One Cup Series team is responsible for a big chunk of the cautions this season
By Nick Tylwalk
This certainly isn’t what BK Racing wants to be known for, but maybe any publicity is good publicity?
BK Racing is off to a rough start to the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series season. Drivers Corey LaJoie (mostly in the No. 83) and Gray Gaulding (in the 23 for all but three races) are technically running for Rookie of the Year honors in their Toyotas but have so far fared so poorly that we don’t even rank BK in our team rankings.
An article this weekend on Yahoo Sports quantifies the team’s struggle. Through five Cup Series races this year, there have been 23 cautions for wrecks or mechanical failures, and BK Racing cars have been involved in 10 of them. That’s an eye-popping 43 percent even though LaJoie and Gaulding combine to make up just five percent (or slightly more, most weeks) of the field.
Why so many problems? Yahoo’s Nick Bromberg hits it right on the head:
"But incidents tend to happen more often with inferior equipment and inexperienced drivers. BK has both.Gaulding and LaJoie entered the 2017 season with two Cup Series starts each. But the inexperience goes further than that. Gaulding has just 15 starts in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series while LaJoie has 20. BK may be paying the literal price for their drivers’ lack of seat time."
Think about what would happen if a team decided to put you (your mad skills at NASCAR Heat notwithstanding) or me behind the wheel of a Cup Series car with just a few races under our belts in the lower series. We’d be hitting the wall pretty often, and while it’s not quite as bad for Gaulding and LaJoie, you get the idea.
While BK Racing has never been what you’d call a contender, it hasn’t always been known for bringing out yellows either. Former team drivers include guys with experience like Landon Cassill, David Reutimann, Travis Kvapil and J.J. Yeley. Matt DiBenedetto earned a top-10 finish for the team just last year at Bristol.
Next: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series standings after California
Alas, the team is going with a youth movement this season and not the kind that involves guys like Erik Jones or Daniel Suarez or the top notch equipment at their disposal. Until something changes or Gaulding and LaJoie get a chance to visit some of the tracks for a second time in the Cup Series, it’s a safe bet that when someone on the FOX or NBC crews yells “Trouble in Turn 3,” you can look for the 23 or 83 first.