Man, this is a loaded topic, with passionate views from both sides.  I am choosing to bring this debate up once again, in part due to the current economy.  Like it or not, the economy is changing the sport every day.  The change varies depending on the series you are debating.  For example, The Truck Series is currently going through a phase where the manufacturers are pumping fewer dollars and resources into the series. This translates directly to the owners, as they cover the cost of items now that manufacturers supplied to them in the past.  So what about the Nationwide Series?

The biggest issue affecting Nationwide Series teams in my opinion is money.  There are less dollars for sponsorships floating out there, resulting in fewer teams (or more bluntly, limiting the number of GOOD teams).  Some of the bigger Sprint Cup based organizations are even having trouble landing sponsorship.  Just take a look at Richard Childress Racing’s signing of John Wes Townley to the drive the #21 car.  No disrespect to Townley, but that deal was put together because Townley had sponsorship money to bring with him.

So how does this factor into our debate?  Well, onto my hypothetical solution.

For starters, you cannot stop Sprint Cup drivers from running in the Nationwide Series.  Removing those guys from the races, especially on companion weekends, means attendance will drop which hurts the series in general.  So you need those guys to help with numbers at the gate, so they can race.  BUT, some sort of rule would be enforced that would prevent them from running for the Nationwide Series championship.  The rule would need some parameters in regards to the number of races you could run in Sprint Cup, but still be eligible to win the Nationwide Series title.  So what does that accomplish?  If my thinking is right (which is a crap shoot!), this will bring back the purpose of this series: to develop talent for the next level.  There are some good young racers in the series that do not get a lot of attention, due to the Sprint Cup guys coming in every week and taking the glory.  Letting the core group of Nationwide Series teams run for the championship exposes these drivers and teams.  Every week when the championship is discussed in the media, the Cup drivers are taken out of the equation. So instead of seeing a battle you can also see on Sunday’s (between Edwards, Busch, etc…) you will see the young talent in a battle of their own (Allgaier, Bires, etc…).

So what are your thoughts?  Drop a comment below.

Denny Hamlin, winner of 4 Sprint Cup races in 2009, tore his left anterior cruciate ligament while playing a pickup basketball game on Friday.  Due to the lengthy recovery time required from the surgery to repair the tear, Hamlin will not have the procedure until after the 2010 season is complete.  Good thing for Denny: Gas pedal is on the right!

I was very stoked last year when the news broke of a new United States based Formula 1 team.  Add to that news alone were the names of the folks involved in the team, known as USF1.  Peter Windsor is a main cog of the team as is veteran Ken Anderson.  As we get closer and closer to the first race in Bahrain on March 14th, there are doubts the team will be on the grid.  The car needs to be ready for FIA group testing in Spain in a month.  The FIA mandated crash tests are also incomplete.  The car itself is still not complete.  Even if the team makes it to Bahrain, they could very well embarrass their selves on the track.  What a shame that would be.  For Formula 1 to ever gain a wider audience in the US, it needs to have Americans involved.  What seemed to be a promising step towards this, now has it’s own doubters.

Red Bull Racing announced today they have resigned driver Brian Vickers to a new multi-year contract.  This is a great move by the team to lock in the 25 year old driver.  Vickers and the team struggled in their first season, but started to turn things around last year.  On Sunday Vickers earned the first Sprint Cup win for the team in Michigan.  Vickers is currently only 12 points behind Mark Martin for the final chase spot, so a chase berth could also be in the future for the team.  It feels like Vickers has been racing forever, and it’s easy to forget he is only 25 years of age.  Locking him under contract will solidify the foundation the team has built.  I applaud Vickers for sticking with the team through the times, and rewarding them with their first win.  I believe Vickers is one of the most underrated drivers on the circuit and usually stays out of the limelight.  I am sure he also gained some fans this past Saturday with his post race interview directed towards Kyle Busch.

General Motors announced this week they would stop support for the NASCAR Nationwide and Truck Series. The move is part of the restructuring taking place as part of the bankruptcy filing. What does this announcement mean for these series? I believe the answer will truly be different from team to team. The most factory support goes to the bigger teams, those that are mostly likely to win races and championships. So some of the smaller teams should not be affected as most would think. On the other hand organizations such as Kevin Harvick Inc. will be affected the most. KHI fields winning teams in both series and receives lots of factory backing from GM. Harvick has already confirmed the loss of factory support and that it will mean some changes in his organization as a result.

From what has been reported in the media, GM will still support teams in the Sprint Cup Series. Whether that changes in the future will remain to be seen. GM has a long and storied history in motorsports, especially in NASCAR. Let’s hope they pull through these tough times and come out swinging in the future.

This is a great video with some historical footage and footage from last years race.

I will start this post by saying I am not a fan of Kyle Busch.  I do respect the hell out of his talent and his desire to win every race he enters.  There have been many things throughout his career that have rubbed me the wrong way, but his celebration in Nashville this past weekend was not one of them.  In the pre race show from Pocono on TNT, Busch was asked about the controversy surrounding his actions in victory lane.  He replied there was no controversy, and for once I agree with Busch.  For those of you who did not watch the Nationwide race from Nashville, Busch won the race and received the cool Gibson guitar trophy in victory lane.  Busch then smashed the guitar rock’n'roll style.  His reasoning for his actions were that he had made a deal with this team members he would share the trophy with them.  So he smashed it, then said  they boys would cut it up at the shop and each crew member would receive a piece of the guitar.  Cool if you ask me.

What has surprised me more than Busch’s actions, are the members of the media who made a big deal out of this.  I just read an article written by Bruce Martin of Sports Illustrated slamming Busch for his antics.  In the article Martin called him a punk.  Really?  Smashing a guitar to share it with the “guys at the shop” makes someone a punk?  Busch has acted like a punk at times, but this was not one of them.  I actually think it made victory lane a little interesting.  Normally you hear the same words every week from the winner.  At least this was different.

It’s nice to see that NASCAR has finally wised up and will now start all restarts double file.  This is something that should have been done when they implemented the free pass rule some years ago.  It should make for some more exciting racing, as now the leaders will not have to be jumbled up with cars a lap or more down on the restart.  More positions should change hands and we should see some more passes for the lead as a result of the restarts.  If you watched the All-Star race this year you saw how great of an idea this is.  On to Pocono!

What a new beginning this season has been for Tony Stewart.  A lot of people in the garage were questioning his move of leaving the well established Joe Gibbs operation and jump into team ownership with Stewart-Haas Racing.  Wonder what those same people are thinking now?

Up to this point of 2009, Stewart is enjoying some of his best success points wise in his career.  Never before has he been this high in the points at this point of the season.  Not only that, he is leading the points, and is the first owner/driver to do that since the late Alan Kulwicki.  It gets even better for Stewart-Haas, as Ryan Newman currently sits 5th in the points.  This team has gone from back of the pack performance to top of the leader board overnight.  Most of the credit for this goes to Smoke.  Whether you are a fan of Tony Stewart or a hater, you must respect what he has done with this race team in such little time.  Good job Smoke!