April 10, 2009
By Rebecca Gladden
Last month, just weeks after the 2009 NASCAR season got underway, we did something few other professional sports do - we took an entire weekend off.
And it wasn't just the Cup teams, but all three of the top racing series - Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Trucks as well.
It was a bitter pill to swallow for races fans who were just beginning to savor the sweet taste of competition that they'd hungered for all winter long.
Now comes another off-week for the Cup series (that's two in eight weeks, but who's counting?) - only this time, the Easter Bunny is bringing us an early treat: a Saturday Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway with a few Cup drivers in the mix - but not too many.
The preliminary entry list for this year's "Pepsi 300" shows 48 drivers competing for 43 starting spots, including Cup regulars Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Michael Waltrip and Joey Logano. All five Nationwide races this year have been won by Cup racers- namely Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, and Kyle Busch (again).
Cup drivers also hold the top three spots in NWS standings - Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and David Ragan - though rookie Justin Allgaier in fourth and Jason Leffler in fifth are both Nationwide-only drivers.
In fact, nine of the top 15 contenders in NASCAR's second-tier series are currently Nationwide-only drivers. Along with those mentioned above, Jason Keller, Kenny Wallace, Steven Wallace, Mike Bliss and Michael McDowell are non-Cup drivers in the top 15.
The Nationwide race in Nashville is the first one this year on a stand-alone weekend, meaning there is no Cup or truck race - bringing added focus and excitement to the event. To capitalize on this, series title sponsor Nationwide Insurance is adding a new twist: a four-race "Dash 4 Cash" competition among Nationwide drivers, including the two Cup drivers running the full NWS schedule (Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch).
The four Dash 4 Cash races include this weekend's Nashville event, along with Kentucky Speedway on June 13, Iowa Speedway on August 1, and Memphis Motorsports Park on October 24. At the end of the four-race Dash 4 Cash, the driver with the most accumulated points over the course of the four races will win a $50,000 bonus.
It's also worth noting that although Cup drivers won six straight here - two races a year from 2005 through 2007 (three straight for Carl Edwards in '06-'07) - last year's Nashville races were both won by Nationwide-only drivers: Scott Wimmer in March and Brad Keselowski in June. Kyle Busch - as dominant as he's been in the Nationwide Series overall, has not won at Nashville and has finished in the top 10 just once in six starts, with an average finish of 20.0.
A win in the Nationwide Series is considered an important career milestone for drivers seeking a Cup ride, and Saturday could be a breakout race for one of the three Raybestos Rookies currently in the top 10 in NWS standings, including Justin Allgaier (fourth), Brendan Gaughn (eighth), and Scott Lagasse Jr. (tenth).
If you're not a regular fan of the Nationwide Series, or don't care for the glut of Cup drivers sometimes in the field, be sure to get your racing fix this weekend with the Pepsi 300 in Nashville and follow your favorite Dash 4 Cash contender.
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