Fridays more for placement as 43 fastest rarely start (cont'd)

On at least five notable occasions drivers' times were disallowed yet they were allowed to start the race: Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth at the Daytona 500; Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson at Sonoma; and Ryan Newman at Kansas.

Nine times a driver qualified for the race due to the top 35 rule yet he did not register a time during qualifying.

And 14 times a driver qualified for the race due to the rule yet he had the slowest time in qualifying.

Some notables:

• A week after securing the pole for the Daytona 500, David Gilliland was 44th in qualifying at California. Yet he made the race due to owner points -- last year's owner points. The first five races of the season use the previous year's top 35 points.

• Including the Daytona 500, Dale Jarrett would have missed the first four races had qualifying been based solely on time; remember, his new team had no owner points from the previous season. Yet he made all four races due to being the most recent past champion making a qualifying attempt.

• Mr. Bristol, Kurt Busch would have missed the spring race at the half-mile after he clocked the slowest time of 49 drivers. Yet he made it due to owner points from the previous season.

• A week after his Coca-Cola 600 victory, Casey Mears would have failed to qualify at Dover had he depended on his time. Yet he made the race, finished 13th and proceeded to have consecutive fourth-place finishes the next two weeks.

• Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson failed inspection and didn't qualify at Sonoma, yet they were allowed to race. It wouldn't have mattered; they both would have still entered the Chase 1-2 due to their number of race victories.

• After winning New Hampshire to start the Chase, Clint Bowyer would have failed to qualify at Dover a week later after having the slowest time of 49 drivers, thus crumbling his title hopes immediately. Instead of finishing third in the standings, he would have been sixth.

Just two races during the entire season had the 43 fastest cars start the race: the spring race at Martinsville and the fall race at New Hampshire.

And just four drivers who finished the season inside the top 35 went through 2007 without using the top 35 rule as a crutch to make a race. Reed Sorenson was one, and the other three ironically all came from Joe Gibbs Racing: Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and J.J. Yeley.

Under current circumstances, Fridays aren't for qualifying, they're for placement. The fastest 43 cars don't line up on the starting grid. The current rule was designed to protect the owners and sponsors of those cars that run full time.

The problem: the rule was implemented in 2005, when the en vogue item of discussion was driver shortages in NASCAR. Two years later the garage is saturated with full-time teams rather than field-fillers. For an open market, as is often preached, then the doors must truly be open.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.