NASCAR has announced that it will reallocate prize money for teams finishing in the last five sports in the field. This is meant to be an attempt to make it less profitable for start-and-park teams.
“We moved prize money higher in the purse, so if someone’s intent is solely to run a lap or two and park, the revenue stream shrinks,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said Tuesday during an “Autoweek” panel discussion in Detroit.
According to NASCAR, each position from 43rd through 39th will receive $4,000 less for each position. For example, 39th will receive $4,000 less than 38th, 40th $4,000 less than 39th, etc.
Instead of going to start-and-park teams that money will be distributed to the rest of the field.
Take last years Spring race at Bristol as an example.
The car driven by David Stremme ran 334 laps and was involved in a crash that resulted in a 38th place finish. Stremme’s team 83,703 for the race. Josh Wise ran 16 laps in the same Bristol race earning $80,289 while finishing 43rd. Under the new rule Wise’s team would have walked away with roughly $63,000 and some change.
Changing the allocation of prize money was not a surprise to start-and-park teams as NASCAR began talking to teams last season about a change.
“NASCAR is taking the right steps,” team owner Tommy Baldwin said. “They did a really good job [with this]. They talked to us about the situation, what their plan was and why they’re doing it.
