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If you look at the NASCAR Nationwide standings you will see two things. First, Kyle Busch has a commanding lead in the standings and almost has this championship wrapped up.
Second, the series could use a change, preferably one that does not cost struggling organizations more than they are paying now.
The Nationwide series needs a Chase format.
It’s not perfect in the Sprint Cup series, but it works and it does add some drama to what used to be a dull final stretch of a long season.
Right now we have two Sprint Cup regulars leading the Nationwide standings. We have leader Kyle Busch, and following behind him, Carl Edwards.
Brad Keselowski is the only Nationwide regular within reach of the Championship, but even he has raced competitively in the Sprint Cup series this year.
Fourth place, Jason Leffler, is 800 points out of the hunt for the championship and he was just as far back half way through the season. Leffler is really the first Nationwide only driver, fighting for a top five finish in the standings.
To cut costs this year, only the top five in both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck series will attend the banquet in December,instead of the top 10 of these series.
The banquet gives these teams a chance to celebrate a successful season with sponsors and owners.This makes every position, lost or gained at the end, all the more valuable.
Currently, if the standings don’t change two of them would be Sprint Cup regulars attending the banquet.
There is nothing wrong with that if the championship hadn’t been decided months ago, when Busch and Edwards and Keselowski pulled away.
If they are going to have the Sprint Cup regulars racing for a Nationwide title to boost ticket sales and add drama, then the least they can do is make it competitive for the racers who don’t have the cash flow coming in from the higher series.
Some drivers think that a playoff series would not be a bad idea for the series.
“It’s been ready for one the last couple of years,” Leffler says.
“I know [NACSAR is] trying to put the Sprint Cup up on its own pedestal and do its own deal. But you have the [National Hot Rod Association] and some other racing series doing the same format. I think we need to do it. This is the second biggest racing series in the country and one of the largest in the world.”
The format would be a simple top 10 drivers reset points with ten to go. In this series that would be race 25, as they only race 35 races. For every win prior to the reset, a driver would get 10 bonus points.
The leader going into the playoffs would get a 20 point bonus for leading the standings, before the playoffs. This would be the perfect chance to try the bonus for the driver who won the regular season.
It is still likely to have a driver with multiple wins more than the second place driver. On the other side though, in a single race the points leader going into the race could end up not leading when the checkered flag waves.
One bad race could throw you out of the hunt, yet one good race could bring you right back into it.
This format would also be an incentive for sponsors. Look at the money the Sprint Cup generates for the sponsors whose drivers make the Chase.
With the economy continuing to sprial downward, sponsors do not see the value in putting their money into a race team that has no shot at a championship.
A format change could lure sponsors back if their team is fighting to get into the playoffs or if they make it.
I understand the argument that in this series there are only a handful drivers who have raced in every race and in that handful of drivers, only a few of them are even competitive.
Does that mean though that those who are making every race and running every lap do not deserve a shot at winning the title?
NASCAR fans have voiced that a Sprint Cup driver should not be racing in the feeder system, let alone winning the championship.
So then why not make winning the championship for the Nationwide series regular a bit more possible?
If a Sprint cup driver wins it all then so be it. At least these drivers running only in this series were given the opportunity for themselves as well as their sponsors.
Think of the revenue for the race track. Yes, many of the final races are not stand alone, but it gives these tracks the opportunity to promote both these series.
As of right now no changes will be made to the format of this series. NASCAR Spokesman Ramsey Poston addressed this a few weeks back.
“We are not considering a format change for the NASCAR Nationwide Series at this time,” Poston continued “One of those reasons is that points system now is working well for that series. It’s also something that keeps a distinction between that series and the NASCAR Sprint Cup series.”
Then what about the possibility of not allowing Sprint Cup regulars to race for a championship?
The points should be up for grabs, but the trophy should not be.
“If you’re going to race the Cup race on Sunday, you shouldn’t get any driver points for Saturday,” Penske Championship Racing rookie Justin Allgaier said.
“It gives the team the opportunity to win the championship. . .It used to be the stars on Saturday become the stars on Sunday, and it’s not much different than that, but it’s a lot harder to get recognition now by running the Nationwide Series because of all the Cup guys.”
NASCAR has said that it is not going to control the number of Sprint cup regulars racing in this series.
The feeder series is about developing drivers for the next step in their careers that would be the Sprint Cup series.A Chase would allow these drivers the chance to prove they can run with the big boys in a similar format.
If NASCAR’s is not open to a change to further prepare these drivers for that move, then frankly the cup series should be nervous.
As aging stars start to move on from racing full time leaving only a few drivers in the Nationwide even capable of running in the top series.
Those drivers that are not in the hunt right now are just “also ran’s”, and Chase format could change that.
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Your article makes an interesting argument about the drivers and who should be racing in what series. I used to think that it was totally wrong for drivers who race full-time in Sprint Cup to go for the Nationwide title (since they have practically dominated it), but thinking about it, if they aren’t a contender, the series might lose big bucks and big ratings. If they weren’t racing for points, though, do you think people would care as much about the series? Or maybe even care more knowing that a newer driver will be in the spotlight instead of a Sprint Cup driver? It’s interesting to think about. A Chase with the non-Sprint Cup drivers might give those younger drivers and teams extra incentive to be better and actually want to do better.
I don’t think there is anything really wrong with Cup drivers in the Nationwide series. I use to think it was crazy, but the series needs them racing. The thing is they have a much larger cash flow behind them then these teams who don’t have Cup support behind them.
You make a valid point that getting beat by the cup drivers should and probably is a huge incentive for them to run better. I don’t think banning or limiting these drivers would be healthy for the sport but then a playoff system would give the NNS drivers only a real chance to at the title.
One thing we know it won’t happen next year, right now it works for NASCAR. It was just a idea I had been working for a while. Thank you for the comment!