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NASCAR to limit number of teams that can be owned: NASCAR plans to limit the number of teams a car owner will be able to field in the Nextel Cup Series, chairman Brian France said Saturday. "We're going to make some adjustments in policy to balance the playing field a little better and really go after new ownership in the industry, really benefit and help the teams like the Wood Brothers, the Pettys, Cal Wells, independent teams that are finding themselves in ever increasing difficulties to compete," France said. He said the limit would be phased in over the next few seasons. "It won't happen tomorrow," France said. "But it would phase down from five to four to some other number." All of the top teams currently in NASCAR are multicar teams, with Roush Racing and Hendrick Motorsports leading the way with five and four cars, respectively. The benefits of running more than one car are clear: additional tests under current testing limits, information sharing among the teams, multiple sponsorships that provide great resources and, sometimes, on-track cooperation among teammates. But France said the success of the big teams is also viewed as an obstacle to people contemplating starting a new Cup team. For example, Jack Roush's team has won the last two Cup titles and all five of his cars are in NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the championship. "We don't like the fact that the independent teams, or in particular a new owner looking at coming in the door, have a daunting task to compete, and the concept of having to have five teams, three teams … that's why you haven't seen a lot of new ownership like a Ray Evernham come into the sport," France said. "That means the opportunities aren't there for young drivers. It means opportunities aren't there to create the next Rick Hendrick and have the success. It ultimately means that we don't field as many competitive cars as we'd like to field. We're going to have to address that."(ESPN.com/RPM)(10-8-2005)
UPDATE: NASCAR last week unveiled plans for setting a cap on the number of teams--early indications are that it would be three--that one owner can operate in a series.(Sporting News)(10-11-2005)
NASCAR's Helton comments about Team Owner Cap: NASCAR President Mike Helton said Thursday that despite appearances to the contrary, the sanctioning body¹s decision to limit team size is not a personal attack on Jack Roush. Other points Helton made in an interview with SPEEDTV.com included: • Team owners have known the cap was under discussion for the last 12-18 months. • The cap will be phased in to allow existing sponsor agreements to be exhausted. • The sanctioning body will have to come up with strict definitions to police the teams from creating alliances that defeat the hard-cap concept. • There will not be any franchising in NASCAR in the foreseeable future. • NASCAR will not use the current Nextel Cup cars in the Busch Series once the ³Car of Tomorrow² is phased in starting in late 2006 or early ¹07. Helton said many details remain to be worked out, but the buzz in the garage is that teams will be capped to three cars starting no later than 2010, with a limit of four placed sometime between now and then.(see full interview at Speed Channel)(10-14-2005)