are, with superstars Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at the helm of HMS Chevys with rock solid sponsorships befitting their superstar status. But then along came Tony Stewart, who was never really comfortable with his association with Toyota over at Gibbs.

Stewart expressed a desire to return to Chevy almost immediately and the General Motors folks were only too eager to have a two-time titlist back in the fold. But there was no room at HMS for Stewart and thus a new accommodation had to be made. Gene Haas, in prison at the time, was willing to offer Stewart an ownership stake in his organization, one that relied heavily on Hendrick support, free of charge just to bring the Stewart name to the table. On paper this seemed like an insane move for Stewart, akin to buying a high-mileage, 20-year old Renault Alliance out of the boneyard to make a high-speed, cross-country trip. The price was right but the chances of success were minimal.

However, stepping into the void was GM, which assured Stewart it would not allow his new team to fail. (Ironically enough, it is now the U.S. government that will decide if GM itself will be allowed to fail, as many claim it should after years of producing such lemons as the Celebrity, Citation, the third-gen Camaros and the Aztek.) As such, HMS would enter into an “engineering alliance” with newly-dubbed Stewart-Haas Racing to provide engines and chassis. With the CoT rules in place mandating body design, Stewart entered the fray with 90 percent of the job done. And to Stewart’s credit, he’s hired the right people — probably after receiving much sage advice — enabling the team to be successful right out of the box.

While it’s hard to argue with the success of the organization given the fact Stewart is leading the points, it’s equally hard to argue that somehow Stewart-Haas Racing is an autonomous entity and not just a satellite organization of HMS, designed to meet the letter of the new rules limiting team ownership but not the intent. The association is so blatant that Gordon and Johnson often refer to Stewart and Ryan Newman as “teammates” while Hendrick himself is usually first in line to congratulate Stewart on his successes. Could SHR survive absent the resources of Hendrick? Brother, you’d have a better chance scaling Mount Everest naked and blindfolded.

This leaves Roush with an easy out, as the once-independent Yates Racing has become a satellite organization to Roush Fenway Racing. At the end of 2009, when Roush needs to pare back to four teams, the fifth (presumably Jamie McMurray and the 26 bunch) will simply move next door to the Yates organization, a group so fundamentally broken after many years as one of the sport’s top outfits that Robert Yates retired rather than carrying on the fight. Yates Racing has basically become Roush’s junior varsity squad to circumvent the new rule. If it hadn’t, it likely would have ceased to exist as so many other teams have over the past decade.

So what changes hath the new rule wrought? Well, honestly, there’s no changes other than a pile of paperwork and some accounting headaches. GM has apparently decided to put all its eggs in the Hendrick basket (which includes SHR), possibly leaving Richard Childress’ empire on the outside looking in. Ford likewise has designated Roush and his satellite teams as the roosters in its henhouse. Toyota’s chief organization is Joe Gibbs Racing and any surviving Toyota teams will presumably seek shelter under Gibbs’ wing. Chrysler? Well, who knows what it’s going to do. These are, after all, the folks who brought you the Dodge Aries and Plymouth Volare. Given its tutelage on the knee of Fiat, my guess is that Chrysler ceases to exist within five years, and that’s a damn shame given the fact it is now building some of the most desirable, if not politically correct, vehicles on the road.

NASCAR’s new rule limiting team ownership was meant to bring some new faces to the table. It was hoped some of those faces would belong to minorities not currently well represented in the sport. The rule was supposed to keep dominance from falling into the hands of a few super-teams, but in both respects the new rule is on track to fail miserably. Like the Chase for the Championship and the Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR’s good intentions will most likely end up, once again, as a detriment and not a bonus for the sport through the Law of Unintended Consequences. But that law applies only to those foolish enough not to anticipate the consequences of their actions.

After all, about the only place you’ll find “wisdom” in current NASCAR officialdom is in the unopened and dusty dictionary atop Brian France’s desk.

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