[LSC9901]

By Mark Young
I've had it!! Why is it that every time a Busch Series race is on TV it looks like a NEXTEL Cup race with different paint schemes? Years ago the Busch Series was a developmental one where smaller teams could sign young drivers and grow together to work up to the Cup Series. Those days are long gone and I am sick of it. Jack Roush had to beg Mark Martin to stick around after announcing retirement because he didn't have anyone to fill the spot......why is that Jack? I'll tell you why, he had four of his Cup drivers running every race in the Busch Series. HE was busy taking sponsorship and young talent away from the grass roots of the Series and turning it into a money pit. Jack isn't the only one but that situation sticks out. I think Pope Brian France and NASCAR should outlaw Buschwhacking, and I have a plan as to how it can be done.
U WANT SOME?
Now I am 140% certain this will never happen. Not because some amateur journalist in Michigan thought of the idea but because of money and greed. NASCAR isn't going to stop Buschwhacking because it sells extra seats for the Busch races. They can advertise that Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, and about 15 other drivers will be there. People are going to spend half the price of a Cup ticket to go and see the show. That's business, I can't take it away from them but there is another way to make this work.
NASCAR should split off the Busch Series (or whatever it is going to be called next year) and have it run as a stand alone series. They can run some of the tracks that the Cup Series has on schedule. Daytona, Bristol, and Vegas come to mind. Heck they could run a ton of them on Cup weekends but they should put a limit on the number of Busch events a Cup driver can run. Ooops, that is another idea, stick with the main one Mark......... So, the Busch Series is split away from the Sprint Cup Series for 75% of the races. "Where are they going to race"? That is the cool part. Speedway Motorsports Inc. and International Speedway Corp. could make even more money by working together to get NASCAR to run this Busch Series at the tracks the Cup Series used to run on. Tracks like Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, Kentucky, Nashville, Nazareth, and Milwaukee would become proving grounds for the young drivers that need seat time not camera face time.
"What would race in conjunction with the Sprint Cup"? Shoot this one is easy, run the Craftsman Trucks on the same weekends as support races. No disrespect to Skinner, Benson, Musgrave, and now Schrader, but the truck Series has become a haven for Cup drivers that have been run off by sponsors and owners looking for younger faces. If current Cup drivers want to run in one of these truck events I think it is great!! The truck races are always competitive and never short on excitement. Mix in the Cup stars and it would make for a great race and some great rivalries.
The Busch Series would return to being a developmental one. Cup drivers wouldn't be hogging up precious seat time and even more precious sponsorship dollars for these smaller teams that are becoming few and far between. I can tell you that I would love to tune into a Busch race to be held at Rockingham just for nostalgia's sake. People in those areas would have a chance to see big time racing again without paying twice as much, the truck series would finally get the exposure it deserves, and the Cup Series team owners would have a pool of talent to draw from that has some big time racing experience without paying the price of wrecked race cars and pissed off sponsors.
That's what I think should happen, what say you?

[Quality88]

Interesting, very interesting.

[Bob Tanner]

I agree. The [insert sponsor name here] Series is being ripped apart by the Cup raiders who use it as a paid testing platform, training area for crew members and easy picking for money, using Cup resources.

Possibly my post informing is that NASCAR might change the cars in the Series to "Pony Cars" by 2009 is a good sign that not everyone in Daytona has their heads up their anal orifices.

Another solution:

Since open-wheel Indy types are the colour of the day these days, how about NASCAR moving the Formerly Busch Series to run at a majority races NOT in conjunction with Cup races? Then, help the IRL Series. Work a deal with Tony George for IRL to run their shows in conjunction with Cup, filling many of the slots currently being filled by Cup LIte.

This would give NASCAR fans more of a chance to see the drivers who might be moving [up?] to Cup, put more butts in the seats for IRL races, gin up interest in a series that desperately needs new fans, and even give some of the Cup prima donnas a chance to try their luck at open wheel, thus showing that Cup drivers truly ARE the best race drivers in the world.

Maybe I've got a Pollyanna attitude about the whole thing but it seems like a win/win situation for all concerned.

[hank static]

Just a thought, who'd be leading the Busch if no whackers were in it, if someone got a spare couple of hours to research and excuse them all from the results, that would be great, cause you can't take them out of the champ ladder as there are different point margins for different spots in the races..Maybe i should ask the Experts.

[wingkey1]

Mark Young - this guy been in a cave somewhere over the past several years?

Gee Mark, really? No kiddin'. No one out here even noticed. Sure glad ya showed up on the scene to wake us unconsious incompetents up. You go boy!

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by hank static

Just a thought, who'd be leading the Busch if no whackers were in it, if someone got a spare couple of hours to research and excuse them all from the results, that would be great, cause you can't take them out of the champ ladder as there are different point margins for different spots in the races..Maybe i should ask the Experts.

By looking at the current standings it would appear to be Jason Leffler. I do understand that without the big boys in the mix the actual points standings might be different but I'm just guessing that the positions would be the same.

[jks812]

I realize having alot of cup drivers in the Busch does sell more tickets. But I'm the opposite, I only watch the Busch races that aren't over run with cup drivers. I love the ones that aren't at the same track as the cup, cause then only about 5 cup driverrs in them. They could run cup at one track and run trucks and busch together at another track. I liked the idea of letting them run at the tracks they took away from cup.

[simple simon]

i have a few random thoughts to throw in here about the Busch series and Cup

first, i love the fact that they may change to Camero's and Mustangs .... makes me feel more like local Saturday night racing ...... my dad raced a Camero in the class we call 6-Cylinder Chargers then above that we had the Late Model Sportsman ........ now i see Busch as the Chargers and Cup as LMS ........... and i love it, i really do

(maybe im odd .... well ok i know im odd ....... but i have often thought before about having other national classes of racing ...... like here we have the mini-stocks, VW Rabbits and stuff ........ or how about Mini-Vans racing each other ..... i think it would be neat)

now, more to the topic at hand ......... i think using different vehicles will keep many Cup drivers away ...... JPM seemed to use Busch mainly to get a feel for the car (which i dont think anyone can blame him .... though i think he also used them to get extra time on tracks he had not been to ..... which i dont blame him for either) ....... some drivers though, like Harvick, i think may still invade Busch no matter what they are driving ...... in Harvick's case i think it is more a love of racing then anything else (which i cant really say i blame him for that either)

how about this for possible solutions .... never have Busch and Cup at the same track on the same weekend (except maybe for the opening weekend) .... i also really like the idea of having Busch go to tracks that Cup never goes to ........ seems it would help spread the sport with more fans being able to go to races

another solution ..... how about some double headers ..... run the Busch race and the Cup race both on the same day ....... Busch start at noon and Cup at 3 or 4 ....... even if they were at the same track would any drivers try it ? ........ and for sure if they were at different tracks and did this no one could do it

well those are the thoughts i have as of now .... agree or disagree they are just my thoughts .... nothing more, nothing less

[King43STP]

Originally Posted by hank static

Just a thought, who'd be leading the Busch if no whackers were in it, if someone got a spare couple of hours to research and excuse them all from the results, that would be great, cause you can't take them out of the champ ladder as there are different point margins for different spots in the races..Maybe i should ask the Experts.

As of now the Busch regulars that could be in the top 5 would be Jason Leffler, Marcos Ambrose (would be higher if not for Robby Gordon), Stephen Leight, Bobby Hamilton Jr., and Steve Wallace.

[King43STP]

Originally Posted by simple simon

another solution ..... how about some double headers ..... run the Busch race and the Cup race both on the same day ....... Busch start at noon and Cup at 3 or 4 ....... even if they were at the same track would any drivers try it ? ........ and for sure if they were at different tracks and did this no one could do it

I can think of some drivers that could and might even do double duty in the same day. Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, and I think the 1st double duty driver John Andretti.

[kcoruol]

Did Juan Pablo drive Busch before Cup?

If he didn't he might have benefited doing a couple of years Busch before moving up. Same with other drivers crossing over from Formula or whatever.

If Cup drivers are to be allowed to drive Busch and I was the King of NASCAR, I'd allow only the bottom ranking drivers to run Busch.

It's kind of like Dan Marino playing for Florida State on Saturday and then for the Dolphins on Sunday when you see some of the big names racing Busch.

IMHO of course.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by kcoruol

Did Juan Pablo drive Busch before Cup?

He did just a few races in ARCA then did same in Busch last year. He went to cup full-time this year with half the year in Busch as well.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by King43STP

As of now the Busch regulars that could be in the top 5 would be Jason Leffler, Marcos Ambrose (would be higher if not for Robby Gordon), Stephen Leight, Bobby Hamilton Jr., and Steve Wallace.

sorry King, but Mike is ahead of Steven in points .. and Mike has run all the Busch races this year versus only 1 for Cup .. that makes him a Busch driver this year. this is how they currently stack up (removing all the Cup guys):

1. Jason Leffler 4th
2. Bobby Hamilton Jr. - 6th
3. Marcos Ambrose - 7th
4. Stephen Leicht - 8th
5. Mike Wallace - 10th
6. Scott Wimmer - 13th
7. Steve Wallace - 15th

[thunderfoot]

Originally Posted by kcoruol

Did Juan Pablo drive Busch before Cup?

If he didn't he might have benefited doing a couple of years Busch before moving up. Same with other drivers crossing over from Formula or whatever.

If Cup drivers are to be allowed to drive Busch and I was the King of NASCAR, I'd allow only the bottom ranking drivers to run Busch.

It's kind of like Dan Marino playing for Florida State on Saturday and then for the Dolphins on Sunday when you see some of the big names racing Busch.

IMHO of course.

This dude makes hella sense. Back markers need good seat time.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by simple simon

i have a few random thoughts to throw in here about the Busch series and Cup

how about this for possible solutions .... never have Busch and Cup at the same track on the same weekend (except maybe for the opening weekend) .... i also really like the idea of having Busch go to tracks that Cup never goes to ........ seems it would help spread the sport with more fans being able to go to races

another solution ..... how about some double headers ..... run the Busch race and the Cup race both on the same day ....... Busch start at noon and Cup at 3 or 4 ....... even if they were at the same track would any drivers try it ? ........ and for sure if they were at different tracks and did this no one could do it

well those are the thoughts i have as of now .... agree or disagree they are just my thoughts .... nothing more, nothing less

Hmmm...? We are in the same ball park, Simon. However, I see a couple of problems with your thesis.

I think that there are times when Cup and Cup Lite can co-exist to the benefit of both the competition and the fans. Daytona, Bristol, Charlotte, Texas, Las Vegas, and Talladega, to name a few. Tracks with big grandstands and a history of people coming from long distances to see a weekend of racing. If the Cup and Cup Lite run together, on an occasional basis, the Cup drivers won't become enmeshed in the lower Series and won't become identified with it.

Other than that, I agree with the idea of having separate venues. If you notice, when Cup Lite runs separately.

I see a couple of major problems with "Double Headers," Simon.

(1) If they are are different venues at different times, you'd probably have a total of...? seven - nine hours of auto racing in one day? I fear that would drive some to make a decision as to which series they would watch. Since Cup gets the lion's share of advertising, and have the biggest names, I think a lesser series might suffer.

(2) Both running in tandem isn't too realistic, IMHO. The major problem is the problem with pre-race festivities. I haven't been to a Cup race in years but I remember these ceremonies took up the bulk of the mid morning, right up until race time.
Then you have the question of tickets. People think they are raped when it comes to ticket price now. The additional cost of a Cup Lite Series race added to the cost of a Cup ticket would be sticker shock, to the "n-th" degree. Emptying the stands then refilling them would be a logistic nightmare.

I definitely love the idea of having the bulk of the lesser series' races on separate days, in separate venues than the Cup race. I'd like to see the lesser series go back to tracks like N. Wilks and Rockingham, and some of the bigger tracks Busch East and Busch West run on. Take it back to its roots, making it a feeder series for Cup and giving it more of a grass roots series, one real race fans could actually afford to attend and not necessarily have to drive fifteen hours, or sell your first born.

I still like my idea of NASCAR and IRL having a quasi-merge and running IRL on Saturday, as a lead-in for Cup would expand IRL (I still love my open wheeled racing), give it more exposure and revenue, and give the NASCAR fans a chance to watch some of its future stars (if the trend of open wheel to Cup transition continues).