December 27, 2011
By Doug Demmons
Imagine what the IZOD IndyCar Series would become if suddenly Roger Penske and Chip Ganassi decided to pack it in and do something else.
There would be chaos at the top as lesser teams vied to fill the giant vacuum left by the departure of the two most dominant teams in the series.
Now imagine the NASCAR Camping World Truck series without either Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch.
Imagine a truck race without Busch and without either Harvick or Ron Hornaday in one of Harvick’s trucks.
Harvick announced months ago that he was getting out of the team ownership business, merging his Nationwide operation with Richard Childress Racing and folding the truck teams. Hornaday has already signed to drive for Joe Denette Motorsports, a team owned by a guy who won the Mega Millions Lottery in 2009.
And Busch is reportedly being urged by team owner Joe Gibbs to not compete in the Truck Series for his own team. The idea is that the less Busch is behind the wheel in a Truck or Nationwide Series race, the fewer chances there will be for him to get into trouble.
That makes a certain amount of sense. But it fails to address the root cause of Busch’s problems. It’s like staying home and avoiding other people to make sure you don’t catch the flu.
And it deprives the Truck Series of its most exciting driver. Let’s face it -- Austin Dillon is the 2011 Truck Series champion thanks to the new points system but he was nowhere near the best Truck Series driver.
Busch competed in 16 of 26 truck races and won six of them. He finished in the top 10 of every single truck race he entered except three. In those three he had a mechanical problem, a crash and was parked by NASCAR.
It also means the end of one of NASCAR’s best rivalries -- Kyle Busch Motorsports versus Kevin Harvick Inc. And it can’t be good for the series’ TV ratings on Speed, which have been climbing steadily.
Fewer races might mean fewer post-race trips for Busch to the NASCAR hauler, but it’s not going to make him a better Sprint Cup driver.
Busch’s chief Cup problem -- other than his temper -- is that he is the anti-Jimmie Johnson. Johnson is at his best for the 10 races of the Chase. Busch is at his worst.
Skipping the Truck Series won’t cure Busch’s annual Chase Swoon.
In fact, it might just aggravate it.
Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at ALABAMA MOTORSPORTS
Follow Doug on Twitter: @dougdemmons
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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