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Rock #1, 2000


Cup driver wins Busch race, rookie watch, and the Dura lube/Big Kmart 400 from the North Carolina Speedway.





Cup Driver Wins...... Busch Series Alltel 200

Winn Dixie got their monies worth Saturday when Mark Martin won his 41st Busch Series competition. My wife's reaction? "Oh, I hate it when a Winston Cup driver wins a Busch race, they shouldn't even be there." She's not the only one that feels that way. Letters to the editor at the weekly Winston Cup Scene magazine reflect the same attitude. I don't like it either, but there's nothing I can do about it.

As with most everything these days, it's a money thing. Winn Dixie isn't spending millions to have a Busch regular, or newcomer, drive their racecar. They're paying the big bucks for Mark Martin. He's a winner, and that's worth spending the big bucks. This results in lots of exposure for Winn Dixie, plus the TV commercials.

The fact is, as long as corporate greed prevails, Cup drivers will be racing in the Busch Series. I can't imagine NASCAR turning down these high profile sponsors just because they don't want Cup drivers competing at the Busch level. So, it's a "Catch 22" from both sides. NASCAR would lose, the sponsors would lose, and we're destined to watch Cup drivers dominate a series a lot of them graduated from.

Even though both Busch races run this season have been won by Cup drivers, there is a bright side to this dilemma. Busch drivers have openly stated that they learn a terrific amount of racing skills by racing against the Cup drivers. I can understand this reasoning to some extent, but a question remains. How can drivers compete against each other for a series championship when they are racing against more experienced drivers from the elite series? It's safe to say that Cup drivers win close to a third of the Busch races in a season. What does this do the points structure is the Busch Championship? It takes away valuable winning points that would put a Busch driver in a much better position to compete in the points battle. When a Cup driver gets the five extra points for leading the most laps, and the five extra points for winning, it takes away from the Busch points structure.


The copyright of the article Rock #1, 2000 in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Rock #1, 2000 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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