Independent NASCAR Drivers - Nickels And Dimes

Still, many of these teams were stretching their budgets just to haul all the way to Las Vegas, and their equipment was obviously not of the same caliber of the top cars. Select fans and media types became annoyed when some cars struggled to keep up in a race that was supposed to be competed among the best stock car racing teams on earth. It bothered them that some of the cars on the track got into the race basically because there was an open pit stall (Shelmerdine's qualifying laps were over two seconds slower than pole sitter Kasey Kahne.).

Their ire was doubled when they realized that Morgan Shepherd had the audacity to qualify and start the race without a pit crew. The term "field filler" was born, and it wasn't complimentary.

But these drivers aren't just field fillers; they are the rebirth of the independents. And since that day at Las Vegas, many fans have come to appreciate the true reason they are on the track. These drivers and teams aren't filling out the rear of the racing grid because NASCAR needs to start a race with 43 cars in order to collect its television money (as was rumored), but they're there because they are the truest definition of racers taking advantage of what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance to compete on stock car racing's greatest stage.

"I race, that's what I do," says Andy Belmont, an ARCA regular who is making a go of it in Nextel Cup this season without significant sponsorship. "In fact, that's all I do. I'm 46 and I've been racing for 30 years. Rick Hendrick hasn't called me up offering me a ride, so if I'm going to live my dream and be here [racing in the Nextel Cup Series], I have to do it myself."

That sentiment is common among the independents. None are exactly wet behind the ears, and none are swimming in money. Shepherd, who has been the most successful independent this season, even after the pit crew fiasco, races with one car. There is no backup. Budgets are stretched to the breaking point, but for these guys that only means it's time to get creative-not give up.

"We do anything we can think of to keep this deal running," Belmont says. "We do rental programs, we do repairs, and we sell race cars. We've had guys move to be a part of the racing program, but I can't afford to pay a ton of money in salaries, so some of the guys end up living in our house. I've got three crewmen living with us now. My wife does their laundry, and my grocery bill went up $500 a week, but it's the best we can do for them, and we all have to do what we can for the team to survive.

"Racing in the Nextel Cup Series is definitely more expensive than ARCA. They look exactly the same to the fan, but if you go to hang a body on your car, it costs six or seven grand more to hang a Cup body than an ARCA body, and that's just a straight-up body to get you through inspection with no aero tricks at all. To buy a used Cup engine will cost your 25 grand, and that's with 500 miles on it. The list goes on, but I think it's worth it.

"We were a competitive, winning team in the ARCA Series while we are a back-marker in Cup and the stakes are a lot higher, but I think we're still better off when it comes to money. There just wasn't enough television exposure on the ARCA side for sponsors to justify what we needed on a cost-per-impression basis. But they will spend that on the other side of the fence, even though they know what they are getting into. They understand they aren't getting a car that can compete with Jeff Gordon, but they also understand that when Jeff Gordon passes them every 30 laps lapping them, they are going to get a shot on television."