The Lower Series Situation

   And there he goes again… Kyle Busch wins the Truck Race. Then Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, and Kyle dominated the Nationwide race. Joey ultimately won, which is surprising, because usually when Kyle is entered in all three series, he sweeps (at least the lower two).It seems like every week Cup drivers are beating the lesser-experienced drivers in one of the lower divisions. It gets kind of annoying at times; it’s like a 12^th grader taking a 6^th grader’s test. So people have raised the question: Should full-time Sprint Cup drivers be allowed to race in the lower series?

   Viewpoints have been split into two sides. One side feels it gets quite boring, frustrating, and unfair to let drivers of a top Cup team race against drivers who are way less experienced. They also feel it takes away valuable points from the Nationwide drivers who are putting their points towards the Nationwide championship, as well as hurts viewership. The other side of this debate feels that letting the Sprint drivers race in the lower series gives the young drivers more experience and helps them in their climb toward the Sprint Cup. They also feel that Cup drivers running in the lowers series draws the attention of fans, which helps ticket sales.

   So where do I stand on this subject? I understand and agree with both sides of the argument. To me, it is frustrating to see Kyle, Brad, or whoever the top-Cup driver is, race in the lower series and win 3 seconds ahead of everyone else. I also feel it does hurt viewership, but racing against these drivers does help a lower series driver gain experience and learn strategies, whether deep in the field, or on a front-row restart.

   So how do we attempt to please both parties? Well a little while ago, Bob Pockrass tweeted about an idea that he had after someone asked him if he found the Nationwide race boring when the Sprint cup drivers dominate. This was his reply-tweet: “Limit Cup guys to 10 races, 15 if rest of NNS (schedule is ran) by (young) driver” I thought this was a great idea! I continued to think about it and tweak it, coming up with this. Instead of limiting the drivers, limit the teams. Limit a team to fielding 10 Cup guys throughout the season. So a team like JGR, can field Kyle Busch 7 races, and Denny Hamlin 3; or maybe Kyle for all 10 races. They could also field Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch in the same race for 3 races, and Denny for 4 other. The options continue on.

   Of course, this would need further tweaking, but I think limiting Cup drivers racing in a lower series in some way, would be a good attempt to bring the best of both sides together. It would let the lower series drivers race against each other more often and get valuable points, but also gain experience from higher level drivers from time to time. It would also help keep ticket sales and viewership up. I think this is something NASCAR should consider for next year.