Feelings mixed on talk of raising age requirement (cont'd)

Davis, who plans to run the Camping World East Series this season as well as in "five or six" ARCA races, admitted that he and Logano have long dreamed of making it to the Cup level together -- and before their 21st birthdays. (read more)

"I didn't really see this coming," admitted Davis, who will turn 18 less than a month after Logano on June 23. "We never really saw anything coming. The decision to move up, if everything else stays the way it is now, is between myself and Joey and Joe Gibbs Racing. They'll move us up as we feel ready. So if we feel we're ready, they'll move us up.

Davis

"If they do change the age, we'll have to deal with it and we'll wait. We're turning 18 this year, so we've got time to mature. ... We'd like to be able to move up when we're ready, which hopefully is before we're 21. But if that doesn't happen, we'll still go with the flow until it does happen."

Others in the sport appear to have mixed feelings about the possibility of raising the minimum age requirement for drivers.

Legendary former driver and current car owner Richard Petty said he would be all for it, noting that he didn't begin his Cup driving career until he turned 21.

"When you're 18 you think you can do anything," he said. "But look, you'll grow up a bunch by age 21. You'll come back a different person after those three years. Those are the years when you're thrown out into the public and you suddenly realize, 'Wow, hey, I've got to work for a living.' That's a big maturity deal, those three years. I think from a sponsor standpoint, from a NASCAR standpoint, that would be a pretty good deal.

"Right now you've got guys who are 40-something competing against kids who are 18 years old. That's a big discrepancy. I think this would even that out a little and maybe make more sense."

Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing, has two nephews driving who are under 18 and could be affected by the rule. But he agreed with the other Richard that establishing the minimum age at 21 for the Cup Series sounds reasonable.

"I think it's a good way to go," Childress said.

Yet the elder Petty's own son, driver Kyle Petty, disagreed.

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"The problem is most of those kids like Joey, when they get to be 16, 17 years old, they're great racecar drivers because they started running when they were 4," Kyle Petty said. "They've been runnin' go-karts and midgets and mini-sprints and Legends cars and all that. They've been runnin' forever, man. You go to some of these races and you look at these 14- and 15-year-olds driving and you're like, 'My God, these guys have tons of talent.' So why shouldn't they be able to drive [at the Cup level] when they're 16, 17 or 18 years old?

"I don't have a problem with it. Guys [have] come straight out of high school into the NBA. Let me tell you what: if you can hang with guys like LeBron James straight out of high school, then sign that big paycheck and play ball. I understand what they're trying to do; I understand the concept of trying to let them mature a little bit more before letting them come out, and that's probably a plus. But I probably was more mature at 21 than I am now at age 47, so who knows?"

Veteran driver Mark Martin has long been an unabashed fan of Logano's driving ability. He said he would have no problem driving against Logano at the Cup level right now.

"I think that 21 years old in most cases is fine for a Cup driver. I also think there are a few guys who are going to be ready a long, long time before that," Martin said. "Is Joey ready for Cup now? I think that he's ready today, but that's my opinion."

In the end, Gibbs said that he trusts NASCAR to do the right thing for the sport.

"We knew they were talking about it," Gibbs said. "We were kind of under the assumption that, hey, there would be a little bit of a grandfathering process.

"But hey, NASCAR has been really good. They've made good decisions in the past. We've had conversations with them, and we appreciate the openness there. We want what's best for the sport, period. Whatever that might be, we're open to it."