NASCAR’s Nationwide Series is supposed to be stock car racing’s equivalent to the minor leagues in baseball. The series has historically been a place where younger drivers gain exposure and log extra time on the racetrack, readying themselves for a shot at the big leagues in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

This hasn’t been the case over the last few years, however, as Cup drivers have competed in both series, stealing the spotlight in Nationwide races. There are many advantages and also disadvantages to a proposed change in policy that will keep Cup drivers out of N’wide races, including the following.

On the plus side, allowing Sprint Cup drivers to race Nationwide is good for business. This comes from the top and trickles down, starting with corporate sponsors. Sponsors can get rights to more popular Cup drivers in Nationwide for far less money than they’d pay to sponsor them in the Sprint Cup Series, and this intrigues team owners, as well.

Fans also typically congregate around the more popular drivers, and NASCAR fans tend to get more NASCAR tickets when Cup drivers are on the racetrack. Filling seats for Nationwide races is crucial for track operations, making it also a positive on this account.

While it doesn’t seem like a big deal for Cup drivers to dominate Nationwide from a financial standpoint, it is putting a damper on finding younger drivers to groom and grow within the NASCAR system. Drivers who strictly race Nationwide rarely win races and almost never win the series, making it almost seem pointless to differentiate the two tiers of NASCAR racing.

Such is the mindset of some Cup drivers, as well, including seasoned veteran Kevin Harvick. Harvick drove Nationwide initially until the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001, thereafter growing into his place in the Cup Series, and that’s something he wishes would continue for NASCR.

“I think there’s definitely a need to give the younger guys a place to come up,” Harvick told ESPN. “When I came up through the Nationwide Series there wasn’t any Cup guys racing for the championship on a weekly basis, so it was definitely different than it is now.”

Will the pool of younger drivers disappear with the further foray of Cup drivers infiltrating the Nationwide scene? That’s also an issue at the heart of the Nationwide debate, but still some drivers see no problem with letting the big dogs run the show.
“I don’t think that you can survive without them,” Cup Series driver Clint Bowyer told ESPN, claiming the Nationwide Series might even collapse without Cup drivers holding it up. “I think that is what attracts the fans, the attention, the sponsors.” Still, Bowyer said, “It’s a stepping-stone for younger drivers like me, and every other driver that came up through the ranks of the Nationwide Series and owes the Nationwide Series for their Cup ride.”

A change in policy with Cup Series drivers in the Nationwide circuit looks to be imminent, even if it only Tadalis SX means restructuring the way the Nationwide championship runs.

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