NASCAR Places Limits On Cup Drivers In Other Series
In what some are calling the “Kyle Busch Rule” or the “Joe Gibbs Racing Rule,” NASCAR has announced limits for Cup drivers participating in the Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series events beginning in 2017. What, if anything, did they accomplish in doing so?
Beginning in 2017, the following limits will be in place for any Cup Series driver with more than five years of full-time experience:
Undoubtedly, these limits will address concerns that Cup Series drivers were dominating the races in the “lower” series when they participated in them. Cup Series regulars won 21 of the 26 regular-season Xfinity races this year, so these concerns are certainly valid. Kyle Busch alone has participated in 16 Xfinity races this year and has won nine of them. Some Cup Series drivers to whom this rule would not have applied in 2016 and who have won in the Xfinity Series are Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon and Kyle Larson, because they each have less than five years of full-time experience.
I don’t know if this accomplishes much. A Cup Series driver may still participate in up to 10 Xfinity or seven Truck Series races. Powerhouse teams such as Joe Gibbs Racing could easily field a full time car or truck and rotate their Cup drivers to staff the driver’s seat every week. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth could each take some. I would like to have seen the limits be lower, such as four for Xfinity and two for Truck.
I do agree with excluding Cup drivers completely from the Dash-4-Cash races in the Xfinity Series. That program is exclusive for that series. It is designed to reward those participants along with providing them an incentive / opportunity to qualify for the Chase in those divisions as well. The extra financial award is a needed bonus too.
The restrictions on the final regular-season race and the Chase races in the lower series is fine too with one exception – the five-year experience threshold. Right now, drivers such as Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Chris Buescher could participate in those final eight races in those series. When drivers such as Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez advance to the Cup Series, they can too for five years. That’s not right. The championships in each series need to be exclusive to drivers who have declared their intention to compete for that championship.
What do you think? Did NASCAR go too far with these changes? Not far enough? Please comment below or reach us via our social media channels and share your thoughts!
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