Decline in The Cup Series
In the late 2000s, the "ringer" has steadily disappeared from the Sprint Cup Series. Factors contributing to this trend are:
- The Chase for the Sprint Cup has made it counterproductive for teams to sacrifice the driver points of their full-time drivers in exchange for a possible win by a road course specialist.
- Because of this, full-time drivers have been forced to become more proficient on road courses, which in turn means that the average NASCAR driver today is a much better road course driver than in the recent past.
- A number of drivers with extensive road course experience are now full-time NASCAR drivers, such as Montoya (Formula One and Champ Cars), Ambrose (V8 Supercars), and Danica Patrick (IndyCar Series).
The decline of "ringers" was dramatically illustrated at the 2009 Watkins Glen race. Only one road course specialist was substituting for a driver in a fully sponsored, full-season NASCAR team—Patrick Carpentier for Michael Waltrip Racing. He is considered likely to lose his road course seat in the 2010 season when Martin Truex, Jr. takes over the team's full-time ride. Fellows drove in the race with the part-time Phoenix Racing, Said is now a part-owner of his team, and three other specialists were with lower-tier teams without full sponsorship. "Ringers" are nowadays more likely to be found in the Nationwide Series, which uses NASCAR's traditional driver points system without a "Chase", or in second-tier Cup teams.
Read more about this topic: Road Course Ringer
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