During the offseason, NASCAR made a major change in the way it selects its Nationwide Series champion, requiring drivers to declare which national series in which they will earn 2011 championship points. That move forced 2010 champion Keselowski to forego a NASCAR Nationwide Series title defense. It also eliminated Edwards, Busch and Logano from title contention, after they understandably opted to receive Sprint Cup championship points instead of competing for the Nationwide title. They are, however, still allowed to race and win in the Nationwide Series, and they are doing just that.Sprint Cup regulars have won all eight Nationwide Series events this season, led by Busch with four victories. Edwards has visited Victory Lane twice, with Tony Stewart and Mark Martin claiming single wins. Some observers seem surprised by the continued dominance of Sprint Cup regulars, apparently believing that a change in the way NASCAR tabulates its championship points would somehow affect on-track competition.
For the record, Edwards, Busch, Keselowski and company are still the dominant drivers in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, just as every realistic observer of the sport knew they would be. They have superior experience behind the wheel, along with the best equipment, sponsorship, personnel and manufacturer support. They should be winning races, and they are.
But while the Sprint Cup drivers have dominated on the race track, a group of younger, Nationwide-only drivers are waging war at the top of the point standings. Jason Leffler, Justin Allgaier, Reed Sorenson and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. have each taken a turn at the top of the championship leader board this season, receiving no shortage of media attention for doing so. Elliott Sadler, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne and Brian Scott are in hot pursuit, and are also earning a great deal more attention from media and fans than they did a year ago.
Some members of the NASCAR media have labeled the new system a flop, bemoaning the fact that Nationwide Series regulars have not been miraculously transformed into consistent race winners. They complain bitterly that the playing field has not been leveled, allowing Turner Motorsports to begin trouncing the likes of Jack Roush, Joe Gibbs and Roger Penske. In their undying effort to find fault with everything and anything associated with the sport, they ignore the fact that nobody -- especially NASCAR – ever promised such a change in fortune.
The only way to stop Busch, Edwards and their fellow Sprint Cup drivers from winning Nationwide races is to ban them from the circuit entirely. Doing so would also eliminate drivers like Stewart, Martin, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., from the Nationwide lineup, stripping the series of much of its marquee value and depriving track operators of their top Saturday ticket sellers. That is not a move that NASCAR, its track owners or television and radio partners are willing to make.
So here it is, one more time for those who are somehow still incapable of understanding what happened during the off-season. NASCAR’s new Nationwide points system was not designed to change what happens on the race track Saturday night. It was designed to alter the look of the championship standings on Monday morning; augmenting an already strong on-track product by allowing talented Nationwide-only youngsters to battle for the series championship.
On both counts, the new system is working as planned.
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