NASCAR is about to officially announce a new rule that forces drivers to choose one and only one series in which they're going to race for championship points.
Bully for NASCAR.
They had to do something. Cup drivers dominating the races in trucks (most recently Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and any driver Harvick put in his No. 2 Chevy) and especially the Nationwide Series (Busch, Carl Edwards, Harvick, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, the ringer du jour in a DEI car, etc.) were ruining the two support series.
With a small handfull of Cup teams and drivers showing such a undeniable advantage the triple A and double A -type NASCAR series 'regulars' had as much chance of winning as they did of competing for the sponsorship dollars that would allow them to be competitive.
NNS and truck race promotors love the Cup drivers because they sell tickets. I can't blame them for worrying their gates are going to suffer if the Cup stars decide to pass on a few races, e.g. "their" races, since they won't be able to compete for a championship.
There's absolutely no doubt. Stand alone NNS and truck races a long, long way from same weekend Cup events are going attract smaller crowds without the Cup stars, especially when disposable income is still scarcer than hen's teeth. The entries normally driven by Kyle, Carl, Kevin and others will either stay home or have not-in-the-same-Cup-star substitutes behind the wheel -- to the great, I-think-I'll-pass chagrin of Billy Bob, Bobby Jo and thousands of others Sprint Cup -obsessed NASCAR fans.
Fact: The Nationwide Series will wither and die without some protection from irrelevancy after nearly a decade of cherry picking champions.
So Cup teams and owner/drivers are going to have to do what's best for the Family and give up the glorious goal of multiple championships.
NNS and Camping World Truck Series champions will now be non-Cup regulars and all will be right with the world.
Theoretically, and ideally, a driver or driver/team combination can start with the truck series, move up to Nationwide and then, if they win races or contend for a championship move up to the Cup Series. And that's after they find some success in local late models, one of the NASCAR 'home track' series, ARCA or even USAC on their way to the pick-em-up series.
Success is defined by winning or at least competing for wins. Wins are what sponsors want. Running at the front where the cameras are pointed is what the sponsors want. Interviews after the race, where pit reporters and SPEED TV hosts talk to the top three finishers and give them the chance to spew their annoying "the Depends/Billy Beer/isitlowt.com Chevy ran great today" drivel are exactly what the sponsors want.
If the sponsors can't or don't get what they want in the Nationwide or truck series they either move their money to a winner (even if it means moving to another series like IndyCar, Supercross or NHRA drag racing) or they leave motorsports completely.
NASCAR can't afford either of those possibilities. If the ladder system is going to work it has to have different levels of sponsorship and support spread throughout the three series in order to keep them all solvent.
It needs full fields, rivalries and the steady, race-by-race or even season-by-season reveal of big fish in small (trucks) and medium (NNS) ponds. It needs to introduce and grow the drivers and teams NASCAR Sprint Cup fans will begin to follow as they prove their mettle and show they're worthy of moving up to the next rung on the ladder.
I applaud this decision. I see no downside to restricting NASCAR drivers to single championship eligibility with no restrictions on their right to race and pick prize money maraschinos.
Cup teams and drivers will still race and win in the two lower series. But the championship battle will be a new and different storyline throughout the season.
And that's what those indispensable, you-can't-go-racing-without-us sponsors want: A story, some content, media exposure and the branding opportunity that justifies the value of their motorsports marketing investment.
This should work.
Nice job, NASCAR. You rock.
-Bill
Read more of Bill Tybur's thoughts on fantasy racing at FMFL
photo credit: RWM
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