Is 7 Races Too Little To Lose Rookie Status in NASCAR?

(Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

In the three major NASCAR touring series (and most other NASCAR series) it is easy to tell the rookies from the rest of the pack, simply because they carry a bumper wide yellow strip on the back of their car.

Most rookies carry this for a whole season, identifying the first year drivers from Daytona to Homestead. So it would seem that to be a rookie it would take somewhere around the 36 race mark until the yellow stripes can disappear from the back bumper.

However, those yellow stripes can come off a lot sooner. If a driver races in more than seven races in one season, and then comes back, the yellow stripes can disappear.

So should the yellow stripes come off sooner? If the driver qualifies for the first seven races then should the yellow stripes come off before Phoenix’s spring race?

The answer to the two above questions is no, because if the season and the competition for Rookie of the Year was based off a seven race series then there would be the possibility of five or six (if you round up) rookies each year.

But still only seven races seem like a small number for rookies to get used to a 36 race season.

Because while seven races consecutively will get the driver experience on most of the tracks that the series race at, in seven races may not be enough for the yellow stripes to disappear.

It’s not until the 18th race of the season that all the main track types have been raced at.

The first seven races do include a Superspeedway (Daytona) several intermediate tracks (Auto Club, Las Vegas, Atlanta and Texas), and a couple short tracks (Bristol, Martinsville, and Phoenix).

Road courses are a completely different track to race on yet that doesn’t come in but only twice during the Sprint Cup Series.

Up until this year the NASCAR Nationwide Series did have a road course in the first seven races, however now there is no longer a NNS race in Mexico or early in the season. And the Camping World Truck series have crossed all road courses off the schedule.

Of course the example that I have just given is mainly based off if a team were to start the schedule from Daytona. Teams come and go every week so in a course of seven races a team could cover most of the type of race tracks that NASCAR races on.

While most teams that compete for Rookie of the Year do plan to race in every race and do get experience on all types of different race tracks. Sometimes things happen that forces a rookie to race and forfeit their rookie of the year status.

In 2001, after the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Daytona, Kevin Harvick was called up a year early and raced most of the season, and won Rookie of the Year.

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