Developing NASCAR Talent

At a pace unseen in the sport before, NASCAR team owners are scooping up hot young prospects and grooming them to be the stars of tomorrow. The driver development programs are now common place among the sport’s largest teams with Gibbs, Ganassi, and Hendrick, among others, entering the scouting business. These prospects vary in age from early teens on up, with kids like Joey Logano, Mark Davis, Brady Bacon and Landon Cassill ready to enter in the upper-echelon of NASCAR. Despite the possibilities in front of these drivers, often, the time taken to develop talent is sped up and insufficient. These drivers are forced into situations they are not prepared for and they flounder.

In recent years several teams have developed drivers that showed promise early on, but struggled once they breached the sport’s highest level. For instance, Casey Atwood who made his first Winston Cup Series start in 2001. He was supposed to be the next big thing and for at least a time it appeared as if that would be the case. The young driver made his last start in 2005. Over at Chip Ganassi Racing, Reed Sorenson, who was picked up by the organization in 2004, has struggled in his third season in the Cup series. With his contract up at the end of this season it is very unlikely he’ll be picked back up. His fate is looking much like that of David Stremme. Even David Ragan has struggled after being rushed through Roush’s driver development program. He is having a better season this year, but last season was less than spectacular.

So what is the common problem that binds these driver’s? None spent more than a year in a lower series. The sport is about situations and tendencies and if your not experienced in them, you’re going to have problems. I heard an interview with Brad Keselowski recently and he said he could go to the Cup series now, but he would be running in the 15th to 30th position week after week. He went on to say that he wanted to enter and compete with the top drivers and that he just wasn’t ready right now. What he said was absolutely the truth. If you can’t compete in Nationwide or the Truck Series what makes anyone think you will be worth anything in the Cup series. For instance, while Reed Sorenson completed one full season in the Busch series and had some success he had no time to fully develop or gain experience. Now he is stuck running in the back week after week and chances are, he is in a hole he won’t climb out of.

A responsible NASCAR team owner would recognize that they are only dooming their future stars by speeding them through the development process. Often times though the lust for money and media attention is too much and careers are ruined. I hope for the sake of their careers Joey Logano, Mark Davis and the like are given a sufficient amount of time to learn and grow. Otherwise they may be the next big thing that never was.

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