February 13, 2012
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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The decision NASCAR officials made last year to allow drivers to compete for only one championship was the best rule change in recent memory. It won't keep Sprint Cup Series regulars out of the Nationwide Series entirely, but it limits their participation.
Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch announced recently that they wouldn't be competing in as many Nationwide races this year. Both drivers want to win a Cup championship and not running as much in Nationwide allows them to focus on that. However, what it also does is release some of the strangle hold that Cup drivers have had in that series.
Over the past six years, only 17 of the 209 races have been won by drivers who were not Cup Series regulars. For a series that is suppose to be a proving ground for young drivers looking to move up, that is a sad statistic. It defeats the purpose of there even being a second-tier series if the moonlighting veteran drivers dominate it.
The racing has deteriorated because of the Cup drivers. It's kind of sad watching two veterans compete for the win and the rest of the drivers doing nothing more than being in the way.
On the other hand, some say that the Nationwide Series will die without Cup drivers participation.
Some believe that the sponsors want a driver with an established name to drive their cars. That is ludicrous because there are only a finite number of established drivers. If that is what a particular sponsor wants, they should look for a driver in the Cup Series.
How are young drivers ever going to establish themselves if they aren't given an opportunity to do so?
As far as ratings go, the Nationwide Series has nothing to worry about next year regarding the Cup drivers not competing there as much.
Danica Patrick will run a full schedule and it has already been proven that she is a ratings juggernaut. She will attract attention and everyone involved in the series, sponsors and drivers alike will benefit from it. There is no downside to having Patrick in NASCAR's developmental series. If she just runs competitively, ratings will soar. Heaven forbid what would happen if she actually won a race.
Giving new drivers a chance ensures the future of the entire sport. It's what the Nationwide Series was created for and its about time it got back to doing that. More drivers will be exposed to fans and sponsors and that means competition will increase across all three top-tier series.
Eventually, drivers that run a full Cup schedule should be banned entirely from Nationwide competition. In the long run, it would be beneficial for the future of stock car racing. However, it may take a while before officials make that decision. There will have to be a several seasons of success with limited involvement from the "established" drivers before officials would feel comfortable going that far.
Yet not only will the Nationwide Series benefit from limited Cup driver participation, it will thrive because of it.
If you would like to learn more about Matthew, please check out his web site at matthew-pizzolato.com.
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