Sprint Cup Series - Sprint Cup Owner's Championship

Sprint Cup Owner's Championship

The Sprint Cup Owner's Championship operates in the same manner as the Driver's Championship, but awarding points to each individual car (even if an owner enters more than one car, they are viewed and scored as separate entities). The points awarded are identical to the drivers' list, with one minor exception—drivers who are not eligible to earn points toward the drivers' title can still earn points toward the owner's championship. An example of this occurred in the first race under the current point system, the 2011 Daytona 500. Under another rule newly implemented for the 2011 season, drivers are only allowed to earn drivers' points in one of NASCAR's three national series. Trevor Bayne, who won the race, did not earn any drivers' points because he chose to run for the Nationwide Series championship. However, he earned 47 owner's points for Wood Brothers Racing (43 base points and 3 bonus points for the win, and 1 bonus point for leading a lap).

Before a major change to the points system implemented in 2011, there was a slightly different addition to the system of allocating owner's points — in the event of more than 43 cars attempting to qualify for a race, owner's points were awarded to each car in the following manner: the fastest non-qualifier (in essence, 44th position) received 31 points, three less than the 43rd position car. If there was more than one non-qualifying car, owners' points continued to be assigned in the manner described, decreasing by three for each position. Under the post-2010 point system, only those cars that actually start in a given race will earn owner's points.

There is a separate "chase for the championship" for the owners' points.

A 2005 rule change in NASCAR's three national series, which will be unwound for the 2013 season, affects how the owner's points are used. Through the 2012 season, the top 35 (Sprint Cup), or top 30 (other series) full-time teams in owner points are awarded exemptions for the next race, guaranteeing them a position in the next race. These points can decide who is in and out the next race, and have become crucial since the exemption rule was changed to its current format. At the end of each season, the top 35 in owner's points are also locked into the first five races of the next season.

Beginning in 2013, this aspect of the rules will revert to a system more similar to the pre-2005 rules. In the Sprint Cup, the first 36 places in the field will be determined strictly by qualifying speed. The next six places will be awarded on owner points, with the final place reserved for a past series champion. If the final exemption is not used because all past champions are already in the field, it will pass to another car based on owner points.

In some circumstances, a team's owners' points will differ from the corresponding driver's points. In 2005, after owner Jack Roush fired Kurt Busch during the next-to-last race weekend of the season, the No. 97 team finished in eighth place in owner's points, while Busch ended up tenth in driver's points. In 2002, when Sterling Marlin was injured, the No. 40 team finished eighth in owner's points, while Marlin was 18th in driver's points, because of substitute drivers Jamie McMurray and Mike Bliss, who kept earning owner points for the #40. Another example was in the aforementioned 2011 Daytona 500.