Nascar Is Eating Its Children: Doubledipping Needs To End

In no other sport (that has minor leagues), do the stars of the upper echelon of the sport, go slumming in the minor leagues.

But they do in Nascar and its called double dipping and there are many excuses for it, though I don't think any of them are good enough to cause the arrested development of the future of the sport.

Its been said some guys race in either Trucks or Nationwide (when all three levels are at the same track), in order to get a feel for the track and gain an advantage for the Cup race. Okay fine, but what about the vehicles being different, and the track is different depending on time of the day and the air and track temperature.

Its also been said that Cup drivers are encouraged to race in the two lower levels of racing in order to boost track attendance. Look its essentialyl minor leagues, its not going to sell out like a Cup race, the primary purpose of any lower level of racing is development of the young racers. If people come and see it, great, if championships are won, excellent but its all about building the careers of the up and coming. Also it serves as a place for those guys who couldn't make the cut in Cup. This is not a hobby race for those guys who are in Cup, for no reason what so ever, it compromises the future too much.

Indy racing (IRL), has Indy Lights and I saw them last summer here at the track in Chicagoland, its good racing, a much different car but all about the future, you're not going to see Helio Castroneves racing there to try and gain strategy on the track, that's what Roger Penske, his crew chief & engineers are for.

NHRA drag racing has the sportsmans (Lucas Oil) series, again. It's all about getting people prepared for the highest level of drag racing, the Full Throttle series, Tony Schumacher is not going to be showing up in order to get people in the seats. Hard core drag racing fans will come (and are likely to watch any two cars or even buses fly down the track, trust me I'm one of them), and check it out.

Major League Baseball (MLB), has many levels (low A to triple A), of minor leagues. The only times a MLB player will be in the lower levels is when someone has been out due to injury and is coming back to make rehab starts and get adjusted to the game again. Or a player is struggling in MLB and needs to go to a lower lever in order to gain some confidence or work on mechanics, no other reason.

I follow two local minor league teams, the Joliet Jackhammers an independent (Northern League), baseball team and the Chicago Wolves, the feeder ice hockey team for the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers club.

Those teams are all about picking guys up and teaching the game, sure winning is important but its about the little things, such as technique & playing the game right.

Both of which is hard to do when a pro player is in your way.

The important of ending double dipping now is because the budget cuts have eliminated testing in Cup. Young driver like Joe Gibbs' Joey Logano & Marc Davis gained a lot of experience by being test drivers (they probably got more track time than the Cup drivers), so they got their track time & experience in the middle of the week on empty tracks rather than on the weekends during the race.

With that training & experience options gone, we have to keep the door open for the young guys and that can't happen with some Cup driver occupying their seat.