June 14, 2007
By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

If you were lucky enough to see last Saturday's Busch Race at Nashville Superspeedway, you missed an unusual sight.

Since the Cup series was running in Pocono last weekend and the Busch boys were 700 miles away in Nashville, the race provided a rare glimpse at Busch competition with a limited number of Cup regulars, a.k.a. Buschwhackers, on the entry list.

Sure, the victory still went to back-flipping Buschwhacker Carl Edwards, who has four wins in 15 Busch races this season and is a virtual lock for the Busch title.

But overall, there were just four Buschwhackers in the top 10 at Nashville and eight in the top 20.

In other words, 12 of the top 20 finishers were Busch series regulars, not Buschwhackers.

Compare those figures to the previous week's race at Dover, when both series were competing at the same track. In that race, just five drivers of the top 20 were Busch regulars. 15 were Buschwhackers.

You can see why many now refer to the Busch series derisively as Cup Lite or Cup Junior.

The Busch regulars in Saturday's top 10 in Nashville were Jason Leffler (3), Scott Wimmer (4), Regan Smith (5), Jason Keller (6), Todd Kluever (8), and Aric Almirola (10).

For Keller, Kluever, and Almirola, it was their first top-10 Busch finish of the season, although none has competed in all 15 races.

The Busch series standings are still dominated by Cup drivers, however. Bobby Hamilton, Jr., is the sole Busch-only driver in the top 10; though currently seventh, Hamilton is a full 886 points behind Carl Edwards. Regan Smith, a full-time Busch driver also running a partial Cup schedule is fifth in Busch points, 827 behind Edwards.

The eight Buschwhackers currently in the top 10 in Busch points include Edwards, Kevin Harvick (last year's Busch champion), Dave Blaney, David Reutimann, Matt Kenseth, David Ragan, Clint Bowyer and Greg Biffle.

Whether you consider the dominance of Cup drivers in the Busch series a problem or a perk depends largely on your perspective.

There is no question that when NASCAR's marquee stars make regular appearances in the Busch series, numerous financial interests are served, including those of the track owners, race promoters, sponsors, teams, and even the drivers themselves. And when it comes to money matters, the bottom line tends to supercede other considerations.

This makes it particularly hard on Busch-only teams trying to compete with their better-funded, better- equipped Cup counterparts in the Busch garage. Some Busch owners have complained that they are increasingly turning to Cup drivers specifically because of sponsor demands.

As far as the Busch drivers themselves, most say that while they enjoy the challenge of competing against the best talent in NASCAR, they would prefer to do so in equal equipment.

Which brings the issue back to money.

There was speculation prior to the start of the '07 season that there might be a reduction in the number of Buschwhackers this year. While previously, drivers could apply some lessons learned in a Saturday Busch race to a Sunday Cup race being held on the same track, this benefit may start falling off with the introduction of the Car of Tomorrow.

But with a majority of this year's Cup races still using the regular (non-COT) car, that drop-off, if it happens at all, might not be fully felt until next season when the Car of Tomorrow runs full time.

Those who see Buschwhacking as a problem have proffered a number of solutions, such as limiting the number of Buschwhackers per race, not rewarding Busch points to Cup regulars who are only in the series part time, or scheduling the races at different tracks more often throughout the season.

If you think you have a viable solution to the Buschwhacking situation, please email me with your idea and why you think it will work. I may include your answer in a future column.

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.