Well, it’s time to get back on my high horse and complain about NASCAR Nextel Cup drivers participating in NASCAR Busch Series races. I already know some of your arguments which I will try to address below.

The Busch race at Atlanta ended just a little bit ago and low and behold, Jeff Burton won the race. Yet another Nextel Cup driver taking money, spotlight and points away from a legitimate Busch series driver trying to better improve his racing ability. Now I know that you are saying:

Well, if you keep the Nextel Cup drivers there, you give them a better chance to grow and compete.

Okay, let’s look at this. Atlanta fields 43 drivers for each Busch race, the same as in the Nextel Cup. So in Atlanta today, out of the 43 drivers, 26 are Nextel Cup drivers. That leaves only 17 spots open for Busch Drivers. Not only does that make it impossible for additional drivers to move to the Busch league, but it also means that there is very little grooming for new drivers to come into Nextel in the future. Pretty soon, you will have true rookies in Nextel, because they never got a chance to earn their stripes.

So now you say:

Well, this gives good practice to the Nextel Cup drivers. They need that.

Then tell me why Mark Martin is the winningest driver in Busch over the years, and he has driven more on every track in America more times than the entire Nextel Cup Field. Also, Kevin Harvick won the Busch Championship last year, so I don’t think they need the practice.

So, what about now?

It’s not like they are taking anything away from the Busch drivers.

Here again, you are totally off the mark. Let’s take a look back at Atlanta. Out of the 26 Nextel Cup drivers in the race, they fielded the to 14 spots. Yes, you read that correct. The top 14 spots are all Nextel Cup drivers. Now are you actually going to sit there and think that there is not a huge difference in the paycheck from 1st to 15th? You are all race fans or you wouldn’t be on this site reading my rant. Not only that, but now you only have 17 drivers gaining experience, the rest of the guys have already made it. So you have diminished your pool of upcoming drivers because you want to give guys extra practice. You also have to take into consideration that the points are completely scattered across all of the Nextel Cup drivers, taking valuable spots away from Busch drivers. This means that at the awards banquet, you have more Nextel Cup drivers there than you do Busch.

Now I know you are all saying:

Well, Busch needs the Nextel Cup drivers to draw a crowd. They can’t do it on their own.

Bull-cocky. If you allowed more drivers to get some experience, then it wouldn’t be a wreck-fest. Give these guys some spotlight and you know what, race fans will all come around. This is how you get a great series, not by stockpiling ringers throughout the field. You don’t see these guys racing every NASCAR Craftsman Truck race which is known for great racing, so I think this could work. Call me crazy. Ocassionally racing, fine. Every weekend, not fine. If you are so star focused, then lets change the rules. Let Nextel Cup drivers drive, but limit the number of spots to 5. This way you get 38 Busch drivers and let the Nextel Cup guys battle for the last 5 open slots. Not only that, but make it so that if they trully believe that they need this for practice, then don’t let them take any points away at the end of the day. Let them take the paycheck, but no points. This eliminates the possiblity of a driver winning both Busch and Nextel Cup in the same year.

It’s time NASCAR begins to look at its future vs its pocketbook. Let’s get this series back to its hey-day. If you want more ranting on this topic, see my original rant I posted at Minor League, No Place for Major Leaguers back in 2004.