Start and park is a term used in NASCAR-sanctioned and other auto racing sanctioning bodies 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/or hiring a pit crew.[1] In some cases, a team will use a start-and-park car to help fund a team that runs one car full-time.
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During the 1993 Hooter's 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 (#31), and Bonnett qualified 35th as a team backup. The team arranged that Bonnett would step aside from the #31 car, in 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 #31 car, by rule, he would be awarded full points for that entry. Earnhardt started his primary car as expected, and Bonnett pulled off the track to finish last after 5 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.
Among the most well-known examples are MSRP Motorsports, Jay Robinson Racing (which has one fully sponsored team (#28) to run the race, and one start and park team (#49) to help finance that team), and Joe Ruttman during the final 2004 Sprint Cup Series race at Rockingham Speedway. Former Cup Series drivers Derrike Cope and Morgan Shepherd have admitted to the starting and parking some races in order have funds to qualify for others. In the late 2000s the number of start and park teams increased.[2]
In 2009, teams like Prism Motorsports (#66), Tommy Baldwin Racing (#36), NEMCO Motorsports (#87, although Scott Speed ran Darlington and Sonoma when his normal ride failed to qualify), Front Row Motorsports (#37, while the #34 entry ran the full event with limited funding as Taco Bell appears to sponsor the car, however team owner Bob Jenkins is a franchise owner and therefore is contributing little to the team financially; the team has sponsorship in 2010) and TRG Motorsports (#71, although Bobby Labonte ran full races) have mostly parked their cars throughout the season, only when they don't have any sponsorships. They also entered the #70 entry at Texas Motor Speedway with Mike Skinner, and parked. Phoenix Racing started and parked (#09) when Brad Keselowski did not drive for them, although they have fully secured sponsorships and have won the 2009 Aaron's 499 at Talladega with him. Keselowski and road course ringer Ron Fellows run Chevrolets previously owned by Rick Hendrick, while Aric Almirola ran at Loudon, they ran the distance finishing 29th in a Dodge, the other drivers start and parked in Dodges.
In 2010, Blaney ran the whole race in Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the first time he completed a race since the 2009 Coca-Cola 600 (rain-shortened), but the first entire distance race since 2008. However, his teammate Michael McDowell (#55) in all of his races, minus the 2010 Daytona 500, has parked in each of the races he ran. New teams like Latitude 43 Motorsports (#26) currently driven by David Stremme, and recently Germain Racing (#13) driven by Max Papis and Braun Racing (#32) driven by Reed Sorenson are start and parkers, although the #26 car has some sponsorship, and the #32 has sponsorship from Dollar General for a few races and the #13 with secured sponsorship with Geico for a limited number of races and treating others as test sessions in order to treat the races as test sessions because of the ban on testing at national series tracks. The Whitney Motorsports (#46) driven by Terry Cook and J.J. Yeley has started and parked on a few occasions, but has also run the full distance as well.
During the 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600, many of the drivers treated the sessions as test sessions because of the testing ban. These teams treated the race as a four-hour open test sessions, with the drivers taking a few laps, returning to the garage, making adjustments, and then returning to the track for a few more laps. The only teams that stayed in the race were Cook and Scott Riggs from Keyed-Up Motorsports, Riggs was taking over Casey Mears as he was standing by Denny Hamlin to take over if needed. He drove with only team decals and an associate sponsor in his car, and stood out until blowing a tire late in the race, and ran on the lead lap for the entire race to that point.
At the 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at Michigan International Speedway, J.J. Yeley and Max Papis parked with full sponsors. The following race, several teams acquired sponsors and ran the whole race, leaving only one driver parking in the race (P.J. Jones).
During the first twelve races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Dave Blaney earned over $1.1 million after completing only two of the races and 21% of all possible laps.[1] At the 2009 Texas IndyCar weekend Camping World Truck Series race, nine of the 33 entrants parked their truck by the end of Lap 26.
In some short tracks, a team that may have one car and crash it in a previous week, but need to simply start a race for points purposes, will borrow another team's backup car and start and park to preserve points.
Critics have said that start and park teams take spots away from teams who intend to run the full race, especially since the all-exempt tour format was adopted in 2005. There isn't a financial incentive for teams to finish toward the back of the field. At a June 2009 race, Joe Nemechek earned $64,725 after finishing 41st in a start and park effort, while Dexter Bean finished 36th and earned only $725 more ($65,450).[1] At the 2009 NASCAR Banking 500 only from Bank of America at Lowe's, only Joe Nemechek parked, the fewest all season in which drivers who parked; four other start-and-park teams failed to qualify. The following race at Martinsville Speedway, six cars parked. During the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, ThorSport Racing entered a third truck (#98) which was driven by David Gilliland who qualified fifth, and fell out of the race in less than five laps and finished 35th, mainly due to without sponsorships, thus a start and park situation.
Start and Parks are generally not feasible for the Daytona 500, because teams must qualify by racing a 150-mile race on Thursday with one pit stop, and then run the 500-mile race on Sunday, unless the car was among the fastest in the qualifying heats the previous weekend. That race was the only one with no start and parks. Such teams attempt to run the full race regardless, as drivers who finish in the back will take home about $250,000. There were two teams, however, which were Start and Parks at the 2010 Gatorade Duels; NEMCO Motorsports' #97 car of Jeff Fuller (Duel 1) and Latitude 43 Motorsports' #26 car of Boris Said (Duel 2) were start and parks in the Duels. The Latitude 43 Motorsports team was an exempt team and qualified (the cars were acquired from Roush-Fenway Racing under NASCAR's four cars per team limit), and the team did not start and park for the feature.
On Saturday, March 19, 2011, during the NASCAR Nationwide race at Bristol Motor Speedway, driver Jennifer Jo Cobb refused to start and walked away from the #79 2nd Chance Motorsports car when she allegedly was instructed less than ten minutes prior to the race by car owner Rick Russell to start and park rather than race to completion. Cobb said that she had agreed to race carefully to completion to preserve the car for later California racing, but objected to Russell telling her to start and park, especially in light of her racing contract that provided she paid for tires and engines. Cobb is the first driver to publicly refuse to start a race when instructed to start and park.