Comments on: What If NASCAR Drivers Were Drafted?

By: Michael J Smith

Michael J Smith — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:45:26 +0000

Thanks for reading. I think leaving everything in place, just swapping the drivers and giving them time to practice together would show driver skills. It would also answer once and for all whether or not the No. 48 is driver or crew chief and crew. I suspect, it’d be a mix of both.

By: Scott Carver

Scott Carver — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:49:09 +0000

Very well done and interesting. Something I would like to see if only for one race, after the drivers and crew has had time to practice together and be comfortable of course.

I’d say leave the crew chiefs with the teams and only swap drivers. This would give us a better look at driver skills, I think. If we just move drivers and crew from one owner to another, there won’t be anything gained if you know what I mean.

Enjoyed the post. Thanks.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 22:44:30 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Reddit by leadlap: Ever wonder what it would be like if NASCAR teams drafted drivers like players are drafted in the NFL? I did, so I decided to use a convoluted, somewhat-nonsensical-but-scientific system to determine where …

By: Michael J Smith

Michael J Smith — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:15:57 +0000

Yeah, crew chiefs, pit crew, everything would make it complete. But that would have been a lot of work, and virtually impossible to run through statistically because it’s hard to quantify the part each crew member plays on a stop to assign it a statistic and/or point value. (Mainly because NASCAR doesn’t post pit crew time data.) Crew chief would be hard to quantify as well because its hard to tell whether a driver or car is the reason for performance.

I doubt putting Conway in a Hendrick car would lead to wins. You’d think he’d be able to run better than he is with HMS equipment, but there’s no way to know for sure. He might be competitive, but if he has the car to run up front, it’d be easier to determine whether or not he has the talent.

Thanks for reading and for commenting.

By: Alan Fors

Alan Fors — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:36:33 +0000

Interesting. To be complete though, a draft would have to include crew chiefs and the pit crew guys as well, right?

Would Knaus still with Hendick equipment and the same #48 team be such an advantage that Conway just had to keep the car in one piece to be competitive?