Kevin Harvick 2006 Duel
Champion? Woo Hoo and SoWhat!!!
September 14, 2006
Everett
Mugg - SCR
………. And
so the hype goes. The talking heads and promoters are all atwitter. All I can think is, “Woo Hoo!!!!!!!” or “So
what?” At the end of last season did Harvick and team owner Richard Childress sit down and decide that if after 5 full
time years of Cup racing Harvick could not win a Cup Championship that they would concentrate on Busch? IE: Not being good
enough to be the best in Cup then perhaps they belonged more in Busch? Maybe they are right.
There is a reason no Cup driver
has ever been a Busch champion and Cup Champion in the same year. It is because they did not WANT to. Until recently the Busch
series was the minor league. It was a series for drivers on their way up to Cup, or on their way down from Cup, or drivers
that just could not make it to Cup. While the occasional Cup driver would drive a Busch race or two, being the Busch Champion
was not exactly their dream, being a Cup Champion was. Busch was considered beneath them, as it were. Roush Racing was the
most prevalent Cup team to invade the Busch Series in yester year, with Jeff Burton and Mark Martin. They still only raced
a few races a year and in comparable equipment to what the Busch “regulars” were running. Oh, but all that has
changed.
Now nearly 50% of the Busch
field is composed of Cup drivers. Their cars are built by the same top of the
line crews that build the Cup cars. The pit crews are selected from the top of the line pit crews of Cup teams. All the technology
and expertise that the multi-million dollar, factory supported, Cup teams possess is now funneled into Busch cars driven by
the some of the best Cup drivers on the circuit. Cup Champions driving in Busch this year include 2005 and 2002 Champion Tony
Stewart, 2004 Champion Kurt Busch, 2003 Champion Matt Kenseth, and 2000 Champion Bobby Labonte. 2001 Cup Champion Jeff Gordon
is the only Champion this decade that figures his 4 Cup Championships and 75
Cup wins is enough without diving down to Busch to compete in the minor league. Of the 10 drivers competing in the Nextel
Cup “Chase for the Championship”, (in point order) Matt Kenseth, Jimmy Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Denny
Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, and Kasey Kahne, only Jeff Gordon has not driven a Busch
race this year. Harvick, Hamlin and Busch have driven every Busch race this year and sit 1st, 3rd, and
7th in Busch points. Kenseth has driven “only” 15 of the 28 races, slightly more than half. Jeff Burton
sits at 13 races and Kahne at 12. The other three “Busch” drivers in the top 10 of Cup, Martin, Earnhardt, and
Johnson have 6, 4, and 2, Busch starts. The Cup top 10 have won 16 of the 28 races while all of the 31 fulltime Cup drivers
competing in the Busch series have combined to win 26 of the 28 races. Again……. Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!!
The prevailing argument for
Cup drivers taking over the Busch Series seems to be that unsupportable position that the Busch drivers learn from driving
against the Cup teams and that they need to “step up” their programs. Huh? How do you learn anything from a driver
in a far faster car except that if you had the faster car that you would be lapping him? How do you “step up”
a program with no money? The Cup drivers take the lions’ share of the purse money and attract virtually all the sponsorship
money as well. What competent businessman responsible to stock holders is going to give one thin dime to a team that will
not even be mentioned, much less shown on TV? Yet, for a little more cash to a Cup team, especially a Cup Champions’
team he is guaranteed TV coverage and announcer plugs the whole race. It is a no brainer; the money is going to chase the
publicity. Meanwhile the true Busch teams are left to wither on the vine.
We have all heard this season
numerous “complaints” from the top Cup drivers (especially Tony Stewart) about the lack of experience in some
of the younger drivers. Well just where in the ever loving name of Brian France are they supposed to GET experience with the
Cup drivers taking over Busch, video games? While feeling the consequences of their selfish actions, the Cup drivers and teams
seem too stupid to put their finger on why it is happening. Hello? McFly? If you are taking over the minor league, where the
heck are the minor leaguers supposed to play and learn? This is neither a difficult problem to recognize nor one to solve.
So why does NASCAR allow it to continue? Money of course.
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Who owns virtually every track
that holds a Cup and Busch race? ISC, (NASCAR), and Bruton Smith do. By having top name Cup drivers running in the Busch races
the day before the Cup races, they can charge higher prices for the Busch races while putting more butts in the seats. The
TV companies that broadcast the race like it also as more Cup drivers means more casual NASCAR fans are likely to tune in.
More viewers equal more money from the broadcast advertisers. More people at the race and more people watching means both
the broadcast companies and the track owners can charge race sponsors more as well. Heck, the drivers are getting paid to
race the Busch races. Everyone is making more and getting more except the young drivers and regular Busch teams. They are
just getting hosed. But who cares? Let’s face it; there are more top notch drivers out there than there are top notch
rides for. When you add the ride around drivers with little talent that have Cup rides because they either have a famous last
name or have a daddy that owns a big company that will sponsor a team, the ride pool gets even smaller.
So Kevin Harvick, you be really
proud of this Busch Championship, it has the same “glory of conquest” as does a college senior who drives his
daddy’s Mercedes 650 SL down to the Jr. High to pick up the cute chicks. And Jack Roush? Last year you put 5 out of
5 drivers in the “Chase,” this year you got 2. Maybe you should have your Cup teams and Cup drivers concentrating
a little more on Cup, not beating up on the little guys in Busch. But then it is harder to beat Cup teams that also have top
notch equipment and teams than it is to beat up on the little bitty Busch teams. A big “shame on you” goes out
to NASCAR as well. What will you do when you completely eat your young in the Busch series? Busch racing some call it? Not
I, I call it Cup Light. Then again maybe this is all just a test for splitting the Cup Series and drivers into two separate
“divisions”. What a joy that would be to the track owners, more races in more towns………..
2006 StockCar Review.
