Cup Racing: A Young Man’s Game?

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

There’s a trend here worth noting. NASCAR has had 39 drivers win at least one of its 68 championships through last season.

Of those 39 drivers, only seven have been 40 or older. The oldest? 45-year-old Bobby Allison, leader of the Alabama Gang, who won the Cup title in 1983.

That means more than eight in ten champions have been younger than 40. That’s another way of saying Cup racing is a young man’s game.

After the weekend, the average age of the top ten in Cup points was 33 years. The youngest were Chase Elliott and Erik Jones at 22. They’re fifth and seventh. The oldest is today’s winner Kevin Harvick at 42 and he’s dominating the season with seven wins.

In fact, when Kevin took his six-year-old son Keelan into Victory Lane today it triggered another problem. A six year-old rolling into Victory Lane in a beer branded car is problematic for the front office.

Yes, Interim NASCAR Boss Jim France has a lot of work ahead of him. But maybe he has larger vision than his predecessors. He made Grand-Am work against the American Le Mans Series.

Peace.