Track Smack: Offseason

With several drivers leaving the Busch Series, will the circuit be better or worse in 2004?

Lee Montgomery: It'll be hard to top 2003 because of the tight points race. Vickers and Riggs are gone, but Green, Hamilton Jr., Hornaday, Keller and a bunch of others are back. Should be fun again.

Ryan Smithson: I think the series needs to get back to the days where half of the Winston Cup drivers are in the field. It would make the shows a lot stronger, lead to better attendance, and better purses. These guys are racing for $800,000. And that is pathetic. PGA Tour stops offered $800,000 in 1985! This is nearly 20 years later!

Dave Rodman: The bigger issue is probably whether there will be a sufficient number of well-funded teams to carry the series when it leaves the combination events. But all in all the racing should be similar -- there's always guys striving to move up through the ladder, thus Busch is a hotspot.

Marty Smith: I'd say worse. It'd be tough to top 2003, even if everyone was coming back. Thing is, they lost Vickers, Riggs, Sauter, Wimmer -- tons of talented, household-name guys. But David Green is still there, and Bobby, Jr., too. It'll still make for awesome racing.

Lee Montgomery: There were already plenty of field-fillers in 2003. That probably won't get any better.

Ryan Smithson: It's a serious issue, Lee. Not one to be ignored. Costs will have to be addressed.

Lee Montgomery: So solve it.

Send a nice letter Marty Ryan Dave Lee

Marty Smith: That's an endless debate, Smithson. Should NASCAR allow the so-called Busch-whackers. I don't think there's any doubt they should.

Ryan Smithson: They have to, Marty, or they have 30 white cars.

Ryan Smithson: But you're right, this is not something that will be fixed anytime soon.

Lee Montgomery: Maybe if they ended the Truck Series, those teams would go to Busch. Or vice versa.

Marty Smith: It's a shame that so many high-caliber teams are struggling for money. I mean, seriously, when Jeff Burton is looking at possibly running less than half the Cup schedule, there's something wrong.

Lee Montgomery: There's not enough money to support both series with good, full fields.

Send a mean letter Marty Ryan Dave Lee

Dave Rodman: NASCAR needs to at least maintain the current purse levels, though you could make a pretty good argument they're not sufficient -- but if they do that you won't help the "only there for the (start) money" problem.

Ryan Smithson: Let me throw this one out for you guys. Is there a remote possibility a team spending cap can be issued, then enforced? Or is that the biggest hogwash idea you've ever heard?

Marty Smith: It's tough to swallow, though, Dave, to take a Busch Series team to the West Coast for three days and only hand the winner 30 grand.

Marty Smith: It may be a requisite in the future, Smithson, just to keep cars on the track.

Lee Montgomery: No way. Salary cap won't work. Teams would never, ever go for it.

	The Busch Series needs Winston Cup regulars. Period.

Ryan Smithson: I don't see how you'd enforce it, but you can't have these teams losing millions every year and having empty shops every December.

Marty Smith: As out-of-control as spending has gotten, even Fortune 500 companies will start seeing less and less return on their investments.

Ryan Smithson: I love the Busch Series; I hate to see it struggling. I grew up on it. I am sure y'all did too.

Dave Rodman: Absolutely, Marty -- no question. The issue is a bigger one. They ought to do some kind of draft, combine the Nextel Cup and Busch Series and run 'em as an "east" and "west" division...

Marty Smith: Wouldn't work, Davey. Not enough good teams and/or drivers. I love Mike Harmon to death, but he can't run with Mark Martin.

Dave Rodman: No question -- but we're looking for solutions. You always have 1-10 teams in whatever pro sport -- this would kind of be the same thing.

Lee Montgomery: There's really no way to cut a lot of costs. Especially with Nextel Cup teams feeding their Busch cousins. A team like RCR has gobs of money.

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Dave Rodman: NASCAR should revamp its payout structure somehow -- and I'm not sure how -- to give the more sponsor-endowed teams less money and give the low-buck teams more money. They're all trying just as hard -- the low-rent crowd just has less to work with, thus the rich only get richer.

Lee Montgomery: But that's capitalism, Dave. You have to have money to make money.

Ryan Smithson: The biggest sign the Busch Series was in trouble was when Tony Raines ran a Winston Cup schedule. And did better. From a financial and marketing standpoint.

Marty Smith: Smithson, I swear that's the smartest thing that's ever come out of your mouth. Congratulations. You're exactly right about BACE. When they decided to go full-time Cup, I thought Baumgardner was insane. But, that's why he's a multi-millionaire, and I'm not. The man knows business.

Lee Montgomery: A team like that deserves some props.

Marty Smith: Tony Raines is a great racecar driver, and an even better guy. They need to get full-time backing. Raines would make a company very happy.

If Winston Cup drivers had to go out and get a real job, what would they do?

Lee Montgomery: Some of them might go hungry. I mean, folks like Kyle Petty. That's all he knows.

Marty Smith: Tony Stewart -- Goodyear tire salesman.

	Hey, Charlie, can you hang on a sec? I've got a guy on the other line about some white walls.

Dave Rodman: Jimmy Spencer would own a wholesale and retail greenhouse business.

Ryan Smithson: I can see Sterling having his own tobacco farm and eating at The Rebel in Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. every day.

Dave Rodman: Kyle Petty could be a great storefront evangelist.

Lee Montgomery: Kurt Busch -- President of the Jimmy Spencer Fan Club.

Dave Rodman: Kurt Busch -- Soda Jerk.

Lee Montgomery: Michael Waltrip: TV Game Show Host.

Ryan Smithson: That ain't a real job, Lee.

Lee Montgomery: Jeff Gordon: Hair model

Ryan Smithson: That isn't either.

Lee Montgomery: Neither is this.

Ryan Smithson: I never said it was. But reading a cue card or getting your hair sprayed isn't either.

Marty Smith: Ryan Newman -- fuel mileage development technician.

Lee Montgomery: What constitutes a "real" job?

Dave Rodman: Ward Burton -- wildlife tracker or safari guide.

Marty Smith: Elliott Sadler -- ESPN Outdoors personality.

Ryan Smithson: He'd be on TV at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m., Marty.

Lee Montgomery: Dale Jarrett: PGA golf pro.

	Saddam's dreams of attending the night Bristol race have been shattered. Credit: AP

Ryan Smithson: Damn it, Lee, those are not real jobs. Playing golf for millions of dollars. I will tell you what, though, I'll bet Jarrett could have been at least a local pro. He looks like he had the total package. I wonder if he can putt. I'd like to see Ward Burton attempt to hit a golf ball.

Marty Smith: Random thought: that Warren Sapp commercial, where he's playing foosball and lifts his arms, and everyone passes out, is absolutely hysterical.

Lee Montgomery: I love the Fox commercial with Stewart ragging on NFL players.

Marty Smith: Those little dark-haired soccer players look like Allen Bestwick.

Ryan Smithson: I guess Saddam won't be fielding two cars at Daytona like they had announced.

Marty Smith: Can't afford to, Smithson. He only had $750,000 on him when they found him. That won't buy you one race, much less 72.

Ryan Smithson: Now that is funny. And I mean that.

Track Smack appears every Wednesday on NASCAR.com at 11 a.m. ET sharp. Even in the offseason.

The opinions -- if you can call them that -- are solely those of the participants.