NASCAR Nationwide Series
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WALLACE: Cut Out The Cup Guys
It might be time for NASCAR to put a cap on how many Nationwide Series races Sprint Cup Series drivers can run...
Kenny Wallace  |  Posted August 11, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Veteran NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace is an analyst for NASCAR RaceDay Built by the Home Depot and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. (Photo: Getty Images)
It’s time for a real NASCAR Nationwide Series driver to win the championship … not a Carl Edwards, a Brad Keselowski or a Kyle Busch.

We should be crowning young drivers like Justin Allgaier, Jason Leffler, Trevor Bayne, Steven Wallace or Brian Scott as the champion, but they don’t have a real shot with fulltime NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers coming over and racing against them.

So, it’s time for the Cup guys to get out and, fortunately, NASCAR is taking a look at this as we speak. It’s just not fair or right for a Cup driver to take a step back into the Nationwide Series. It’s like putting little David in to fight Goliath, except in this case, Goliath usually kicks David’s ass.

Cup drivers shouldn’t be allowed to run more than 20 Nationwide races per season, which would eliminate them from championship contention. Permitting them to run a full season makes no sense at all and has caused the Nationwide Series to lose its identity. Nobody cared who won the championship the past five years or so because it’s been all Cup owners or Cup drivers. I’d be willing to bet you can’t name the past five Nationwide champions – I’m not sure I can.

Cup drivers should be forced to make a decision just like athletes in any other sport – are you running the Cup or Nationwide Series? You cannot run both. There is not a professional sport out there that allows a player to simultaneously participate in two sports. I’m not talking about football players moving over to baseball once their football season is over. I’m talking about an NBA player shooting hoops one night and then playing in the Major Leagues the next afternoon.

I was on an airplane with Edwards last week and we had this discussion. He seemed a bit frustrated by the possibility NASCAR might put a cap on the races Cup guys are eligible for, so I reminded him that he got his start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and that while he was there, someone recognized his talent and hired him. I then asked Edwards how any young driver is supposed to get recognized if he keeps driving the Nationwide car for Jack Roush and no one else gets the chance? He got my point.

This policy that NASCAR is reviewing isn’t a new one. A few years ago, I finished the Cup season 23rd in points for Bill Davis Racing. When our Stacker 2 deal went away the next year, I moved over to the Nationwide Series to race fulltime. Heading into the second race of the year at Rockingham, I was 10th in points by virtue of my 10th-place finish at Daytona. Well, we blew a radiator hose off the car and I needed a provisional to make the field. However, I wasn’t eligible for a provisional because I had been in the top 30 in Cup points the previous season. As a result, our team missed the race. NASCAR has since eliminated that rule but the good news is they’re reviewing this policy and hopefully will take it a step further this time

Most of the fault in this whole dilemma lies with the Cup car owners because they search out sponsors and offer up their Cup guys to drive a Nationwide car. Well, what sponsor in their right mind would turn down a Cup guy in favor of a young Nationwide driver? All the talk about owners not being able to secure sponsors for the lesser-known, younger drivers is a bunch of bull. They’re just not trying. Look at Penske Racing – Verizon is sponsoring Justin Allgaier – not Kurt Busch.
My SPEED is devoted to the passionate fans who celebrate motorcycles, motorsports and the automotive lifestyle.

It’s just wrong for these Cup owners to grab the big sponsorships and then stick their Cup guys in the Nationwide cars. With all that money and resources, it’s like sending out the pee-wee football team to play the Indianapolis Colts.

NASCAR has made a big effort the past year or so to get back to its roots. Allowing a Nationwide Series driver the appropriate opportunity to run for the championship would be a big step toward this goal.

I want to see Brian Scott, Trevor Bayne, Justin Allgaier, Steven Wallace, Jason Leffler and guys like them win the championship they deserve before they, too, move on to the Cup Series and leave the Nationwide Series to the next group of young kids.

Kenny Wallace is a driver in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, in which he has amassed nine career wins and 10 pole positions and finished in the top 10 in series points in all but one season in which he has competed. In 2009, Wallace marked his 800th NASCAR career start, ranking him 17th on the all-time list. He also keeps the mood light and humorous each week as an analyst on NASCAR RaceDay and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. Currently in his 21st year in Nationwide Series, Wallace finished runner-up in the points in 1991 and is one of only four drivers to have won the Most Popular Driver award multiple times. He also drives the No. 36 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar entry. To learn more about Wallace or to sign up to follow him on Facebook or Twitter, please visit www.kennywallace.com.

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