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Cup or Nationwide?by Mike Wells ~ April 24th, 2008. Filed under: Water From The Well(s). |
Should Cup drivers be allowed to run a full season in The Nationwide Series?
This is a highly debated topic and will continue to be. There are points to each side of the story.
Against;
Should the Cup drivers be allowed to take points, prize money and starting spots away from Nationwide Series regulars? If the Cup drivers are allowed to run a full season and occupy most of the top ten spots, then what is the difference in Cup and Nationwide? It’s like we are watching a Cup race Sat. and Sun. with one truck race mixed in. Maybe the solution is to allow Cup drivers to race, but only a limited schedule. This would allow upcoming young talent to get into the spotlight and show off their driving skills against equally skilled upcoming drivers. Isn’t this the way we do it in College football and Pro? The Pro players don’t go back and dominate the College players. College players that move on to the NBA don’t come back to take over the team.
Cup drivers in the series can have a huge affect on smaller Nationwide series regular teams and less experienced drivers. Each week there are small teams struggling and fighting to make each race, but when a well funded Cup team gets in, that’s one more team that don’t get the chance to qualify or even race.
Some would say that the series is supposed to be a stepping-stone and learning experience for upcoming young drivers. The problem is, you can’t get the experience if you can’t make the race.
For;
The number one reason is probably for higher ratings. Let’s face it, people don’t want to watch a race with drivers they hardly know, but fans do want to watch their favorites. Cup drivers racing in the event will cause more fans to tune in. The more fans in the stands and tuning in on television is good for everyone in the series.
Another reason is this gives the rookies a chance to drive side by side in the same exact race and compare themselves to the best of the best. Racing door to door with Cup stars will make for a great calibration tool for young drivers since most Nationwide drivers do want to move on to the Cup series.
This is a highly debated topic with no end in sight!
April 24th, 2008 at 7:29 am
I personally feel the the Cup drivers if they are going to drive in the Nationwide series not only should have to run a limited schedule, but be forced to do what they ahd to do back in the infancy of the Busch series and that was to run their own car. They could be a member of a large team on the Cup side, but they had to run their own cars and get their own sponsorship on the Busch side and personally I would like to see it that way. I realize that having the Cup drivers brings more ratings and people to watch, but give the Nationwide drivers a break that are trying to get into the big time and why should a Cup driver always go back to the Nationwide series, because that is like going from the NFL back to the college ranks.
April 24th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I feel the same as you do about the cup drivers comming into the Nationwide series. They should drive their own cars and get their on sponsors. Drive a limited schedule and give these younger and less talented drivers a chance to have a time in the spotlight of their own. Thanks DT (Texas)
April 24th, 2008 at 10:52 am
i agree cup drivers help ratings. i agree it’s okay if they run in the ‘college’ series. i disagree that they should be able to win the championship. if they want to run to win more $$ and boost tv ratings, okay, but if they are a full time cup driver they should not be elligible for the championship. i do believe it’s good to have a few of them in the field to help the nationwide drivers step-up there game. the nationwide drivers, for the most part, would agree.
if my memory serves me correctly, truex, jr. was the last non-full time cup driver to win the nationwide/busch series championship. a nationwide, non-cup driver has virtually no chance whatsoever to win the championship.
my 2 cents, dp, dexter,mo
April 24th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Martin Truex, Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, and many others got the chance to prove themselves in the former Busch Series by racing against the cup stars each weekend with success. Brad Keselowski was noticed by JR motorsports after running mediocre in extremely underfunded equipment. I’m very interested to see if Joey Logano will be able prove himself late next month as he does the same. The fact is the drivers who have talent make themselves noticed. The cup drivers in Nationwide make the races interesting to watch as well as help the up-and-comers see where they really do stand.
I do agree with the comment that cup stars should run the second-rate equipment and save the Roush-Fenway or Gibbs cars for folks like Logano, Brad Coleman, Cale Gale, Landon Cassill, and the like. I think having the best drivers in second-best cars would make the races quite interesting to watch as they would truly be forced to “out-talent” the competition to win Nationwide races.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I waited all week for someone to comment about the race in Mexico last weekend. I started to watch the race but was put off about the way our nations anthem was sang or should I say not sang correctly. Was it me or were some of the word misspronounced? Watch it again and see if I am wrong. If we did that to there anthem we would have never herd the end of it. I am not a smart person and my spelling is most likely the pits here, but I love this country and love what it is supposed to stand for. I also enjoy going to mexico and do my best to respect there ways when I am there. I believe that next year the anthems should be sung be a representative of each country in there own languages.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Good article. Cup drivers should not be allowed to race for the Nationwide Championship and limited to the number of races that Cup Drivers can race. Let’s give our up and coming young AMERICAN drivers the spot light so that they can show off what they can do. I’d rather see an up and coming young American driver work his way through the ranks to Cup racing than watch teams like Ganassi hire pros from F1. Even though there were not many Cup drivers in the Mexico race, I still watched it and enjoyed it except for the part of Busch winning.