• Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

Editor's Note: The following is the fifth of a five-part series featuring the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C. Part 5 focuses on the driver approval committee.

With an increasing number of drivers coming to NASCAR from racing series backgrounds as varied as Formula One and Australian V8 Supercars, how does the sanctioning body figure out if a driver has the necessary credentials to drive in one of NASCAR's three national touring series?

In addition to his role as director of cost research -- and pace car driver for the Sprint Cup Series -- that's part of former driver Brett Bodine's job. He chairs a driver approval committee, made up of two vice presidents, two former drivers and series directors.

“

One thing about our committee, we don't put a lot of value on testing. It's racing experience. That's what we want to know about. What is your actual racing experience?

”

BRETT BODINE

The primary role of the committee is to set minimum standards, to make sure each approved driver has the skills and experience to handle a stock car in NASCAR's premier series.

"That's the reason why there's a committee and why someone has to do the research and keep track of it," Bodine said. "We have a checks-and-balances system in place that really controls the unapproved driver getting on an unapproved racetrack. In the past, that was not too hard to have happen."

That means every driver who wants to compete in NASCAR's three national series -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and the Craftsman Trucks -- must submit a resume to the driver approval committee. No exceptions, not even for drivers with world championships or Indianapolis 500 wins.

"We take every driver, their resume and experience, and debate it, if we have any kind of a question as to where they should be placed," Bodine said. "Just like everything else we do, we're going to err on the safety side. Everybody's got to earn their position. No one is excluded from this process.

"[Jacques] Villeneuve, [Juan] Montoya and [Dario] Franchitti, they all had to submit resumes and get approved. Today, we had 15 drivers and 10 of them were brand-new, had never run in a NASCAR touring series, asking for permission to come and race in NASCAR. We have world champions to guys coming right off your local short track, trying to get into NASCAR in some position."

Bodine said because each driver's background is unique, the committee has no set guidelines.

"People ask us why we don't have a written series of steps," he said. "We have so many diverse drivers. They come from all around the world, with different levels of experience in different types of cars. We have to evaluate everybody based on their resume and where the committee feels is comfortable and correct for that driver to start."

And it's what a driver has done in competition that counts most, according to Bodine.

"One thing about our committee, we don't put a lot of value on testing," Bodine said. "It's racing experience. That's what we want to know about. What is your actual racing experience?

"That gives us an opportunity to understand the strength of the field: Did you race against 10 cars or 25 cars? Was it a high-powered car or was it a lightweight, underpowered car? We have to weigh all those criteria and come up with a correct placement."

One thing that works in NASCAR's favor, according to Bodine, is the ability for drivers to gain stock-car experience at lower levels. The committee can recommend that a driver instead debut at the regional level, which accomplishes two goals at once.

"We have a driver development series," Bodine said. "We can place you in there with minimal requirements and let you get some experience there, not only get you experience but our series directors and race directors get to watch you.

"So we're actually seeing your development take place rather than you off in some other series, and we don't get to watch it unless we catch a glimpse on TV and we've got to look at race reports or something like that. That's not a really good evaluation. That's why our Camping World East and West and Modified North and South, we've got four really strong driver development series."

As NASCAR has grown in stature -- and has become a career destination for drivers from all corners of the globe -- Bodine said the driver approval committee's job has gotten more difficult, and more important.

"As our sport becomes more and more popular around the world, we're getting world-class drivers from several different racing series," he said. "And we have to evaluate them all. You have to meet a minimum, just to get into the series to run a short track."