On July 16, it was announced that NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Kris Wright would be parting ways with his team, Our Motorsports, effective immediately. Kaz Grala will replace Wright in the No. 5 Chevrolet at Dover Motor Speedway this Saturday (July 19).
For most, this move seemed like a long time coming. Wright is sitting 29th in Xfinity Series points, last among the full-timers — in fact, he’s scored so few points that he trails 28th-place Ryan Ellis by almost 70 points.
Trouble started in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway when Wright plowed into the rear of Josh Bilicki while everyone dove for pit road under green. Assumed to be a brake failure, things got more confusing when Wright confirmed he had brakes.
Since then, he’s had trouble keeping the car in one piece, and in one instance at Texas Motor Speedway, had a direct impact on the race for the lead when he crashed with Justin Allgaier while trying to get out of the No. 7’s way.
For Our, enough was enough. At this time last year, its previous driver Anthony Alfredo had a top five and five top 10s, including a Dash 4 Cash victory at Dover that earned the team an additional $100,000. This season, the team forwent Alfredo in favor of Wright, who brought full-season sponsorship in First National Bank.
However, it became clear to anyone with eyes that Wright’s seat was bought, not earned on merit. A look at his stats in previous series could tell you that — on two different occasions, he was signed to run full NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series seasons, yet was released before either season was completed. His lone full-time stock car season to date, last season’s ARCA Menards Series campaign, wielded pretty good results, landing him a third-place finish in points. However, ARCA has notoriously light fields, and Wright found himself third out of just nine full-time drivers, only half of which were truly competitive.
Wright is far from the first driver to be in a ride due more so to funding than merit, and he will be far from the last. But the decision between himself and Our to part ways opens up the discussion multiple team owners need to hear — it’s okay to let a fully-funded driver walk if the results aren’t there.
The money is certainly beneficial to a race team’s success, but when things go south, you cannot be afraid to cut the driver loose just because you lose access to the funding that you need.
Instead, focus should go toward hiring a driver who could get you good results and finding sponsorship dollars from a result-based perspective.
Don’t get it twisted though – just because Wright and Herbst (and countless others) bring money doesn’t mean they lack talent altogether. You have to have some inkling of talent to make it to NASCAR. For those preparing to bash them for buying their rides, need I remind you that they have more talent in their thumb than you or I do in our entire body when it comes to driving a racecar.
But at the same time, racing is, and always has been, a business. You can easily secure a ride if you have the funding, but if you don’t capitalize on the opportunity and produce results, you absolutely should be fair game on the chopping block.
Just because you have money doesn’t mean you should have complete and total job security.
And that’s the point this author is trying to make. We’ve seen on countless occasions, drivers with funding falling flat on their face, yet teams refuse to let them go because of the money they bring.
Wright should serve as the example that you are absolutely within your right to let a driver go if they aren’t getting the results you want.
Our knows it is capable of better results because Alfredo proved that to them last year. Sure, the No. 5 might be blank going forward, but with the right driver – perhaps even Grala – there are willing sponsors who could back the team going forward.
But teams should take this as a wake-up call. You don’t have to settle for mediocrity just because the check is clearing. If you’re not happy, do something about it.
It just might work out for you in the long run.
“I remind you that they have more talent in their thumb than you or I do in our entire body when it comes to driving a racecar.”
Herbst, yeah probably. He has shown good speed from time to time.
Wright? I don’t know that I can agree with that one. I’m not certain how the average person could perform a whole lot worse than he has, especially given the sheer number of opportunities he has been given, and has shown zero talent. Give the average person a month of combined simulator and in car testing, and I’d bet they’d be quite close to Wright’s performances. Again, couldn’t be much worse.
There are obviously many drivers with elite talent, and most of them either brought major funding, or have family connections to the sport. Racing is expensive, and rare is the driver who can make it to the top tier without advantages from money and/or family.
But, driving in NASCAR does not inherently mean one is talented.
Well this article aged poorly
“You have to have some inkling of talent to make it to NASCAR “. Not true, several years ago an Xfinity driver was being interviewed as an up and coming star, however he replied he has no idea how got to Xfinity as he has never won a race in his life. In fact he said not even when he started in street stocks, not one single victory. But then again Buckshot Jones was called a superstar just because of his name and Casey Atwood was a future hall of fame candidate and where are they now?