NASCAR minimum age
Mike Helton, the president of NASCAR, was asked during the media tour at the Research & Development Center in North Carolina, about raising the minimum age of Sprint Cup Series drivers from 18 to 21. He said discussions about raising the age limit continue internally within NASCAR.
"Age has always been something we talked about," Helton said. "A few years ago we opened up the series, the Camping World Series, to 16. That helped us."
It seems NASCAR teams are eager to hire young drivers to race in their developmental programs. Two drivers that come to mind are Joey Logano, who Irwindale Speedway fans got a chance to watch in the Toyota All-Star Showdown last year, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who was in the Turkey Night Grand Prix at Irwindale Speedway. Logano is a teenage driving prospect for Joe Gibbs Racing and Stenhouse is racing in the ARCA ReMax Series for Roush Fenway Racing. Both are presumably years away from Sprint Cup Series competition.
"But we're continuing to look at the new drivers that are coming along and we're also looking at how they mature and how they can handle the pressures of racing in our top division," Helton said.
NASCAR is not close to making a decision about raising the minimum age requirements for the Sprint Cup Series, but it is something that is continually discussed.
"It's not something that's been decided on, but it's just one of a lot of things that we talk about all the time," Helton said. "That's just something that's out there right now that people are eating it up."