NASCAR Pole Winners Get No Respect

At one point, winning a pole for a driver was almost as good as winning the race. That driver had run the fastest laps against all other competitors under similar conditions.

Is that not the epitome of motorsports? To run the fastest time possible on a circuit.

And yet, in the new NASCAR, little is to be gained from this success. No longer is there a separate race for pole winners.

Until the mid-90s, there existed a bonus for pole winners if they won the race. At times, it had potential to be a very sizable bonus.

In many other forms of motorsports, the pole winner is awarded championship points for their accomplishment. In NASCAR, you get first pick of a pit stall. Big whoop.

It is even more confusing when one thinks about the emphasis NASCAR has placed on being first these past few years.

How many drivers and teams over the years have fans seen utterly ecstatic to earn a pole? How do you think Furniture Row Racing and Patrick Carpentier won their first poles?

For Furniture Row, it was their moment of redemption after a trying beginning to the team. For Carpentier, it was proof that he could run more than just open wheel cars.

Now imagine how they felt when they were told they were no longer eligible for the Shootout. The knowledge that all of the jubilation felt in April knowing that they would be in an All-Star race was unjustified.

Not every driver can contend for a win on a regular basis, but they can contend for poles. Drivers like Loy Allen, David Green, Rick Mast, Hut Stricklin, and numerous others used the Shootout as their All-Star race.

Even Carl Edwards, after his pole for the fall Bristol race, was elated about earning a berth in the Shootout.  

So in reality what is the benefit of winning the pole now? What is Martin Truex rewarded for earning his second career pole last Sunday? The option of picking the first pit stall? Starting on the front row?

One could argue if that is the case, the second and third place qualifiers could suggest that they receive equal benefits. This is something NASCAR should address in the near future.

A race for manufacturers, I will contend, is a splendid idea. Just don’t take away from the accomplishments of the pole winners.

Because if you are not first, you are last, right?