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Start the music and let’s do the 2014 owner’s points shuffle
Dance like you've never danced before. The annual owner's points shuffle music is cued up.
In recent seasons, swaps and deals to ensure that teams have a guaranteed starting spot, or a better provisional draw provision have been just as common as the annual Sprint Unlimited before the Daytona 500.
This year, we've got some swaps, but no high profile ones. The biggest is an inter-team swap. Brian Vickers' No. 55 at Michael Waltrip Racing will be using the points from MWR's No. 56 last season.
Why does Vickers' car need points? The points from the No. 55 are being given to the No. 66, which is being operated as a timeshare agreement between Jay Robinson Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. The No. 66 will be driven by Waltrip at Daytona as an MWR car, but in the races that Waltrip or Jeff Burton don't participate in through MWR, it will be driven by Joe Nemechek. (It's a similar arrangement to the No. 33 last season. When Richard Childress Racing didn't run the No. 33 for Austin Dillon, it was fielded by Circle Sport.)
Nemechek's No. 87 last year under his own NEMCO Motorsports banner will now be run under the "Identity Ventures Racing" label. The No. 32 points from Frank Stoddard's FAS Lane Racing team last season will continue with the No. 32 and Go Green Racing this season. The two teams have entered a partnership for the 2014 season.
Last season, the owner's points from Tony Stewart's No. 14 were given to Danica Patrick and the No. 10 for the beginning of the season to ensure that Patrick would be in the Daytona 500. It didn't matter, as she won the pole for the race.
With the top 35 rule phased out before the 2013 season, owner's points matter only if a driver needs a provisional to make the race. If two drivers are vying for the final provisional, the car with the most owner's points gets the spot. The aforementioned points swaps for the 2014 season matter for the first three races. At the fourth race, 2014 points are used.
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is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
