Most professional sports and their respective leagues operate on a tiered system. They always have their supporting leagues and ranks by which you develop your skill and progress to the highest level of competition.
Lets look at the NHL for example—there is the American Hockey League, which is responsible for developing and supporting the teams in the National Hockey League. This is where players put in the work and determination to someday advance to the top league in the world, the NHL.
NASCAR is no different; there is the Camping World Truck Series, then the Xfinity Series, the Top Elite series, and Sprint Cup.
The problem is why do we see week in and week out top Sprint Cup drivers competing in the Xfinity series where they dominate and win on a regular basis? Last week in Las Vegas, Kyle Busch ran in the Xfinity race where he led 199 of the 200 laps and went on to win.
There are many mixed feelings about this floating around various social media. Kyle Busch is one of the world’s best stock car drivers—no question there—but what does he have to gain by running in the lower tiers? He showed everyone last year by missing the first 11 races due to injury and still came back to win the Sprint Cup Championship that he’s capable of winning any race in any car he enters.
The drivers in the Xfinity, for the most part, are young rookies who are developing their skill set in hopes of stepping up to the next level of racing—the Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch has nothing further to develop and is, if anything, hurting the series.
Busch cannot win the Xfinity Series Championship as he is not a regular in that series. Daniel Suarez finished second last week behind Kyle and he is competing full time in the Xfinity series this year and would have loved to have earned his first win.
Some fans watch the Xfinity Series to see the Cup stars run. My rebuttal: you can watch those stars run on Sunday. Yes, the Cup drivers have always raced in the lower tier series, but is it helping or hurting? I say hurting.
Maybe this is something NASCAR should look at more closely. This isn’t about bashing Mr. Busch—I respect him as a driver. I am just not sure that it helps the series.
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