NASCAR Could Limit Cup Drivers In Lower Series In 2017
One of the most vocal cries from NASCAR fans this season has been about NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers running in lower series. Come 2017, new rules could be in place to limit such things from happening.
This past weekend Kyle Busch won the XFINITY Series race in Kansas. For Busch it was his ninth NASCAR XFINITY Series win of the 2016 season. For the NASCAR XFINITY Series, it was the 19th time in 27 races this season that a Sprint Cup Series regular has won. The high percentage this season has been the trend for several years now.
Since 2011, NASCAR Cup Series drivers have won 138 out of the 196 XFINITY Series events, that’s more than 70 percent of their races. Kyle Busch (42 wins), Brad Keselowski (22 wins) and Joey Logano (19 wins) have been the Cup drivers leading the way.
Monday morning Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, spoke on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio about the possibility of NASCAR limiting the races that Cup drivers can run in lower series beginning in 2017.
It certainly is on our radar. We’ve heard the fans. It’s interesting, it’s been a balance throughout the years. We’ve always had Sprint Cup drivers come into the Xfinity Series and sometimes dominate, back in the Mark Martin days.
As the sport has evolved one of the great things is we’ve got more of a fan following in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series. They like seeing those drivers come up through the ranks and it’s our job to make sure that Xfinity is where names are made. We’ve got to do on that on the racetrack.
That is something we’re taking a really hard look at for next year, I’d say stay tuned. We’re going to look at and probably have something to announce fairly soon.
The complaint from fans is that Cup Series drivers in the lower series prevents NASCAR from building new stars and giving younger drivers a platform to grow and shine on. The flip side of the coin according to others is that NASCAR already has enough issues selling tickets to some of these races and taking away the known stars would further hurt the product.
Both sides bring up valid points.
However, for me, watching a race in the Xfinity Series Chase and seeing a Cup Series guy dominate, that just doesn’t seem right. While both sides of the coin have valid points, something needs to be done to make the situation better and hopefully NASCAR will come up with that solution before next season.
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