When will we see a full field for a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race again this season?
By Nick Tylwalk
Even with smaller fields compared to several years ago, the Cup Series is having trouble getting enough cars to participate at the top level of the sport.
The NASCAR Charter system, created just last year, is at least in part a solution to a problem that no longer exists at the Cup Series level.
One of the ideas behind the Charter initiative was that it would guarantee the owners of the 36 Charters that their teams would make every race. Yet even with the field size down from 43 cars to 40, that hasn’t been an issue anywhere but Daytona. The season opener was the only Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race this year where anyone was sent home without making the race — something that has almost always been the case for the Great American Race.
If anything, the entry lists are going the wrong way since then. as only 39 drivers showed up for the races in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and California. That’s one more than will show up for Martinsville next week, with Premium Motorsports apparently not crazy about tearing up the No. 55 in a short track race.
Are short fields something NASCAR should be worried about? Not really, as the cars who would be filling those last few spots are back markers or start and park operations anyway. Hypothetically, the points race could be affected by the fact that finishing dead last in a 38-car field is slightly less bad than with 40 cars, but that’s a very remote possibility.
The question is one of public perception. It’s pretty common knowledge, even among non-racing fans, that the Cup Series has been facing declining attendance and TV audiences all decade long. It just looks bad for NASCAR to say it has 40-car fields and then have 30-something participate. It adds to the narrative of a sport in decline, fair or not.
Next: Cup Series team power rankings after California
Looking ahead at the next few races on the Monster Energy schedule, it’s hard to say exactly when the next full Cup Series field might happen. Texas feels like a 39-car affair, and if the lesser team are skittish about short track racing, Bristol and Richmond might be out of the question. Perhaps Talladega on May 7, since plate racing on a superspeedway always offers the lottery ticket of a good finish if the Big One takes out a bunch of strong cars.
If not in Alabama, we might not see 40 or more entries until the first road course race, which isn’t until late June at Sonoma. With sponsorship situations the way they are right now, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s the opposite situation from the one that NASCAR was pondering just a few years ago, and that in itself is something worth pondering.