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WALLACE: You Can’t Have It Both Ways
It’s time to crown a true Nationwide Series driver as champion, even if not everyone agrees...
Kenny Wallace  |  Posted January 13, 2011   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)
For the longest time, the majority of people insisted something be done about NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers moonlighting in the Nationwide Series, winning all the races and heisting the championship trophies.

But when NASCAR finally does something about it, the complaining continues. I don’t get it. You can’t have it both ways.

While it hasn’t officially been announced, Cup drivers no longer are eligible to compete for the Nationwide or NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships, although they are allowed to enter every race if they so desire.

This scenario presents the best of both worlds for everyone involved, so I am baffled by the backlash I’ve heard in the media, specifically on the radio. The Nationwide Series still can draw on the star power of guys like Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, who want to run all or select races. But the new rule enables the younger guys, or those who couldn’t succeed in the Cup series, to win the championship.

Why do Cup drivers and teams even feel the need to play down in the minor leagues? Why would they want to? I don’t see the satisfaction in that. It’s like a 250-pound man wrestling a little kid to the ground. Dude, you’re a stud. The Nationwide teams who aren’t affiliated with a Cup mega-team don’t have a fraction of the budget and resources the Cup guys do, so there is no challenge or true spirit of competition in that effort. It’s like Tiger Woods teeing off against a college golf team or Alex Rodriguez going up against a high school baseball player.

The Nationwide Series is intended for drivers who couldn’t make it in Cup or don’t have the money and sponsorship to compete at that level. Take me, for example. I no longer can secure the sponsorship necessary to race in the Cup series, so I belong in the Nationwide Series. My car owner, Robby Benton of RAB Racing, doesn’t have the money to go Cup racing, so he fields a Nationwide Series team.

We don’t need the best NASCAR drivers in Nationwide cars – that’s not what the series is about. It’s not about the Jimmie Johnsons, Jeff Gordons or Kyle Busches of the racing world. It’s about young drivers and those who don’t quite have what it takes to make it in Cup.
Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch torched the competition in the Nationwide Series last year. (Photo: Getty Images)

This rule benefits competitors like Elliott Sadler, who has had a couple of rough years in the Cup series but still possesses a tremendous amount of talent. He still will be able to test his mettle against these Cup guys but also has a more fair shot at winning a championship in his new Nationwide ride.

This new scenario will bolster the series and give it its own identity for the first time in years. People still can watch the Cup regulars race and possibly win every event they enter. But we’ll have an interesting championship hunt for a change, one that doesn’t look just like a replica of what we see on Sundays in the Cup races.

Why should the strong pick on the weak? The Cup guys already have come through the ranks and graduated with honors. It’s time to crown a true Nationwide Series driver as the champion and it looks like we’re going to do that. It’s about time.

Kenny Wallace drives the No. 09 Toyota for RAB Racing in the 2011 NASCAR Nationwide Series, in which he has amassed nine career wins and 10 pole positions, 63 top-five and 159 top-10 finishes in 344 starts. Wallace has competed in more than 800 events in NASCAR’s top three divisions since his 1988 NASCAR debut. He also keeps the mood light and humorous each week as an analyst on NASCAR RaceDay Built by the Home Depot and NASCAR Victory Lane on SPEED. Currently entering his 22nd year in the 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 his sponsors, the University of Northwestern Ohio, Federated Auto Parts and Family Farmers, or to sign up to follow him on Facebook or Twitter, please visit www.kennywallace.com.
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