Interesting Employer/Employee Dynamic in NASCAR

In the past week or so two prominent young Nextel Cup stars have announced contracts to drive for different teams starting in 2007. Reigning Nextel Cup champ Kurt Busch has signed to drive the #2 Dodge for Penske-South Racing, the seat being vacated by the retiring Rusty Wallace, and Jamie MacMurray has signed a new contract to drive Jack Rousch's #6 Ford, a seat that will open with the retirement of Mark Martin. Jack Rousch owns the #97 Ford that Busch wants to leave, so he finds himself in the unique position of having a dog in both of these fights, and to my knowledge, this is the first time a series champ has changed teams.

Both drivers have existing deals with their current teams for 2006, and both requested that their current car owners allow them to cancel their deals at the end of the year so they could head over to their new teams. Both car owners said no.

This creates an interesting dynamic for all four teams. In 2006 the #97 Rousch Ford and #42 Ganassi Dodge will have drivers that don't want to be there, and the #6 Rousch Ford and #2 Penske Dodge will have drivers who are only there for one year. This is pretty much guaranteed to hurt all four teams.

Silly season, as they call it in NASCAR (the period of time when driver changes are considered, negotiated and announced) is getting longer all the time. It used to be Silly Season wouldn't kick off until after the half-way point in the season, and would only involve deals for the following year. Now we have contract announcements being made that won't take effect for 2 seasons which creates even more uncertainty in the sport.

MacMurray and Busch are getting a hard lesson in the realities of the big business they're in. Car owners make commitments to sponsors based on a lot of factors, including the driver, and sponsors who pay millions to put their logos on the cars don't like surprises. Many drivers are used in sponsor advertisements, and those marketing decisions are made way in advance.

There's still the possibility that some sort of settlement could occur that would release the guys from their 2006 deals, but from the early interviews with Rousch and Ganassi, it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Ganassi made his 2006 announcement yesterday, and like it or not, MacMurray will be driving the #42 next year.

A lot of high profile rides will become available in the next few years as veteran drivers retire. Some of these young guns coming up ought to look at this situation as a cautionary tale. You better be careful about what you sign, because there's no guarantee you'll be able to head off to greener pastures any time you wish.