We Learn By Example

By Guest Columnist Jim Fitzgerald

It is not an age old question, but it is getting old, nonetheless. It is a question that has been around for a while, asked many times in many ways. It is a question of competition, a question of fairness, a question of finance, and a question of politics. It first surfaced many years ago, and has become more recently prominent. What is this question?

“Why does NASCAR allow ‘Cup’ drivers to run the Nationwide Series races?”

It is okay to admit that you have asked this question, we all probably have. The answer is not one simple response, either. “Because they do,” is not really acceptable. “Because they can,” does not really work, either. Again, it is a question of competition, fairness, finance, and politics.

Let us get the most difficult one out of the way, and you will see that it most assuredly ties into the others. Politics…always a touchy subject. NASCAR is in the business of making money, bottom line. They get money by putting people in the seats. They get people in the seats through, among other ways, sponsor relations. Just as an example, in the 2009 season, Holiday Inn sponsored the #29 Nationwide Series Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. Holiday Inn is a national chain of hotels, known to many. Richard Childress Racing needs a sponsor for the car, and Holiday Inn wants a driver that fans can identify with. So, for a large part of the season, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer, very established drivers with full time Sprint Cup Series rides, drove that Nationwide Holiday Inn car. Richard Childress Racing, in an effort to still develop young drivers thought the Nationwide Series, still slated Stephen Leicht to drive the car for 13 races. So, in order to keep the sponsors happy and sending in the checks, RCR puts a known driver in the car for the bulk of the season. The odds of getting a national company to sponsor a young unknown driver for an entire season have to be poor, to say the least. Especially in this economy, businesses can not afford to be frivolous with their advertising dollars and need to ensure they are getting the most exposure for their product as possible. There is an unstated rule about cars and drivers that run in the back of the back, and how the television cameras relate to them. It goes a little something like this:

“If you’re not wrecking, we’re not checking.”

Simply stated, they do not often spotlight the drivers running in the back of the field, so they need someone who is able to do the most with the equipment provided, hence, a “big name” driver. Politics…

The financial aspect, you can see, is so closely related to the political one that the only thing that can be added would be that if the series did not gain these sponsors, it would lack the financial strength to attract the drivers that the fans want to see, therefore not attracting the fans to fill the stands.

This brings us to fairness and competition. Is it “fair” to let those more experienced run against those who do not have as much seat time? Ask yourself another question. Is it “fair” that those up and coming drivers sometimes infiltrate the ranks of the Cup series. Consider this when asking those questions. How do you gauge success? How do you know when you fit in? The only way to know if a driver will be successful and fit into the Cup series with the Cup drivers is to put that driver in those situations. The established Cup drivers who run the Nationwide Series races are actually doing us a service.

Think about an occupation. In most cases, when an individual starts new employment, there is little they can do without following the marks of a superior or a mentor. So, what better way to acclimate a driver to the Cup series than to put that driver into situations with Cup drivers. Let us now assume that NASCAR gives into the wishes of those who want to close the Nationwide Series and shuts the door on those who used to be called “Buschwackers.” No more…if you run in Cup, that’s where you stay. So, what has been accomplished? Perhaps we see a huge crop of bright young stars. The most competitive Nationwide season in years! Four drivers winning six races each with the rest spread out among others. “This is the future of our sport,” they will say. “The brightest crop of rookies to come in since the class of ’94,” they will say. But what really has been accomplished?

NASCAR will have taken away the “lead dogs.” The watermarks by which success is measured will be gone. A Nationwide driver who defeats some of the best Cup drivers (see: Brad Keselowski) may be ready to advance. However, a Nationwide driver who defeats only other Nationwide drivers has no clue if he or she is ready for the “big time.” So, what happens? The four hot young drivers need a place to race as they have obviously outgrown their Nationwide rides. Maybe Bobby Driver, with his wins at Daytona, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega and both Dover races catches the eye of Jack Roush. Maybe Greg Biffle’s contract is up. Biffle gets the boot, and Driver gets the seat. Biffle still can drive, however, so he gets into the seat formerly occupied by David Reutimann. Someone thinks Reutimann can still help their team, so Reutimann bumps Bobby Labonte from his seat, and unfortunately for Labonte, there are no other seats available, and ten years after winning a championship, Labonte is unemployed. But Bobby Driver, however, is in the 16 seat, and he is competitive…with the other three guys who won six Nationwide races last year and bumped other drivers out of a ride. They are all competing for 25th -28th place. They thought they were on top and ready to jump to the Cup series, but they were only competing against each other. No one was pushing them to become better.

Whatever the motive NASCAR has for not shutting the door to outside competition into the Nationwide Series, we should embrace it. If you want to call it greed, for lack of a better term, feel free. However, to steal a line from Wall Street, sometimes “greed is good,” and this is certainly one of those cases. We should understand that having these more experienced drivers running against those with limited funding and seat time does nothing but make the sport better and secure its future. For the most part, we learn by following others, and then make our own path when the time is right.

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.