page_title: Start and park
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Start and park / Description
caption_attribution_description: The passenger side of w:Landon Cassill during the 2014 Gardner Denver 200 at Road America. Taken racing in turn 13.
context_page_description: Start and park is a term used in auto racing, particularly in NASCAR-sanctioned races, to describe the practice of racing teams starting races but pulling the car off the track after just a few laps in order to collect prize money while avoiding expenses such as replacement tires, engine wear and tear, and hiring a pit crew. The practice has existed due to the relatively high purse for even a back-of-the-pack finish, as well as the high costs of fielding a car for an entire race. While start-and-park entries occasionally act as "field fillers", the practice is criticized in instances when they take spots away from teams intending to run the full race.
  In some cases, a team will use a start-and-park car to help fund another competitive car in the same or a different series. This practice is prevalent in NASCAR's second-tier Xfinity Series, notably by The Motorsports Group, RSS Racing and TriStar Motorsports. However, there are some cases in which a small underfunded team does use this money to eventually run full races, or conserve the car.
context_section_description: A start and park occurs when a race team pulls out of an event early on, rather than completing the full race, and will be credited with a did not finish (DNF). The practice is the result of the high costs of running full-length races including hiring a pit crew, as well as the high payout from simply starting a race. For example, at a June 2009 Cup Series race, Joe Nemechek earned $64,725 after finishing 41st in a start and park effort, while Dexter Bean ran the entire race to a 36th-place finish and earned only $725 more ($65,450). New teams may start and park to gain funds, experience, and information to run future races competitively. Cup teams such as Germain Racing, Tommy Baldwin Racing, and Phil Parsons Racing have parked in many of their early starts, before finding sponsorship and success in later endeavors.
  Other times, teams will field one or multiple additional cars to earn money so their primary cars can run the full race. For example, since 2011, 2000 Busch Series Champion Jeff Green has start and parked in most of his starts for TriStar Motorsports, while the team's other cars (which often have some sponsorship) have run the full race. Green's entry, according to owner Mark Smith, acts as somewhat of an R&D car, and allows the team to field multiple full-time entries. Green had the most last place finishes in every year in the now Xfinity Series between 2011 and 2013 — a total of 37 last place finishes — and set the series record for career last place finishes in 2015 with 76. Another notable example is The Motorsports Group (formerly Key Motorsports), whose main car is a No. 40 car driven by Mike Bliss. In the past, the team has also fielded No. 42, No. 46, and No. 47 cars as start and park entries to fund the No. 40.
caption: Jeff Green's No. 10 TriStar Toyota in 2014.
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