taken from Nascar.com.....


HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- It was a very small part of the state of the sport address delivered earlier in the week, but the folks at Joe Gibbs Racing heard it loud and clear.

Mike Helton, president of NASCAR, admitted that the governing body is considering raising the minimum age requirement to be a driver in the Sprint Cup Series to 21. It currently is 18 in both Cup and the Nationwide Series.

"We continue to discuss it internally. Age has always been something we've talked about," Helton said. "A few years ago we opened up the Camping World Series [previously the Busch East and Busch West Series] to 16. That helped us.

"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. It's not something that's been decided on; it's just one of a lot of things that we talk about all the time. That's just something that's out there right now that people are eating up."

J.D. Gibbs, who is president of Joe Gibbs Racing, has heard all the talk and admitted during a stop on the NASCAR Sprint media tour hosted by Lowe's Motor Speedway that it concerns him. That's because JGR has two young drivers in Joey Logano and Marc Davis who are not yet 18 poised to race in the big time.

Gibbs said that the plan right now is for Logano to run a Nationwide Series race as soon as he turns 18, with the first of his 18 scheduled starts in that series at Dover on May 31. Gibbs earlier stated that he hoped to be able to "maybe sneak in a couple of Cup races" for Logano at the end of that season, which would not be permitted if the minimum age requirement is raised.

Logano

"It's a big deal for us," Gibbs said. "We've invested a ton in Marc and Joey. Our feeling on it is there is a good system in place. If a guy is not ready or not mature enough, you don't go to the next track, you don't go to the next series. Obviously, we've invested a ton in Mark and Joey -- and part of that is an investment in the Nationwide Series. So selfishly we look at it a certain way.

"But for us, we're talking to NASCAR about it and we think we have some good conversations going on. We think they'll come up with something at the end of the day that satisfies everyone."

Logano, who was the Busch Series East points champion in 2007 in what is now the Camping World East Series, admitted he would be disappointed if such a rules change delayed his rise to NASCAR's premier series.

"I didn't really see this coming," admitted Davis, who will turn 18 less than a month after Logano on June 23. "We never really saw anything coming. The decision to move up, if everything else stays the way it is now, is between myself and Joey and Joe Gibbs Racing. They'll move us up as we feel ready. So if we feel we're ready, they'll move us up.

Davis

"If they do change the age, we'll have to deal with it and we'll wait. We're turning 18 this year, so we've got time to mature. ... We'd like to be able to move up when we're ready, which hopefully is before we're 21. But if that doesn't happen, we'll still go with the flow until it does happen."

Others in the sport appear to have mixed feelings about the possibility of raising the minimum age requirement for drivers.

Legendary former driver and current car owner Richard Petty said he would be all for it, noting that he didn't begin his Cup driving career until he turned 21.

"When you're 18 you think you can do anything," he said. "But look, you'll grow up a bunch by age 21. You'll come back a different person after those three years. Those are the years when you're thrown out into the public and you suddenly realize, 'Wow, hey, I've got to work for a living.' That's a big maturity deal, those three years. I think from a sponsor standpoint, from a NASCAR standpoint, that would be a pretty good deal.

"Right now you've got guys who are 40-something competing against kids who are 18 years old. That's a big discrepancy. I think this would even that out a little and maybe make more sense."

Richard Childress, owner of Richard Childress Racing, has two nephews driving who are under 18 and could be affected by the rule. But he agreed with the other Richard that establishing the minimum age at 21 for the Cup Series sounds reasonable.

"I think it's a good way to go," Childress said.

Yet the elder Petty's own son, driver Kyle Petty, disagreed.

"The problem is most of those kids like Joey, when they get to be 16, 17 years old, they're great racecar drivers because they started running when they were 4," Kyle Petty said. "They've been runnin' go-karts and midgets and mini-sprints and Legends cars and all that. They've been runnin' forever, man. You go to some of these races and you look at these 14- and 15-year-olds driving and you're like, 'My God, these guys have tons of talent.' So why shouldn't they be able to drive [at the Cup level] when they're 16, 17 or 18 years old?

"I don't have a problem with it. Guys [have] come straight out of high school into the NBA. Let me tell you what: if you can hang with guys like LeBron James straight out of high school, then sign that big paycheck and play ball. I understand what they're trying to do; I understand the concept of trying to let them mature a little bit more before letting them come out, and that's probably a plus. But I probably was more mature at 21 than I am now at age 47, so who knows?"

Veteran driver Mark Martin has long been an unabashed fan of Logano's driving ability. He said he would have no problem driving against Logano at the Cup level right now.

"I think that 21 years old in most cases is fine for a Cup driver. I also think there are a few guys who are going to be ready a long, long time before that," Martin said. "Is Joey ready for Cup now? I think that he's ready today, but that's my opinion."

In the end, Gibbs said that he trusts NASCAR to do the right thing for the sport.

"We knew they were talking about it," Gibbs said. "We were kind of under the assumption that, hey, there would be a little bit of a grandfathering process.

"But hey, NASCAR has been really good. They've made good decisions in the past. We've had conversations with them, and we appreciate the openness there. We want what's best for the sport, period. Whatever that might be, we're open to it."