Nationwide Series should be proving ground
This weekend when the Nationwide Series made its stop in Nashville for the Pepsi 300 I was reminded of a debate that continues to rage throughout the NASCAR world. What should NASCAR do about driver's double dipping in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series?
Out of the 43 starters in Nashville last weekend, six of them were Sprint Cup regulars. That's not bad compared to the last five races.
At Bristol 11 fulltime Cup drivers ran the Nationwide race, there were 15 at Atlanta, 14 at Las Vegas (and I am counting race winner Mark Martin), 11 at California and 17 at Daytona.
Some may not have a huge problem with this, but I do. The Nationwide Series use to be a proving ground for young drivers trying to make a name for themselves in the sport. Drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Greg Biffle earned their stripes in the Nationwide Series before making the jump up to Sprint Cup. The problem now is that none of the fulltime Nationwide drivers can beat the Sprint Cup drivers.
Here's some more math that will make you think: In 2005 12 races were won by non-Sprint Cup drivers, in 2006 that number dropped sharply to two and in 2007 only three races were won by non-Sprint Cup drivers (including the win credited to Aric Almirola when Denny Hamlin subbed for him at Milwaukee).
Scott Wimmer's victory in Saturday's Pepsi 300 makes him only the sixth non-Sprint Cup driver in three year's to win in the Nationwide Series. This is a serious issue and needs to be looked at by NASCAR sooner or later, even if they'd prefer to hold their hands over their ears and scream at the top of their lungs and pretend like its not happening.
Here is a simple solution that I like, any driver competing fulltime in the Sprint Cup Series can only enter half of the Nationwide Series races in a given year. This will stop them from running for championships in both series and allow the fulltime Nationwide teams the chance to run for the championship.
This will also make the races more competitive and allow teams without Sprint Cup backing to maybe make a run at winning some races. The last team without Sprint Cup backing to win a Nationwide race? David Gilliland in the No. 84 HYPE Motorsports entry at Kentucky in 2006.
By the way, that team no longer exists. They couldn't afford to compete against the Sprint Cup drivers and teams.
Adam Fenwick writes a regular racing column for The Star. For more NASCAR coverage, check out Adam's blog online at shelbystar.com.
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