Cup overflows while other series run dry

FONTANA, Calif. -- It's the ultimate irony: Big-budget Nextel Cup teams pack up and go home while the Busch Series and Craftsman Truck Series run races with less than full fields.

Welcome to equilibrium in action.

Are the entry list imbalances this weekend at California Speedway just a result of teams with tight budgets deciding to pass on a cross-country trip so close after Daytona -- or is it a sign of things to come?

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Ask a dozen folks and you get a dozen answers, not all of them on the record. However, the one recurring theme is "money."

Busch owner Todd Braun said some financially strapped teams may be unwilling to spend more money than they can make.

"What's it pay to start, $23-24,000?" Braun said. "It cost me $10,000 to get the hauler from North Carolina here and back. My tire bill, if I've got to go but two sets of tires to practice and qualify on, is $3,200. I've got to fly out three or four guys to go through tech and put them up for a weekend, pay them a per diem. What's that going to cost me? Another five grand?"

Consider the purse for Friday's San Bernardino County 200. Only the top three finishers took home more than $20,000 in purse money -- and 34th place may not have covered the cost of the diesel fuel to haul the truck from North Carolina to California.

Still, some of the smaller Busch and Truck teams were willing to sacrifice short-term financial gain this weekend for the possibility of building enough owner points for a coveted guaranteed spot, long-term.

And NASCAR officials are confident this is an anomaly. With races closer to home -- and knowing they'll make the show without much difficulty -- some teams that have been on the sideline are expected to return.

The addition of road-course experts, plus Mexican drivers, will virtually guarantee a full field for next week's Busch Series race at Mexico City.

So why is Nextel Cup exempt? Again, look at the bottom line. Last place at California last spring paid more than $80,000 -- or about $20,000 more than Mike Skinner made for winning Friday night.

With several teams deciding to expand, the addition of Toyota and others moving up to the top-tier series, Nextel Cup officials knew they'd wind up with more than 43 fully funded operations in 2007.

Those who packed up and left Friday night following qualifying put on their bravest faces and continued to stress that they have the resolve -- and the money -- to go on.

But how deep are those pockets? At what point does frustration, or reality, set in? Even though NASCAR gives out owner points to teams that fail to qualify, every race these teams miss leaves them farther and farther behind 35th place and the promise of a guaranteed spot in the field.

As one person said, "We'll see how many of these teams are still around in August."

Seven teams are already facing what is racing's version of a "two-strike count," having missed the show at Daytona and California. In addition, the penalties handed down to Michael Waltrip's No. 55 Toyota -- another car without a guaranteed spot -- have severely handicapped his ability to get into the top 35 by the time this season's points go into effect at Martinsville.

Red Bull may be willing to fund the No. 84 Toyota indefinitely, but what about Beth Ann Morgenthau's No. 49 Dodge? It had ZoneLoans.com on the hood at California -- but missed the show for the second week in a row. Or the Furniture Row folks? Or State Water Heaters? Or Dutch Quality Stone?

It's appropriate that the next stop on the Nextel Cup schedule is Las Vegas, where fortunes can be gambled away. For teams getting closer to pushing the panic button, a visit from Lady Luck might be the perfect antidote.

The opinions are solely those of the writer.