In an odd turn of events, the biggest headline leaving Texas Motor Speedway would not be Austin Dillon becoming the 10th different winner of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, leaving only six available spots in the Playoffs with eight races remaining. Instead, it was a subject of controversy after an incident involving the lapped car of Quin Houff, which very much altered the outcome of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.
Green flag pit stops were underway for what would be the final wave with about 30 laps to go. Houff made a move from the middle lane and collided with fellow Rookie of the Year contender, Christopher Bell, as well as Matt DiBenedetto when trying to make it to pit road. The blunder appeared to be a classic case of a mistake by an inexperienced driver, but the 22-year-old took to Twitter following the race and posted a photo of his driver-side mirror broken. Radio scans at the time of the accident also exposed his spotter, clearing him to come down.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t a complete bonehead move by the young driver — it was was a combined effort. Houff entered the 2020 season a true-blue rookie, having never turned laps at nine of the scheduled tracks (10 now including the Daytona International Speedway road course). The No. 00 has only been involved in on-track incident six times through 18 races, but it seems as if it is usually front and center of carnage each week.
This situation that took place Sunday caused quite a stir amongst drivers and fans alike if there should be repercussions or a system in place for developmental drivers racing at the premier level. Ninth-place finisher, Brad Keselowski, offered an interesting take in his post-race comments saying that young drivers should have to “graduate” into the top series of racing and could be demoted after a certain amount of mistakes — similarly to the FIA Super License.
“When you’ve got this rules package with cars that are super-easy to drive by themselves, it’s very hard for NASCAR, I think, to be able to tell who’s got it and who doesn’t,” Keselowski said. “So it kind of puts them in a box until you actually get in a race, but one thing I would like to see, and I think I’ve been pretty consistent with this, is I would like to see drivers be able to graduate into this level and equally I’d like to see them be able to be removed from this level when they have repeated issues. I can’t speak enough to the gentleman that had that issue today, but I have seen in the past where drivers that have had this issue multiple times somehow are still here, where I think they should effectively be placed in a lower series or asked to go back to a more minor league level to prove their salt.”
Should NASCAR implement a set of requirements like Formula 1, this would be an enticing way to lure more viewers into the sport’s lower divisions. More important than that, it would ensure that more race-ready talents are competing at the premier level, as opposed to someone with less experience that could be a liability to themselves and others. Not to mention, it would keep these developmental drivers on a swivel at all times to avoid demotion.
The sad reality of this scenario is that it would take years to develop such a program, and there really is no short-term solution. It was revealed that NASCAR will speak with Houff during the week about his poor decision, but it will be very telling to see how it proceeds with this situation.
It’s perfectly acceptable to say someone isn’t ready to compete at the Cup level, or someone else should be racing in their place, but it’s never OK to attack someone over social media for trying to do their job.
Houff isn’t trying to destroy $300,000 machines purposely. He’s driving for a small budget team that buys its engines, as opposed to the conventional method of leasing like the sport’s top teams, so it’s even more detrimental to keep their equipment in one piece. As for someone else piloting the car, StarCom racing chose the Virginia-native to be their ambassador. Whether it be sponsorship pull, character, or contract issues with other drivers, the bottom line is he was given an opportunity to compete at the highest level of NASCAR at 22-years-old — should he have turned it down? Would you?
This incident sparked a conversation that should have occurred years ago about bringing young drivers into the Cup Series. It’s important to ask these questions and campaign for change with NASCAR to ensure the safety and integrity of the competition. It’s also equally as important to be mindful and respectful to those on the receiving end of things. As easy as we think it is to drive these stock cars, it’s not. Campaign for change, but don’t attack a young driver for trying to make a career for himself in racing.
