Yesterday, NASCAR called the top ten drivers from the erstwhile Busch Series to discuss a number of issues, not the least of which is the controversial presence of Cup (the top level of NASCAR) drivers at the second level, which will be title sponsored by Nationwide in 2008. NASCAR fans have a number of gripes, and one of them is the fact that Cup drivers have tended to dominate the “second series”- full-time Cup driver Carl Edwards won the Busch Series title in 2007 and veteran driver Kevin Harvick took the trophy in 2006. This season, the highest ranking full-time Busch driver was Jason Leffler (who finished third)- the rest of the top ten was littered primarily by drivers you’d also see at the Cup level.

Cup drivers have been a part of the Busch scene since its inception in 1982, growing out the NASCAR Sportsman’s Division, later the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Division. The all-time leading winner at this level is none other than the original “Buschwhacker” Mark Martin, with 47 trips to victory lane, many coming after he found success at the top.

Disgruntled fans claim that the Nationwide Series should be a developmental or “feeder” series for aspiring Sprint drivers, that the presence of Cup drivers hampers the development of aspiring Cup drivers and hurts the small Busch only teams struggling to qualify and survive. The reality is, the series has more or less lacked an identity all along. Yes- Busch competition has done great things to further the development of Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex, Brian Vickers, and most recently, A.J. Allemendinger. By the same token, there are a number of older drivers who race almost exclusively in the middle tier division- Mike Wallace, Jason Keller and Ashton Lewis among others. Heck, we even a have a genuine senior citizen, the 65-year-old Morgan Shepherd still taking laps. Along with that, you also have full time Cup regulars who often pull double duty- Edwards, Harvick, Greg Biffle, and David Reutimann to name a few. They insist they do it for their love of racing- that it’s more fun to go out run with the “other guys” than hang out and watch.

Some suggest kicking full-time Cup drivers out altogether. While expedient, it has the potential to hurt the sport. Honestly, having Edwards and Harvick running around the track draws more fans than seeing Stephen Leicht or Kyle Krisiloff. More fans in the stands of course means more money for NASCAR, the track owners and better exposure for the sponsors. Successful Busch driver Marcos Ambrose has even commented that racing against Cup drivers has helped him gauge his own development. Interesting point.

Others have suggested that Cup drivers could compete, but that they’d receive no points for running in the standings- thus enabling the full-time Busch/Nationwide drivers to enjoy the spoils of success. Needless to say, Edwards hated the idea. I don’t know- it just seems like a half-baked idea. It’d be like a baseball player playing and not recording his stats. It just seems to go against the grain of good, old-fashioned competition. If somebody’s performing with excellence- then he should be rewarded for it.

Now here’s an idea I can buy into: put a limit on the number of races a Cup driver can enter. As I recall, the number 15 has been bantied around, a little less than half the schedule. That sounds good to me. You would give the driver and his team the choice, so it would have the likely effect of having some Cup driver presence in every race. It sounds reasonable to me.

The outcome of this discussion remains to be seen. As a fan, I’m just encouraged to see that it is actually reviewed and discussed. The other sports don’t do this often enough.

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