Fan's Eye View ~ Of Championships, Competition, Truck-pluckers, busch-whackers, and cup-sippers
11/20/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
First of all, congratulations must go out to our three newest Champions, all crowned this past weekend at Ford Championship Weekend in Homestead. To be the best at something, the feeling you get from that is second to none. All three Champions are deserving, and have weathered the ups and downs of an entire season to come out on top of the heap. Salute to you, Gents!
Now…where to begin…
Let’s start at the very beginning…I’ve heard that’s a very fine place to start. The beginning of this paper starts at the end…of my wits, or maybe my rope. Confession time, if you didn’t know it already: I am a SiriusXM NASCAR Radio junkie. There is so much information to be had on there, and since our site is by, for, and about the fans, how could you get a better feel on the pulse of what NASCAR Nation has on their brains than to listen in on the phone calls which come in throughout the day without fail? The hosts of the various shows on the air may *think* they control the show, but in fact, it is you, the fans. You’re the ones who call in to be heard and to get others to support you, or sometimes, in the complete other direction, call you names. Everyone can call in and share their opinions, which are like heartbeats…everybody has one.
It is of opinions I wish to invite you to read and respond to here today. Specifically one. Tell me, NASCAR Nation…how do you feel about drivers crossing series’? What are your thoughts on the Truck-Pluckers, Busch-Whackers, and Cup-Sippers, who are those drivers that run for the Championship in one series, but still run races in others?
Yes, it’s come to that again. We’ve tackled the topic before, a bit, in a column I penned called “The Kyle Busch Double Standard.” This one goes beyond that, though, I believe. This week, a hot topic was the fact that Austin Dillon may have gone the entire Nationwide Series season without winning a race, but still winning the Championship. This evolved into the fact that the reason Dillon may do just that is because only four races have not been one by a non-Nationwide Series regular driver. Two of those were won by Regan Smith, one by Sam Hornish, and one by Trevor Bayne. The rest were won by Sprint Cup Series regulars, except for one by Ryan Blaney. That doesn’t really leave a lot of opportunity for Dillon to win a race.
And therein lies the issue, and contention. Many fans are calling for an end to the crossing over of drivers, especially from the Cup series to Nationwide. (I’m not really sure why it’s still called “Busch-Whacking,”…isn’t it Nationwide-Whacking now?) Whatever it may be labeled as, there are many fans who do not appreciate it, and are wishing it would be prohibited or restricted.
I think what might be getting lost to those who are against the “Series Swappers” is that it is, on the grand scale, better for the sport.
Consider this. Jimmie Johnson is a great success on the Cup Series level. He is a multi-time Champion and has more trophies than he probably knows what to do with. How many wins does Johnson have in his Nationwide experience? One. Do you think that bothers him? Probably not. Anyone worth their salt who ever decides to strap themselves into a race car has, at some point, a dream about being the best. Some of those dreams end before those drivers have completed their first race. The goal, as it was and also will be, is to get to the ultimate level, in our case, the Sprint Cup Series. When Johnson was in the Nationwide Series, it wasn’t dominated by the Sprint Cup Series regulars as it is now. He drove against drivers who had a lot of Cup experience, though. Guys like Todd Bodine, Randy Lajoie, and Joe Nemechek. Johnson has natural talent, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t learn anything from those other guys either.
Today, if you are a Sam Hornish, or a Regan Smith or a Ryan Blaney, and you win in a Nationwide series race, you’ve done something. Those cup driver Nationwide programs are fairly tall and rather bulletproof. As a result, it is Kyle Busch in a Joe Gibbs Racing entry or one of several in a Penske car battling for the wins. It is for that reason that the drivers we will have coming up in the near future, like the Austin Dillons, and the Kyle Larsons and the Brad Sweets. Those drivers are going to be better for not winning.
What would you rather have?
Scenario One: Swifty Fastpants wins the Nationwide Series Championship for two consecutive years. He’s only won three races in that time, and they were at Iowa, and perhaps Talladega, but he had 30 top five finishes in that time. Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and a host of other Cup drivers won the bulk of the remaining races. He moves to the Cup Series.
Scenario Two: Swifty Fastpants wins the Nationwide Series Championship for two consecutive years. He’s won seventeen races in that time, because NASCAR implemented a rule stating that a driver can only drive in one of the top three national series. He has 48 top five finishes in that time. He moves to the Cup series.
In Scenario One, I’m betting you get a better product. This cat has been facing the caliber of driver who has won or contend for a Championship in a level above the one they are in. He is a well-seasoned veteran of a preliminary series, ready to take the next step.
In Scenario Two, we might see a guy who has won seventeen races in two years, but those races have not been against drivers of Sprint Cup quality talent. They have been against a few strong cars each week, but not dominant cars. He is a well decorated driver of a preliminary series, ready to take the next step.
There is of course, no proof, but I’m betting the driver with the experience against the Cup infiltrators works out better than the guy who won seventeen races against, with all due respect, a weaker field.
On the flip side of this, if you want to limit a driver to one series, you eliminate the possibility of some of the magic moments we have had in our sport recently. If Kevin Harvick is only allowed to run in the Nationwide Series in 2001, he doesn’t get the tap to step into the No. 29, and we don’t get to see Chocolate Myers crying three weeks later. In 2002, we don’t get to see Jamie McMurray fill in for Sterling Marlin, and win the second race he ever starts. We would never see an early entry for a driver in a different series, like the preview we have gotten of Kyle Larson and Austin Dillon for the 2014 season, because they would not be allowed to leave one series in exchange for another.
Obviously, everyone has their own heartbeat. Me? Thanks for asking. I would rather keep things as they are. Sorry, but Kyle Busch is fun to watch in the Nationwide Series, and if you want to win, you have to beat him or one of the other Cup series drivers to do it. I like that. It’s an initiation. If you can do it, welcome to the club, buddy! I’d rather see a driver who had driven his or her face of trying to catch one of those darned “better cars” and failing than I would a driver who won often against a diluted field.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments, so feel free to post them below. Until next time, my friends…
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