July 27, 2010
By Allen Madding
Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Brian France hinted at changes coming for the 2011 season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. One of the areas that he remarked on was the current on-going conversation regarding NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Race track promoters and television broadcast teams have always said that having NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series events bring more fans to the grandstands for the Saturday races and increase the television audience.
The concern is that the teams competing fulltime in the NASCAR Nationwide Series have to compete against not only NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers but NASCAR Sprint Cup teams. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams building and preparing the cars, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams marketing for sponsors for their cars in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crewmen performing the pit work during their NASCAR Nationwide Series events. It amounts to a small Mom and Pop store trying to compete against a factory.
If NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers were not competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, would some of the sponsors they currently have signed for the events get behind another NASCAR Nationwide team? Would that make a few more sponsor dollars available to the unsponsored teams and reduce the amount of Start and Park teams we see at NASCAR Nationwide Series events?
Currently the leaders in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points are: Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Justin Allgaier, Kyle Busch, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick, Steve Wallace, Brendan Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, and Jason Leffler. One of the ideas being considered is not allowing any NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver that is in the top 35 positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. If that were in effect today, Justin Allgaier would be leading the points followed by Steve Wallace, Brendan Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, and Jason Leffler which just makes sense.
To appease the tracks and networks, some have suggested allowing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series events but not to be allowed to participate in the championship point standings.
But consider another point, Saturday night at O’Reilly Raceway Park Kyle Busch won followed by Carl Edwards, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayner, Reed Sorenson, Brendan Gaughan, Justin Allaiger, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard, and Steve Wallace. As you look through the top ten finishers for the event, you quickly see four NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers. Those drivers and their NASCAR Sprint Cup Series backed teams haul off a major chunk of the purse money that would otherwise help fund the NASCAR Nationwide Series regular teams.
And yes, there is another discussion going on about not allowing the NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers to be allowed to collect winnings in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
But as I sat and watched the racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series at O’Rielly Raceway Park in Indianapolis Saturday night, I could not help but think to myself with the amount of two wide and three wide racing that was going on all over the racetrack the NASCAR Nationwide Series really could survive without the interlopers.
Kevin Harvick did not compete at ORP, instead he had Ron Hornaday, driver of the Kevin Harvick, Inc. entry in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving his No. 33 Georgia Boot Chevrolet. And Hornaday was in the thick of the battle for the lead and brought out his own group of fans to cheer him.
Trevor Bayne qualified on the pole for the event and led 55 laps during the night driving the Michael Waltrip owned No. 99 Out! Pet Care Toyota. Bayne also qualified on the pole the week before and led 19 laps in that event. Bayne is the kind of driver the NASCAR Nationwide Series should be highlighting in their marketing material. A 19 year old making strides in his development toward a career in stock car racing.
Unfortunately, with the NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers competing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series the media attention turns toward the top series’ super sports and the accomplishments of the developing drivers in the NASCAR Nationwide Series does not receive the attention that it deserves.
We do not see Major League Baseball players going to play in a Minor League game on their day off. And if we did, would we really celebrate a Major League player hitting a homerun off a Minor League pitcher? Where is the thrill in dropping down a series and winning a race from teams with less funding and from 19 year olds trying to earn a living?
Brian France and staff at NASCAR’s Daytona’s office are on track looking into this situation. NASCAR Nationwide Series budgets are thin enough and securing sponsorship for these teams is tough enough without having to go compete with drivers from NASCAR premier series. If the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers want to be involved in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, great, allow them to put together a NASCAR Nationwide Series team but fill the driver seat with a current NASCAR Nationwide Series regular or an up and coming driver from the weekly racing series. Let the NASCAR Nationwide Series be the developmental series that we keep hearing that it is.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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