After limiting Cup drivers in lower series, it's time to raise the bar for Cup Series participation

Early Wednesday, NASCAR announced a rule limiting the number of races Sprint Cup Series veterans can run in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series. Now that the rule is official, the series should take a hard look at creating another one centered around experience. Namely, one establishing a higher baseline experience minimum to compete in the Cup Series.

18-year-old Gray Gaulding is attempting to make his Sprint Cup Series debut this weekend at Martinsville. Gaulding has raced twice in the Xfinity Series and has made 13 starts in the Camping World Truck Series. He’s recorded one top five finish.

Nothing about Gaulding’s resume says he’s ready for the Sprint Cup Series. But since he meets the age minimum, has a sponsor and has a NASCAR license, he has the opportunity to hop in the No. 30 car in the hopes of making his Cup debut.

He’s not the first driver with minimal experience in NASCAR’s Xfinity or Camping World Truck Series to jump into a Sprint Cup Series car this year. Dylan Lupton made his debut at Sonoma earlier this year with just 11 Xfinity and Truck Series starts.

And there have been even more notable drivers with less experience. David Gilliland had eight starts in Xfinity and Trucks before he made his Cup debut. But let’s be clear, this isn’t an indictment of anyone taking advantage of the ability to jump up the NASCAR ladder, even if it’s in a ride that isn’t competitive. This has to do with the ladder itself.

Because of its sponsor and equipment dependent nature, driver development in auto racing is much different than athletes’ development in other sports. With baseball’s numerous statistics, it’s easy to see who deserves to be promoted to a higher level and who doesn’t. But levels of success are different in racing. If you don’t have a good car, finishing 20th may be more impressive than a driver winning with the fastest car. And perhaps most importantly, if you don’t have a sponsor, you may not have a ride at all.

NASCAR’s move to prevent Cup drivers with five years or more of experience from competing in 17 combined Xfinity and Truck Series races can be seen as a way to give younger and more inexperienced drivers a more opportunities to succeed. Piggybacking that rule with one that forces drivers to have a combined 30 starts in the two series (or applicable experience in other top level series) before making a Cup Series start wouldn’t be a way of blocking deserving drivers from getting a shot in a top level ride. Rather it’d be reinforcing the desire for younger drivers to have success at NASCAR’s two lower levels before moving up.

Adding an experience minimum wouldn’t do much to upset the status quo either. It would, at most, impact a handful of drivers each season in cars that don’t have a chance of winning. But the rule to limit experienced Cup drivers in lower series isn’t wide-sweeping either. It only effectively applies to three of the 121 drivers who have made Xfinity Series starts this season.

An experience minimum isn’t unprecedented — NASCAR has an age limit is already in place. College football players must be three years removed from high school to be eligible for the NFL draft. The NBA makes players spend a season playing college basketball before being draftable. And while the NFL and NBA depend on colleges for their player development, NASCAR would have the advantage of putting inexperienced drivers in its own series, further boosting their health and profile.

Forcing a driver to compete in a full season of Trucks (22 races) and eight Xfinity races or nearly a full season in the Xfinity Series would be an investment for both a driver and sponsor. A driver would get the chance to make mistakes on a smaller stage and have a greater chance of excellence against competitors of a similar experience level. A sponsor would get a chance to finance a smaller budget team and see just what a NASCAR sponsorship entails while potentially identifying its brand closely with a driver.

And existing Xfinity Series or Truck Series teams could have the chance to gain a funded driver for a season, possibly giving a team or two a sponsorship opportunity it may otherwise not have.

NASCAR likes to tout that its drivers are some of the best in the world. A minimum threshold would mean the series is more serious about that claim. And could help prevent the possibility, however small, of a mistake borne of inexperience impacting the battle for the most prestigious racing championship in the United States.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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