Jeff Gluck

USA TODAY Sports

Life is not fair. The same goes for NASCAR.

When it comes to getting a superior ride, it's not just about talent.

Ten years ago, the best way to land among the top-tier in the Sprint Cup Series was to show some natural ability.

Today, it's about showing the money. Can you bring funding, either through sponsorship or a wealthy family? If so, a good NASCAR ride can be yours.

Seats occasionally still open up at well-funded teams — such as when Kyle Larson got a job driving Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 42 car when Juan Pablo Montoya left for IndyCar. But in a departure from last decade, when veterans were recycled in available seat time while young talent was sidelined, those rides today are going to NASCAR's next generation.

That's a good thing for the sport's future, but it leaves some veterans in limbo. Five drivers we'd like to see get a chance to drive a top-level Sprint Cup car:

--David Ragan. He was rushed into Cup after just one season in the Truck Series to replace Mark Martin in Jack Roush's No. 6 car. There's no doubt his results were disappointing — only one win and 12 top-five finishes in five seasons — but was he ready?

Since then, he's made the most of his current gig at Front Row Motorsports -- including a win at Talladega Superspeedway last year. As a more seasoned racer, it'd be interesting to see what Ragan could do if he were placed in that same situation at Roush.

--Sam Hornish Jr. The three-time IndyCar champion has never won a Cup race in 131 starts and has only nine top-10 finishes. But Hornish struggled mightily to adapt to stock cars when he came over from the open-wheel world, and he's shown he deserves another chance.

He nearly won the Nationwide Series championship last season — losing by just three points in the season finale to Austin Dillon — and has already won a Nationwide race this year in just two starts while driving a part-time schedule for Joe Gibbs Racing.

--Josh Wise. He's been in the news a lot lately because of the Dogecoin community on Reddit, which voted him into the Sprint All-Star Race, giving him a coveted slot many believed would go to Danica Patrick. That campaign started because a fan noticed Wise racing hard to stay on the lead lap at Bristol earlier this year and succeeding for a while — in a badly underfunded car.

But Wise never really had a true shot at success after moving from the sprint car world. Sure, he ran a part-time schedule at JR Motorsports (five top-10 finishes in 23 starts from 2010-11), but the best Cup car he's ever raced might be the one he's in now (his best career finish is 19th).

--Scott Speed. The ex-Formula One driver jumped from a part-time Truck schedule into Sprint Cup — often a formula for failure — where he lasted only two full seasons with now-defunct Red Bull Racing.

After he bounced around with some backmarker teams, Speed decided he didn't want to start-and-park and left to drive in Red Bull Global Rallycross, where he'll compete in the X Games this weekend.

NASCAR's loss is GRC's gain, because Speed has a unique and intriguing personality. If he returned to NASCAR and had success in a competitive ride, it could be a marketer's dream.

--Landon Cassill. Somehow, Cassill has already turned into a journeyman racer at 24. As a teenager, he was a Hendrick Motorsports development driver in a good ride (a partial schedule with JR Motorsports), but the economy tanked and his planned sponsorship disappeared before he ran a full season.

He has since made a living trying to show his talent in less-than-stellar equipment — Phoenix Racing, BK Racing and now Hillman-Circle Sport Racing in Sprint Cup; JD Motorsports in Nationwide.

He's scored two top-10 finishes in Nationwide this season and sits 11th in points for a team that isn't on the same level as his former ride at JRM. How would he fare if someone gave him a real chance again?​

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck