Buschwacking: A Right to Work?

Originally Posted on May 5, 2006 on Foxsports.com

I've previously commented on "Buschwacking" in this blog.  But an interview with Tony Stewart during last week's Talladega qualifying highlighted the problems with any rule that Nascar tries to promote or change.

Stewart is racing approximately 8 races for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the Busch Series this year.   He also has indicated that he will drive a car for Joe Gibbs Racing in a couple more Busch races.  Last year, Stewart ran a comparable schedule.

Stewart commented before qualifying that he had been reading the opinion pages and the comments by people about Cup racers running in Busch Series races.  He expressed his frustration with the authors, and claimed that he had a "right to work" and thus was able to run in the races.

He does have a point.  The races are open to anyone who has a Nascar license and a car which meets specifications.  I doubt that Stewart needs the money, but he is a driven racer who is game to run anything anytime on any surface. 

The promoters, fans, Nascar, and sponsors benefit from the additional exposure from having a Cup driver run in the Busch race.  This year alone, there are 8 Cup drivers racing the entire Busch Series. 

Because of Nascar's restrictions on testing, the new tire deal which requires teams to turn in unused tires and the new Chase format, the Cup teams want their drivers to run in the Busch Series to gather information for the Cup race.   With the money at stake in Cup racing, who can blame them?

However, on the other side of the coin are drivers like Joel Kaufman, Anthony Foyt and Tracy Hines.  These Busch series regulars were attempting to start their rookie season this year.  However, each has ran into difficulties  and has had his schedule trimmed.  Foyt's team folded into another (Jason Leffler kept the ride), and Kaufman and Hines are now sharing a ride in the FitzBradshaw #12.  Each of these drivers is successful - in other series.  Foyt came from the IRL, and Hines is another open wheeler (primarily sprint cars as I recall).  When drivers like Stewart grab up points, money, seats and sponsorships, there is little left to go around.

Nascar is floating the idea of using sports cars (ie camero, mustang, corvette, challenger, etc.) in the Busch Series.  While this seems like  a good idea as the cars would generate their own group of fans, the costs of changing cars will drive some teams completely out of racing. 

In essence, Nascar will make a whole fleet of Busch cars obselete with a rule change.  I doubt the small one or two car operations can afford that kind of turn over given the small purse size in the Busch series.  If Nascar does this, it needs to implement a slow schedule for change to allow the teams to turn over the cars.  If possible, some races could be run with both types of cars (assuming safety, gear ratio, etc could be worked out).

Another solution that has been alluded to is to limit the number of cars that Cup owners can run in the Busch Series - in other words, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Racing would be limited to fewer cars.  Currently there is no limit.  Many Cup teams have affiliation with "smaller" Busch teams.  These affiliations help develop drivers for the Cup teams, but there is no reason that Roush should be fielding teams for each of his Cup drivers.

In addition to those ideas, my two cents is to not allow Cup drivers to drive for their Cup team.  In other words, Michael Waltrip would be OK this year because he drives for his own company in Busch, and Bill Davis Racing in the Cup series.  Tony Stewart is fine to drive for Kevin Harvick, but not for Joe Gibbs Racing.   Jamie McMurray is OK to drive for Rusty Wallace Inc as he drives for Roush Racing in the Cup series. 

Would this slow Buschwacking down?  Maybe or maybe not.  I know it would create several problems - which is the point.  We don't need to give Cup teams any more incentive to run in the Busch Series.  This type of rule may make it possible for a smaller team to pick up a Cup driver - which hopefully leads to better sponsorship deals and continues to grow the sport. 

If drivers want the right to work, fine.  But they need to find a second employeer for the Busch race, not the same team that pays them on Sunday.