Nationwide a joy ride for some Cup drivers
If the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was stripped of all the things that make it a labor-intensive endeavor, you would have the Nationwide Series.
Sprint Cup interlopers were pejoratively branded "Buschwackers" when the Nationwide was known as the Busch Series. But those sentiments from Nationwide regulars didn't prevent Cup drivers from going to NASCAR's Triple A circuit, which presents a moonlighting opportunity to mix it up on Saturdays and drive without any of the pressures associated with their jobs on Sundays.
"To me, it's just competition and it's fun," said Carl Edwards, the reigning Nationwide Series champion who won last week's race at Milwaukee. "Racing on Saturdays is a blast. Right now our Cup car is running way better than our Nationwide car, but you could sit there and watch a race on Saturday or you could go race."
Guess how Edwards would rather spend his Saturdays.
"I like racing," he said. "Everybody makes enough money and all, but we're just racers. I just like racing. It's such a great opportunity to race for something like a Nationwide Series championship and that's cool."
For Cup drivers, though, the Nationwide Series is not a make-or-break sce nario. They're not racing to put food on the table, or to pay the bills, like many of the Nationwide regulars.
"We respect all the guys who are running over there full time and who are running for points and all that," said Greg Biffle, the 2002 Nationwide Series champion. "We've had a couple of incidents of late, which is unfortunate, but you really try to respect those guys, because it's their domain."
Maybe so, but it seems of late it has become more of a playground for Cup drivers, who have won 14 of the 17 races this year. Scott Wimmer (Nashville, March 22), Brad Keselowski (Nashville, June 7), and rookie Joey Logano of Middletown, Conn., who won at Kentucky June 14 from the pole position in his third Nationwide start, were the only series regulars to win in the first half of the season.
Five Cup drivers rank among the top seven in the Nationwide Series driver points, led by Clint Bowyer, who is in front of second-place Keselowski, 2,506-2,318.
The last two series champions, in fact, have been Cup drivers - Edwards and Kevin Harvick.
"We're coming over there to play, technically," Biffle said. "But that's their livelihood and that's how they make their living and that's how they get their advancement for their next opportunity. I think to have us there for them to compete against and for them to really learn from, it really helps them.
"It helped me when Jeff Burton and Mark Martin and those guys would come down and race in that series, and I learned a lot from those guys. I learned a tremendous amount."
So what is the Nationwide Series' allure for Cup drivers such as Edwards and Biffle, who have been there and done that as former Nationwide champions?
"We love cars. We love driving. We love competition," Biffle explained. "The thing that makes that series a lot of fun is that Sunday is all about business. It's a lot of pressure. We're trying to make the Chase, we're trying to get wins, we're trying to make a living, we're trying to keep our sponsors happy. It's a big business. A big business. And so there's a lot of pressure, and it takes a good percentage of the fun out of it.
"To race on the Nationwide Series is fun for me. I don't run for points. I'm out there to strap in, pull the belts down, and, technically, I don't care what happens. I don't want to be in an accident. I don't want to cause an accident, but if we get a flat tire . . . "
Biffle paused and shrugged. "Dang it, you're mad about it because you're a competitor," he said, "but you get another tire and you go. It's less pressure and more fun."
That's why Cup drivers such as Edwards, Biffle, and Kyle Busch, the Cup points leader, will compete in tomorrow's Camping World RV Sales 200 Nationwide race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
For the fun of it all.
"You really don't gain anything, technically," Edwards said, noting the difference in the cars the Nationwide Series runs and the rear-winged Cup cars. "But the Nationwide Series is a place where sometimes you can introduce sponsors. If a sponsor wants to come in and do something on a different level than the Cup, then that's a great place to have sponsors come in, and that's cool.
"It's a great place to develop talent for pit crews and crew chiefs and it's a great place to gain experience, racing experience."
But for others, such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., who owns a Nationwide team, JR Motorsports, and will field the No. 88 Chevrolet for Keselowski; and Harvick, who will drive the No. 33 Chevrolet owned by his wife, Delana, there's some business to be done on Saturdays.
"I looked at that, but I saw it as kind of spinning my wheels a little bit," said Biffle, when asked if he considered taking the plunge into ownership. "It would have taken a lot more of my time and effort. I enjoy my time away from the sport some, doing other little stuff and messing around with my property.
"But I thought about having 20-30 employees and a big building and a big payroll and more sponsor commitments and scheduling and races and it just . . . "
Took the fun out of it? "Yeah," Biffle said. "I talked to a lot of owners and saw Joe Nemechek struggle with it for a couple of years. There's not a whole lot of financial benefit to it. It's like any other business. It requires a lot of time and effort, and you can't take a week off. You're tied to it, you're part of it, you're running it. That can weigh heavy on you when you're trying to focus on your Cup program. But I seriously considered it more than once.
"When the end of the day came, I said, 'That's a lot of work just for fun.' I have more fun just driving the car on Saturdays than I do owning everything. I just didn't see the upside of that."
Although there is some financial gain, most Cup drivers insist the real payoff for driving the Nationwide Series is the enjoyment it gives them.
"It's fun any time you can get in a vehicle that has a chance to win and you're racing in front of a large crowd," said Cup Series rookie David Ragan. "Doesn't matter if it's paying $1,000 to win or $100,000 to win, you have a lot of guys doing it because, yeah, it is a lot of fun."
Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.
