Longevity as an athlete is the ultimate dream.
We all wish that we could do what Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and Julio Franco are doing in baseball. Franco is nearly 50 and still taking the field.
But what happens instead when your name is Michael Waltrip, Kyle Petty, or Kenny Schrader. They too have been blessed with longevity in their sport, NASCAR's elite NEXTEL Cup Series.
Combined these three men have raced 2,174 races in the NEXTEL and Winston Cup Series. They have combined for 16 wins, 153 top-fives, and 478 top-10 finishes. All impressive numbers.
But consider this, Schrader has gone 519 races in his career since he last won. His last of his four wins came on June 2, 1991 at Dover International. Schrader beat out Dale Earnhardt, Harry Gant, Ernie Irvan and Sterling Marlin that day. But since then he has not won a race, in fact he has only recorded 37 top-fives and 115 top-10's in those 519 races. Even more so Schrader still races on despite not finishing in the top five in a race since September 12, 1998. Schrader finished fourth that day at Richmond behind Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin. Nine years he has raced without taking home a top-five, and he does not look like he has any desire to slow down. But has he hung on too long.
Since 1991, Gordon has won four championships and 75 races. Tony Stewart has two titles and 29 wins and Jimmie Johnson has won 25 races. Gordon even went 21 straight races from 1998-99 with consecutive top-10 finishes.
Kyle Petty has eight career wins, a great number, but has not won since June 4, 1995 at Dover. Petty has also not finished in the top-five since September 21, 1997, also at Dover. Petty has run 367 races without a win, and in those races has only two top-fives and 30 top-10's. Petty recently is, like Schrader, fighting just to have his car in the top-35 in owner's points each week so that he can have a guaranteed spot in the field.
Are these men dedicated or just unable to walk away from the game?
They are not alone though, NASCAR is full of stars who just can not leave it alone.
Michael Waltrip won four races in his five seasons driving for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. Before and after those seasons Waltrip has won none. From 2001-05 Waltrip had four wins, 20 top-fives, and 40 top-10 finishes for DEI. Waltrip won the Daytona 500, but all four of his wins were on restrictor plate tracks while DEI was at the top of their game. In his last two seasons as a driver/owner Waltrip has run 34 races, failing to qualify for seven during that time, including the last five of this season. And has not finsihed better than 14th during those two seasons. Currently Waltrip has a negative 27 points to his name as a driver for 2007.
Sometimes you can just keep on trucking though, ask Mark Martin, 4-for-4 this season finishing in the top-10 and has an average finish of 5.5. He has made the Chase for the Cup all three seasons of it's existence and shows no signs of getting worse with age. Martin isn't winning races, but he keeps his car up front and competitive week in and week out.
The older guys are not just the ones who are struggling to find success in NASCAR though. Kenny Wallace has run 330 races in his career, with no wins. Also joining him with a zero in the win column is Jeff Green with 238 races, Dave Blaney at 240 races and Casey Mears at 149 races.
Mears has been given the best chance for success, driving for Ganassi Racing and now Hendrick Motorsports. No wins from him and he will be looking at numbers like Schraders and Petty's in 20 years.
It can be hard to walk away from the sport that has defined your life, but there has to be a point when you go home, sit in a rocking chair and watch the races on television like the rest of us. And honestly, you could get a pretty nice television and HD hook up with the money these guys have made.
