Nationwide Series Needs Tuneup

As NASCAR heads into a rare stand-alone Nationwide Series race weekend, the debate inevitably heats up as to whether it's fair for the Sprint Cup drivers to crash the Nationwide parties.

The majority of Nationwide drivers say they welcome the competition and see it as a way to raise their game. But what are they going to say?

Stand-alone shows, like this Saturday's in Nashville, Tenn., give the Nationwide drivers slightly better odds at winning because fewer Cup drivers bother to make the commitment on an off-weekend or don't want the extra travel when the Nationwide race and Cup venues are different.

Instead of debating this recent phenomenon, why not change things up? NASCAR went decades with old-school thinking and rigid rules, but this is the era of free will and the will to change. NASCAR's had no problems altering the Cup championship formula and introducing a radically different car. So why not fix the Nationwide Series?

Dole out the race purse as usual, but what about giving championship points only to drivers that compete full time in the Nationwide Series. If the Nationwide regulars are going to miss out on the winner's paycheck anyway, at least they'd have the year-end championship payout to race for.

It will make the championship more interesting, more legitimate and be more representative of the series -- which has been and should be primarily a training ground for future Cup drivers, not an after school job for current Cup drivers.

If a Cup driver wants to compete full time for the championship, that's one thing. If they're cherry-picking a handful of races merely to fulfill a sponsorship commitment, what difference does it make where they fall in the championship rankings? For them, Nationwide races are about instant gratification. Typically, they're in a race for the win or television time for their sponsor -- not to shore themselves up for the championship.

And here's a more radical idea: After qualifying each week, re-seed the starting field (except for the front row qualifiers) by putting the part-time Cup drivers at the rear of the grid. Think Kyle Busch is amazing now? Imagine the excitement of watching him pull off his magic having to drive through the field.

Should a Nationwide full-timer score a win against a strong field of Cup drivers it would be exponentially more rewarding and possibly the ticket to a new opportunity.

The problem is, Nationwide drivers seldom win Nationwide races.

More than 80 percent of the Nationwide races have been won by Cup drivers in the last three years, including all but one race in 2006 -- David Gilliland's win at Kentucky in a stand-alone show. Sprint Cup drivers have won every Nationwide race so far this season.

You could argue it isn't "fair" to drastically change the game right now, but is the game really fair anyway?

Most of the Cup drivers are jumping in cars fielded by big-buck Sprint Cup teams, borrowing top-level pit crews from the Cup side.

It wasn't always this way. Martin Truex's two Nationwide titles in 2004-05 were the last by a full time Nationwide driver who wasn't also a full-time Cup driver. Brian Vickers (2003), Greg Biffle (2002) and Kevin Harvick (2001) all won their Nationwide championships as pure Nationwide drivers, too.

Having Cup drivers compete in the Nationwide Series improves the show and boosts the star power, but it shouldn't come at the expense of the young talent the series is supposed to be developing. It's tough enough that the Cup drivers swipe the race purse money. Shouldn't the championship at least belong to the Nationwide drivers?

Let us know what you think, FanHouse readers.