From Jayski.com:

NASCAR scrutinizing start and park team reasons UPDATE: NASCAR wont create a hard-line rule prohibiting Sprint Cup teams from starting a race and then parking their car a few laps later, but NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton said Friday there is an increased emphasis on making sure that the reason a team gives for falling out of the race is legitimate. Although there are only 36 cars that have the funding to run the entire season, several teams are trying to make races each week. In past years, when there havent been 43 fully funded cars, some drivers started the race, parked in the opening laps and pocketed the last-place money. We owe it to the garage area [to make sure] that everybody is on the up-and-up, Pemberton said in the Atlanta Motor Speedway garage Friday. When they call [theyre] out, we will continue to look at what put those cars at. What were going to encourage at this level here is that people participate and do what they can do to race. What we want to prevent is someone legitimately trying to do a race setup and getting bumped out by somebody that may have gone above and beyond what the spirit of the rules are. Pemberton said NASCAR doesnt expect every team to be able to run up front, but those that make the final 43 need to be on the track racing someone. Theres people that arent top-10 cars but they compete against other people that are 25th through 35th, Pemberton said. We need to encourage those guys to race each other. As far as the Nationwide and Truck events, where there have traditionally been start-and-park racers over the last few years, Pemberton said there could be a little more leniency. Theres more at stake with the purses and whatever else that goes on [in Cup], but we are going to encourage the level of competition throughout the ranks the best that we can, Pemberton said.(SceneDaily)(3-6-2009)


UPDATE: That panic attack combined with the weakness implied by having a less than full field forced NASCAR to do whatever it could simply to bring teams to the race track. At Atlanta, an anonymous Truck Series driver also told Frontstretch that NASCAR had contacted them personally about running a Fontana start and park a choice they decided not to make after NASCAR figured out theyd have enough trucks without them making an unscheduled trip to California. NASCAR came to me and said they wanted more cars, they wanted to park, said the owner/driver. [So] we were going to go out there [Fontana] and do a start and parkfor NASCAR.(Frontstretch)(3-11-2009)