When Jennifer Jo Cobb was announced as the driver of Rick Ware Racing’s No. 15 car at Talladega Superspeedway, it seemed like a long time coming for the 47-year-old Truck Series veteran.
Cobb, who has made 248 NASCAR national series starts between Trucks and the Xfinity Series, has raced 11 times at Talladega. Finally, it appeared, she would make her NASCAR Cup Series debut.
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But on Monday, NASCAR said Cobb would not be allowed to race at Talladega. Drivers who haven’t raced in the Cup Series must first be approved by a committee — and Cobb’s record did not pass muster.
“We’ve been informed by the sanctioning body that Jennifer is not approved to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series event at Talladega Superspeedway this coming weekend,” team owner Rick Ware said. “This is an unfortunate situation, but as a team we support NASCAR’s decision to uphold the sanctioning body’s rules and regulations.”
A driver not getting approved to race isn’t all that rare, but it mostly happens behind the scenes. Cobb had previously been approved to run in the Cup Series, but that was more than a year ago; Ware may have assumed Cobb was good and announced her prematurely without realizing NASCAR requires drivers to resubmit their application if enough time has passed.
Since Cobb’s last approval, NASCAR’s standards have apparently gotten more stringent for the Cup Series. Upon a closer review of Cobb’s record, her number of lead-lap finishes (none in 31 Xfinity starts and just 11 in 217 Truck starts) may have hurt her cause.
Last year, James Davison was set to make his Cup Series debut at Talladega — but was also not approved despite Spire Motorsports announcing him as the driver. The IndyCar veteran ended up beginning his Cup career the following week at Pocono Raceway instead.
That said, Cobb certainly had more experience in a stock car than Davison (who had exactly four NASCAR national series starts when he wasn’t approved). In Cobb’s 11 Talladega starts, she has crashed out just once (with a best finish of 11th in the 2018 Truck Series race there).
But that apparently wasn’t enough for NASCAR, which likely had extra concerns given Talladega’s wreck-filled nature.
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Now that a new precedent has been set, it will be interesting to see how NASCAR approves Cup drivers going forward. For example: Derrike Cope was allowed to drive in this year’s Daytona 500 despite not being in a race of any kind since 2018.
Cope made it three laps before crashing out of this year’s race and finished last — while driving the No. 15 car for Rick Ware Racing.
(Top photo of Jennifer Jo Cobb: John Raoux / Associated Press)
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