What Will NASCAR Do About Buschwackers?

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What will NASCAR do about 'Buschwackers?'

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- When Denny Hamlin crossed the finish line in Mexico City, he won a Busch Series race for the first time.

His victory also left full-time Nextel Cup drivers at 3-for-3 this season in the lower-level developmental series. Since NASCAR has no rule against its topflight drivers moonlighting in the junior varsity races, the "Buschwackers" are dominating the Saturday shows.

It's an alarming trend for the full-time Busch Series teams, who are struggling to compete and beginning to wonder what NASCAR plans to do about it.

"This could go on all year," said Joe Custer, general manager Haas CNC Racing. "I don't think anyone would disagree that it's not in the best interest of the Busch Series for the Cup guys to win 35 races this year."

Yet that's a very real possibility.

A year ago, Cup drivers combined to win 23 Busch races. That left 12 wins for the Busch drivers, and Martin Truex Jr. accounted for half of them while driving a car fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc.

So of the remaining six races won by Busch regulars, only two of them actually came from teams not associated with a top-level Cup program.

Chances are, its going to get only worse.

What will NASCAR do about 'Buschwackers?'

Hamlin wins NASCAR's Busch Series race

The number of Cup drivers who plan to participate in Busch events has increased. And seven of them - including Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Hamlin - plan to run the full schedule this season.

The reasons for running both series vary. For Cup rookies Hamlin, Reed Sorenson, J.J. Yeley and Clint Bowyer, it's extra seat time to get them up to speed. But for Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth and the other regulars who pick and choose Busch races, it provides more time to test tires, shocks, springs and other setups before the main event.

"It's almost like a pitcher for the New York Yankees who has Friday night off, so he decides he'll just go down to (Triple A) Richmond and see if he can get some work in down there," Busch Series car owner James Finch said.

"It's not fair and there's a lot of easy ways to stop it. But NASCAR doesn't really care because they are too busy counting their money and selling their Busch tickets."

Finch points to the Cup parade two weeks ago in California, when Buschwackers claimed the top 11 spots. The 12th-place driver was Todd Kleuver, in a car owned by Cup-powerhouse Roush Racing.

That left Haas' Johnny Sauter in 13th place as the highest-finishing Busch regular not affiliated with a top Cup team. Finch's driver, Jason Keller, was 15th in California.

The Cup drivers help the Busch Series boost attendance and television ratings, and that's one reason NASCAR is hesitant to limit their participation.

But NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter says excluding the Cup drivers would lead to a short field in the Busch race. Finch doesn't dispute that, but he blames NASCAR for the shortage of teams.

"They can't get a full field because they just about ran everyone out of the sport," Finch said. "You can't convince me that some guy who drives a truck all week wouldn't consider loading up a car and coming out to California if he thought he had a chance to make the race.

"But why bother? The Cup guys are going to take all the spots in the field, so it's just a waste of time for the little guys trying to break into the sport."

NASCAR has plenty of options if it chooses to rein in the Cup drivers. The sanctioning body could stipulate that drivers who don't commit to the entire Busch schedule can run in only five-to-seven events. Or, it could change the tires used in the Busch Series, thus eliminating half the data Cup drivers are collecting.

Custer suggests making the Cup drivers ineligible for prize money. As is, the Busch purses pale in comparison to what is paid out on Sundays. When Cup drivers dominate the Busch field, it drastically reduces the earnings for everyone else.

He also takes exception to the Buschwackers getting one final Cup practice right before the Busch race. It gives them a warmup but sends the Busch regulars in cold.

"I sure wish Johnny Sauter got to run 'Happy Hour' in a Cup car," Cutter said. "I don't think there's any doubt it would help him."

But Finch would prefer set limits that keeps the top talent out of the Busch Series.

"NASCAR needs to do something to make it so we can compete," Finch said. "We can't right now and the way it's going, NASCAR's going to end up with four guys owning every car in the sport because everyone else will have gone out of business."

[kerusso]

Busch is the minor leagues of Nascar. No different than sending a pitcher down to get some work. It is the nature of the business. Those Busch guys look a lot better beating a field that has some good Nextel Cup drivers in the field anyways.