Why I Love NASCAR: NASCAR's Other National Series

The Busch series has hosted drivers of all calibers as seen above with Johnny Sauter
and Kevin Harvick, joined by Richard Childress.

When I first started watching NASCAR it was solely the Cup Series (Winston at the time) that I paid attention. If my husband tried to tune in to the then Busch Series I would roll my eyes and comment that a four-hour race on Sundays was enough to dedicate to the sport. Over time, however, I learned that watching the feeder series was as exciting, competitive, and as awesome as the Cup series.

I recall mostly Mark Martin having success week in and week out when watching the NASCAR Busch Series in my adopted home of Salem, Virginia in the early 1990s. Because the Cup drivers occasionally dropped to the Busch Series, I would watch with some interest, but never followed intently. Sometimes a driver was promoted to a Cup race or team and my husband would be excited. He equated it to a pitcher or player getting called up from the Salem Buccaneers, the feeder team of the Pittsburgh Pirates who played Single A ball in our town, and being sent to the Majors. That made sense to me so I started to pay more attention.

Once I moved back to my native northern New Jersey, I fell out of step with my NASCAR fandom, especially after Dale Earnhardt’s death. Upon my return to the sport in 2007, I became intrigued once again by the lower tiers of NASCAR. The then Craftsman Truck Series was new and exciting to me and quickly became the event to watch! Over the years Busch became Nationwide, The Craftsman Truck Series became the Camping World Truck Series, but the action, drama, and connection remained the same. What was once a four-hour race on Sunday became a rapt addiction that kept me glued to the set on Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday!

Old names from when I started watching were revitalizing their careers in trucks. Cup drivers who struggled in the Big Leagues continued to win races in the Nationwide Series.  Talent was and is everywhere in these series of NASCAR. And, what makes me smile the most is, unlike minor league baseball or football; NASCAR’s minor leagues are major in their own right. Broadcasted, filled with stars, and super competitive the minor leagues of NASCAR are yielding fantastic sports entertainment week in and week out!

There is even huge debate surrounding the minor leagues and NASCAR is constantly working to change things. With Cup drivers dipping into these races, people complained that the likes of Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, and, winningest of all, Kyle Busch were always taking a win resulting in the ‘regulars’ of the series being pushed down the points until the Cup boys took a few races off. With this year’s implementation of NASCAR’s rule that a driver can only earn points in one series that must be chosen, more chatter surrounds the sport. In the first race of the 2011 season, Trevor Bayne unexpectedly won the Daytona 500! Being that he was mainly a Nationwide driver on loan to the Wood Brothers for a few NASCAR Sprint Cup races, Trevor Bayne was unable to sit atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup points after his win in the inaugural race of the season! There is always much to debate, a lot to see, and opinions to share. But for me, having the NASCAR feeder series is yet another reason why I love NASCAR!