AFTER 30 YEARS OF TRACKING NASCAR INSIDE AND OUT, WE WERE TIRED OF THE 'CHERRY-PICKERS' LONG AGO. HERE'S THE ANSWER TO THE 'PROBLEM' WHICH SHOULD MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY...
Suddenly, everyone has discovered “Busch-whacking”, that phenomenon which occurs (as it did the weekend of 4-8/9-06 at Texas Motor Speedway) when the Busch and Cup events are run on the same track and weekend. There were 18 full-time Cup competitors “cherry-picking” in that weekend’s Busch race.
First, some trivia. The very first Busch Series race was --- Do you know? --- In February, 1982, at Daytona --- And who won it? None other than Dale Earnhardt! Now back to our story...
Cup racers sure aren’t there for the money, at least most of them (though some teams could use that extra pocket change to pay their NASCAR fines).
We’ve been railing against the cherry-pickers for years, and NASCAR has their reasons for keeping things the way they are. Two of the main ones are:
1) Cup drivers in the race make for better ticket sales and TV ratings for the Busch event than without them, and,
2) The Busch drivers get great experience racing alongside the more-seasoned Cup racers.
Also, with NASCAR’s new testing rules for this season, teams can not practice on some tracks, Texas included. For this reason, the Busch race becomes a practice session for the Cup competitors. NASCAR officials won’t admit this, but it’s not even a “secret” of any sort anymore.
For the Cup racers, the prize money and points are only incidental to the experience they are gaining for the next day’s race --- For everything from the all-important race car set-up to the driver learning new lines around the track, testing their tires and their own endurance on a tough track like Texas (remember when CART cancelled a race at Texas because they said their drivers were passing out on the high banking?).
So here’s the solution:
First, and NASCAR can start doing this tomorrow, after a race such as Texas, and all Busch events the same weekend, same track as Cup, bring the top finishing Busch competitor to Victory Circle and allow him, his car and his team (or her's) to get the deserved accolades, along with the overall winner of the event.
Allow Cup racers in the Busch events. All well and good, everyone is happy (especially NASCAR, as they make more money, which ALWAYS makes the France family happy).
But --- Take ALL the prize monies won by Cup racers during the Busch season. Put it in a pot and award ALL that money as bonus and points payments to Busch racers and teams at the end of the season.
Some of it should go to a team which has had a particularly “hard luck” year (let the Busch teams vote on that one); some of the cash should go to Top Ten and Top Five finishers during the year (NASCAR could certainly work out a system to determine those deserving drivers and teams), and the Busch season champion, as well as the Top Rookie and Most Improved Driver all deserve a big bonus at the end of the year!
It would be very interesting to see how may Cup racers would still be attracted to the Busch events if the prize money was not part of the racing equation that day.
Of course, all this becomes moot with the introduction over time of the NASCAR "Car of the Future", which, at least initially, will not be used in Busch events.
What do YOU think?
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