Is Kevin Conway Worthy of a Rookie of The Year Award?

Is Kevin Conway deserving as the future Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year?

Being a Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Award winner can be one of the crowning achievements for any driver. The names on that list include Allison, Petty, Stewart, Gordon, Pearson and many others. It is, quite simply, an honor to be considered in the same reference as many of these drivers.

Despite this not the be all end all of a drive's career. Most notably, reigning four-time champion Jimmie Johnson failed in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2002 losing out to fellow competitor Ryan Newman. Cup champions Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte, Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Benny Parsons and Bobby Isaac all failed to win a the award.

That being said, it is still an honor to be crowned the top rookie in one of the most competitive racing series in the world.

Which is why I question if the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season should even bestow the award this year.  With one of the weakest rookie crops since perhaps the 1992 season, Conway has more or less already locked up the award due to a shocking lack of contenders.

Normally this would not be a problem, except that this year Conway, and his team, have abused a rule in order to keep the driver in each race solely for the money earned on a sponsorship contract. While one cannot judge a team who is merely playing by the rules, the results on track dictate that Conway may have no business actually being on that track.

First, let's take a look at Conway's qualifying statistics for this season. Keep in mind that he has been locked in to each race this season due to a consistent swapping of drivers based upon owner's points.

Kevin Conway's 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying Statistics

Quite simply, Conway is nearly the last qualifier on a weekly basis, and sometimes not by a close margin. In 18 attempts not only has Conway not qualified once on time, he has come nowhere near doing so.

And his qualifying position's are slightly inflated as there were many races where the only car he beat did not make a single lap in the session.

Aside from the attrition filled Coke Zero 400 at Daytona, Conway has yet to crack the Top 25 in the finishing order. In an era in which races are setting records for the number of lead lap cars finishing a race, Conway has just three lead lap finishes despite only three DNFs.

With only 26 starts between all three of the top NASCAR series, it is quite clear that Conway is lacking in experience.

Some of you will say that Conway is simply living the racers dream by running with the big boys. That we shouldn't judge a driver because we ourselves are not one. That we need to cheer on David as he battles Goliath.

And that since he doesn't wreck cars on a regular basis, he's really not harming anyone.

First, it's easy to not wreck a car when you're not pushing it enough. To quote famous Days of Thunder crew chief Harry Hogge, "Loose is fast and on the edge of out of control."  It's easy to not wreck when you're going slow, that's why you rarely see any spectacular rollovers involving the elderly.

Second, while he may not be harming anyone on the track, he is harming the integrity of the sport. Conway is a young driver who most likely has talent, but he hasn't earned any right to be in the Cup series aside from hawking a product on late night TV. It's the NASCAR equivalent of the Milka Duno problem, albeit it far less dangerous.

This is the premier auto racing series in the United States. It is supposed to be the best of the best, not the best of a guy who can maintain a sponsorship while running a second or more off the pace on a weekly basis. To get even more techinical, Conway has only run 26 laps inside the Top 15 this season out of a total of 5,635 laps completed.

And to think, in December he will be crowned the top rookie of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season.

One of the things below the radar of most is the declining quality of rookie classes. The year 2008 produced the first season in Cup history where a ROY contender did not record a top ten finish, save Regan Smith's fall Talladega race. Yet each rookie driver proved at some point during the season that they had the speed to deserve to be on that race track.

In the 1992 Rookie of the Year race, Jimmy Hensley ran more or less unopposed all season long. Hensley, however, managed to record four top ten finishes and, altogether, did not run that terribly all season long.

Sure there are little known driver's that have won the award. Many fans today may not know who Jody Ridley or Ron Bouchard or Skip Manning is, but they all proved themselves worthy of the award throughout the course of the season.

Perhaps it's a side effect from the lack of development occurring in the Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide Series. It still doesn't justify handing out an award to someone who simply show's up on a weekly basis.

I venture that perhaps we shall give the award to no one this year. There is no reason to award a season like this, yet alone condone it.

Harsh? Perhaps, but we live in a harsh world. It's ironic that the sport is so results driven, yet something like this could be allowed to occur.

Conway may be a great person and a great driver, but it is clear he is well over his head this year. I would love to see him succeed in any of NASCAR's series, but I don't want him to taint one of the more prestigious awards this series has.

Do you?