Nationwide Stars Say: Cut the Cup

OK, so I know this is like beating a dead horse. Everyone has their reasons for why the Nationwide Series should allow the Cup starts to race every weekend, while others have their reasons for why they shouldn't be allowed.

Here are a few of my opinions (if anyone cares) on the matter at hand.

1. Cup stars fill the seats: We all know that this is not true. How many Nationwide races have we seen sold out in recent years?
Right...not many! While the Cup guys may bring in more people, they also may keep some away.

How about those guys who want to see competitive racing with some of the future stars of the sport? You can't see them at a Nationwide race anymore with the likes of Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin leading the way. What happened to the good ol' days when we saw the future stars making a name for themselves?

I used to (note the "used" there) watch when it was still the Busch Series and some of the most exciting races I remember seeing where Martin Truex Jr. battling Bowyer and Busch for his back-to-back Championships in 2004-05.

Remember, that was when the little guys actually had a chance to win some races.
Now, I have no reason to watch the Nationwide race, because without ever turning it on, I can tell you a Cup driver will more than likely win the race.

Take a look at 2008 results:
• Cup drivers won 29 of the 36 races
• Of the six races won, Brad Keselowski won twice (Nashville and Bristol), Scott Wimmer won once (Nashville), Joey Logano won once (Kentucky), Ron Fellows won once (Montreal) and Marcos Ambrose won once (Watkins Glen).
• Average number of Cup guys in those six races: 7 (10 in Bristol and 12 at Watkins Glen threw the average higher, by the way)
• Average number of Cup guys in the other 29 races: 11

2. It's simply not fair: What other sport allows its professional athletes to come back and play in the college ranks. Don't think that's a good example?

The Nationwide Series is supposed to be the level where young-guns get their chance to shine (sounds kind of like college football or basketball or any sport to me). The past three seasons now, the championship has been won by a Cup driver. That would be like allowing Peyton Manning to go back to Tennessee for a couple of games (or the whole season) to win a National Championship.

But, in reality, the Volunteers have to move on with their fresh talent and win the games without Manning, as should the Nationwide teams have to do without the Cup stars.

I have no problems with the Cup teams having Nationwide teams. While it does give them a bit of an advantage, they have earned that by being in the sport for years and working their way up, but at least give the little guys some almost-level playing field.

3. The series has become a practice session: Here is a reason that actually puts Cup-level competition at a disadvantage. If Edwards and Bowyer are racing in every Nationwide race the night before they race the same track in a Cup car, that's extra time on the track that others don't get.

I know, before I start getting the comments, the cars are nowhere near as similar as they used to and very little is actually learned from them running the extra races.
I also know that Jimmie Johnson beat out all the Nationwide drivers, who supposedly got extra practice time.

But here's my point: If they are going to limit the amount of practice time and have now cut testing, they should limit the time Cup drivers can spend on the track in other cars as well.

4. Fans want an interesting Championship run: We all want to see those championships that aren't decided until the final weeks of the season. Many fans may think that having Cup drivers in the seats of Nationwide cars do such a thing, but let us look at the recent championships won.

• 2008: Bowyer beats out Edwards by 21 points to win the championship. So this one may have been a close one and down to the wire, but third place Keselowski, he was 338 back.
• 2007: Edwards blows away the competition and finishes the season 618 points ahead of second place David Reutimann. This was pitiful, he had it locked up with what, four or five races to go?
• 2006: Kevin Harvick dominates the entire season and finishes 824 points ahead of Edwards. Nobody had a chance from the mid-point of the season on and nobody wanted to watch it either.
• 2005: Truex beat out Bowyer (the year before he moved to Cup) by 68 points. Possibly one of the best seasons of racing I can remember.
So with the exception of last year, the past three championships have been bore-fests.
Last year looked like it was going to be a run-away by Bowyer, before Edwards hit a hot streak and nearly caught him.

5. Let the little guys gain some fans: It's hard for up and coming stars, like Keselowski to gain any fans when they don't get to run up front much of the season. Fans want drivers who are consistently running in the top five and winning races (unless you are Dale Earnhardt Jr., he could finish 43rd every race and Junior Nation would still continue to grow).

Guys like Keselowski, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler and even ol' David Stremme, never get a chance to gain fans because they are constantly over-shadowed by the Cup guys in their territory.

These are the future stars of the sport (well maybe not those in particular, but the drivers from the Nationwide Series), and if nobody knows who they are when they get to Cup, who's going to care?

My solution: It's a simple solution to fix, in my opinion. NASCAR wants Cup drivers in the races, that's fine, but at least limit their attempts and/or don't let them run for championships.

Let Keselowski and Bliss battle it out on the track with Mike Wallace and Leffler—that would be exciting. If Cup guys are going to be allowed in the races, why not say they can't compete in more than five or 10 races? That seems fair enough to me.

That would keep some sponsors happy, having the big names in there a couple times a year, but it would also give the younger guys some television time and a chance to show the sponsors what they can do.

The Nationwide Series has become a preview of what Sunday will be like, and nobody wants to watch the same thing two days in a row.

B-Blog

This article also appears on my sports blog: Sports101