As of today, a driver can only use six 'past champion' provisionals a year to make Nextel Cup fields.
Same for any team, so that means a single outfit can't employ more than one former champ during the course of a season to get their car into more than six races they otherwise wouldn't have qualified for.
This rule was created way back to keep Richard Petty in the field in the final years of his career, when a NASCAR race just wouldn't have been the same for the fans without 'The King' on the grid. Once Petty retired, it was employed extensively - some say abused - by Darrell Waltrip.
The big loser 'in this deal' is Dale Jarrett, who will be driving the new Toyota entry for a brand new team in '07. You can't help but assume that having DJ's free passes into the starting field played a role in their eagerness to sign him to a whopping contract (rumoured to be $10M / year for two years).
Jarrett is no doubt relieved that the ink dried on his contract with Michael Waltrip Racing before this change was announced.
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