Start and park is a term used in auto racing, particularly in NASCAR-sanctioned races, to describe the practice of racing teams starting races but pulling the car off the track after just a few laps in order to collect prize money while avoiding expenses such as replacement tires, engine wear and tear, and hiring a pit crew. The practice has existed due to the relatively high purse for even a back-of-the-pack finish, as well as the high costs of fielding a car for an entire race. While start-and-park entries occasionally act as "field fillers" (a term typically used outside of NASCAR when a small number of teams show up to a racetrack), the practice is criticized in instances when they take spots away from teams intending to run the full race.
In some cases, a team will use a start-and-park car to help fund another competitive car in the same or a different series. This practice was prevalent in NASCAR's second national series O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, notably by The Motorsports Group, RSS Racing (only number 38 or 93 to help fund the no. 39 team) and TriStar Motorsports. However, there are some cases in which a small underfunded team does use this money to eventually run full races, or conserve the car. Teams like NEMCO Motorsports, Leavine Family Racing, and Phil Parsons Racing have done this in the past, before transitioning to running full races. Other reasons possible are for better funded teams to have a used engine available, especially with a NASCAR rule imposed that requires teams to run a previously raced engine in multiple races. Such start and park teams may have a deal with a works-level team for engines. When the engine is used for a few laps in testing mode, the car can be parked after a few laps and the engine be used in another race by another team. (The rule states if a team won a race, the engine must be reused by the same team.) Likewise, the smaller team can use the engine from the works team's non-winning race engine and use it in their operation for the works team while the works team uses the previously used team by the smaller team in a future race.
A visible increase in the presence of starting and parking in the 21st century made it one of the more polarizing and controversial topics in the sport. In 2013 and 2014, changes in the structuring of prize money awards and qualifying procedures made starting and parking less attractive, encouraging (or forcing) low-budget teams to run full races. Further reductions in field size and the structuring of qualifying and structure of prize money later in the decade have curbed the practice considerably, particularly at the Cup level.
Description
A start and park occurs when a race team pulls out of an event early on, rather than completing the full race, and will be credited with a did not finish (DNF). The practice is the result of the high costs of running full-length races including hiring a pit crew, as well as the high payout from simply starting a race. For example, at a June 2009 Cup Series race, Joe Nemechek earned $64,725 after finishing 41st in a start and park effort, while Dexter Bean ran the entire race to a 36th-place finish and earned only $725 more ($65,450). New teams may start and park to gain funds, experience, and information to run future races competitively. Cup teams such as Germain Racing, Tommy Baldwin Racing, and Phil Parsons Racing have parked in many of their early starts, before finding sponsorship and success in later endeavors.
Another popular practice among start and park teams was to field one or multiple additional cars to earn money so their primary cars could run the full race. For example, since 2011, 2000 Busch Series Champion Jeff Green has start and parked in most of his starts for TriStar Motorsports, while the team's other cars (which often have some sponsorship) have run the full race. Green's entry, according to owner Mark Smith, acts as somewhat of an R&D car, and allows the team to field multiple full-time entries. Green had the most last place finishes in every year in the now O'Reilly Auto Parts Series between 2011 and 2013 — a total of 37 last place finishes — and set the series record for career last place finishes in 2015 with 76. Another notable example is The Motorsports Group (formerly Key Motorsports), whose main car is a No. 40 car driven by Mike Bliss. Between 2011 and 2014, the team fielded No. 42, No. 46, and No. 47 cars as start and park entries to fund the No. 40, though they stopped running the No. 42 and No. 47 teams after 2013.
Identifying a start and park When retiring from a race, a start and park team will usually list a mechanical failure as the reason for not finishing (transmission, electrical, overheating, suspension, etc...) as required by NASCAR. Because of this, there is no official way to determine if a team intended to not finish without impounding the race car for a full inspection. This was done at a Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in 2010, where NASCAR impounded Prism Motorsports' 41st finishing No. 66 car driven by Dave Blaney after Blaney qualified fifth and led three laps before retiring with an "engine issue". NASCAR currently does not keep start-and-park statistics.
Besides back of the pack finishes, another way to identify start and park teams is by monitoring the number of laps a team completes over the course of the season, or the percentage of each race the entry competes in. Phil Parsons Racing and Michael McDowell, for example, completed 34 percent of the laps possible during their 2013 season, while the team with new driver Josh Wise completed over 90 percent the next year.
Field fillers "Field filler" is a term describing teams and drivers that enter a race only when there are not enough entries to fill the full starting grid, thus guaranteeing the team a spot in the field. Frequently, these entries have no intention or capability of running competitively, either starting and parking or running the full race well below the pace of the leaders. The term is occasionally used interchangeably with the term "backmarker" as used in events outside of NASCAR, such as Formula One and IndyCar.
Like start-and-parking, the practice in NASCAR has been the subject of criticism, mainly due to the safety issues of cars running well below reasonable speeds, or creating accidents that collect competitive drivers running for the championship. NASCAR has also been accused of allowing noncompetitive entries into the race — or inviting the teams themselves — in order to fill the full 40-car starting grid (such as two 2004 incidents mentioned below).
Instances Use in championship-deciding races In a couple of cases, a team that entered the season finale with the points lead entered additional cars in order to maximize their chances of clinching the season championship. The extra car would prevent the contender from finishing last and would provide a back-up car in case the primary car suffered a mechanical failure at the starting grid (or failed to qualify altogether). The additional entry could also serve as a blocker of competing drivers, or could drop to the back of the field to allow the primary car to gain positions and points sufficient to clinch the championship, although unsportsmanlike conduct was never officially used nor condoned.
For the 1981 season deciding race at Riverside International Raceway, Junior Johnson & Associates entered Richard Childress in the No. 41 car, in what would be his final start as a driver, in an effort to protect Darrell Waltrip's championship hopes (who entered the race with 83-point gap to championship rival Bobby Allison). Childress parked the car after five laps as intended; the backup plan was that if Waltrip had problems with his No. 11 car prior to the start of the race, he could switch to the No. 41. The team repeated the effort again for Waltrip's second championship in the 1982 season decider with J. D. McDuffie in the No. 70 car. DiGard Motorsports and Hagan Racing would also employ this strategy for the next 2 season finales at Riverside with Jimmy Insolo and Joe Millikan respectively.
During the 1993 Hooters 500, the season finale, Dale Earnhardt, driving for Richard Childress Racing (RCR), entered the race with the championship lead. Mathematically, as long as Earnhardt did not finish worse than 34th, he would accumulate enough points to clinch the 1993 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, his sixth title. RCR entered veteran Neil Bonnett in a second car numbered 31, and Bonnett qualified 35th as a team backup. The team arranged that Bonnett would step aside from the No. 31 car at the last minute in the event that Earnhardt's car, after pre-race inspection, suffered mechanical failure on the grid or during the pace laps. If Earnhardt started the race in the No. 31 car, by rule, he would be awarded full points for that entry. Earnhardt started in his primary car as expected, and Bonnett pulled off the track to finish last after five laps. The team gave the reason of "engine failure". Bonnett's intentional start and park helped maximize Earnhardt's finishing position, as only seven other cars had to drop out for Earnhardt to clinch the title.
At the 1995 season finale, the NAPA 500, Hendrick Motorsports entered a fourth car just for this race just in case the unforeseen were to hit Jeff Gordon's car. If problems were to befall Gordon's car, the car would immediately pull off the track and retire from the race, or if Gordon's car had a problem found in inspection and was unable to make the start, Gordon could jump into the backup car and start the race in that car. This was the No. 58 Chevrolet with "Racing for a Reason" on the quarterpanels. Racing for a Reason referred to finding a cure for leukemia, a disease that owner Rick Hendrick had been diagnosed with. The team had originally hired Jimmy Horton to drive the car in the race. Horton qualified the car in 34th, but was unable to race it due to serious injuries suffered in a crash in the ARCA Bondo Mar-Hyde Series support race the day before the NAPA 500. Jeff Purvis was then hired to sub for Horton in the No. 58 and drove the car to a 26th-place finish, eight laps down. Gordon finished 32nd, 14 laps down, as the No. 24 car was struggling all day, but managed to clinch the championship nonetheless due to points difference between him and eventual race winner (and championship rival) Dale Earnhardt, helped by Gordon's teammate Ken Schrader suffering from an engine failure early in the race.
During the 2003 season finale of the Craftsman Truck Series at Homestead–Miami Speedway, a four-way battle for the championship was set up between Brendan Gaughan, Travis Kvapil, and Ted Musgrave (and Dennis Setzer, whose team did not field an extra truck for the race). In an attempt to ensure victory, Musgrave's owner Jim Smith entered a total of five trucks, all with sponsorship, to run the full race. Kvapil's Xpress Motorsports team also entered a second truck (No. 11) with former series champion Jack Sprague (who had moved to the team after losing his ride in the Cup Series earlier in the year), and Gaughan's Orleans Racing entered a No. 61 truck for Scott Lynch, their developmental driver. Smith's No. 7 truck driven by Tyler Walker was involved in several incidents, and would finish seven laps down. The most controversial result of the five Ultra Motorsports trucks occurred on lap 100 when Smith's No. 10 truck driven by Marty Houston (whose brother Andy drove the full-time No. 2) spun exiting turn four, coming down the track and spinning out Gaughan, who was t-boned in the driver's side on the frontstretch by a third truck. The incident cost Gaughan the championship, eventually claimed by Kvapil after Musgrave was black flagged late in the running for a restart violation.
2004