At Chicagoland, Cup drivers finished in the top 16 positions. Credit: Autostock

Changes for '07 Busch Series? Don't expect it

Limiting Cup driver participation not a priority for future of series

Of all people, Kevin Harvick says there should be changes in the Busch Series. He voiced the following prior to NASCAR's November weekend in Phoenix:

David Gilliland and Paul Menard were the only non-Cup drivers to win a Busch race in 2006. Credit: Joe Robbins and Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Inside the Numbers Cup drivers vs. best Busch finisher Race Cup Entries Best NBS Daytona 18 2 California 17 12 Mexico City 9 5 Las Vegas 14 11 Atlanta 18 6 Bristol 12 8 Texas 16 7 Nashville 8 6 Phoenix 17 9 Talladega 15 7 Richmond 14 8 Darlington 15 10 Charlotte 22 9 Dover 13 12 Nashville 8 5 Kentucky 8 1 Milwaukee 7 1 Daytona 15 7 Chicago 21 17 Loudon 13 4 Martinsville 8 5 Gateway 7 6 ORP 10 6 The Glen 15 5 Michigan 21 13 Bristol 14 5 California 16 4 Richmond 14 4 Dover 14 5 Kansas 13 10 Charlotte 18 3 Memphis 7 4 Texas 14 10 Phoenix 12 8 Homestead 14 3 • "Best NBS" denotes highest full-time Busch finisher • Bold denotes less than 10 Cup entries • Includes David Gilliland's starts after moving to Cup KentuckyDavid Gilliland celebrates his Meijer 300 victory MilwaukeePaul Menard wins the AT&T 250 at his home track Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

I think the first thing that I would change would be the schedule. I would make it impossible for Cup drivers to make it to at least five of the races.

The second thing I would do would be to put Cup rosters in place so that you couldn't use your pit crews from the Cup Series.

I would also seal the motors so that you would have to run them twice. That would cut the motor bill in half and would save $500,000-$700,000 in motor costs.

Finally, I would cut the number of races back to 30 or so. This would get the cost to run a good Busch program down to four or five and half million dollars, which I think you could sell.

This is coming from the guy who won the 2006 championship by a record 824 points. It's coming from the guy who came one victory shy of tying Sam Ard for the series record in wins (10). It's coming from the guy who had 32 top-10s in 35 races.

Will NASCAR listen to its most dominating champion, or was Harvick just tossing out possibilities?

"We can't limit Cup driver participation or outlaw people from competing or change the schedule because there are other people who have a vested interest in the growth of the sport," said Busch Series director Joe Balash. "So we want to make sure we put on the best possible show we can."

That includes having big-name drivers racing each week.

Five Cup drivers ran every race in the Busch Series this past season, and eight ran at least 30 events. All eight of them finished 10th or better in the final standings.

Of the 134 drivers who entered a Busch race this past season, 32 of them were Cup regulars. Half of the Cup drivers won races, as 33 of the schedule's 35 checkered flags were taken by Cuppers.

Fewer drivers have cast their ballot as a full-timer in 2007.

"We have an invisible pendulum that swings back and forth that we call participation among Cup regulars," Balash said. "In 2006, we had our highest number of Cup drivers participating in some time, so the pendulum was swinging to one side. Next year, from what we know, the pendulum will swing back the other way because we won't have as many Cup drivers competing full time."

But part-timers aren't slowing down.

As of Dec. 15, six Cup drivers had plans to run the entire Busch schedule next season: Dave Blaney, Carl Edwards, David Ragan, David Reutimann, Jon Wood and J.J. Yeley (Wood will be part time in Cup). However, as many as 29 drivers are expected to run the Busch Series in some part-time capacity. That totals 35 drivers, three more than last season.

Balash said the strength of the series in preparing its drivers for the Cup level is that it competes on the same tracks.

That doesn't appear to do anything for Busch drivers, either.

In six of the 2006 races on the intermediate tracks which make up the majority of the Nextel Cup schedule, the highest-finishing Busch driver was no better than 10th. In four of those races, Cup drivers filled the top 10.

Only eight times during 2006 did a Busch race have less than 10 Cup regulars. It's no coincidence those eight were the stand-alone races held at a different location from the Cup event that weekend.

Overall, Cup drivers swept the top five in 20 Busch races, 17 of which were tracks shared by both series.

That gets to Harvick's point about adjusting the schedule to where Cup regulars can't make it.

Carl Edwards plans to drive a full season in the Busch Series for a third consecutive year. Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers Cup drivers who ran more than 30 Busch races in '06 Driver Starts W T5 T10 Kevin Harvick 35 9 23 32 Carl Edwards 35 4 15 25 Clint Bowyer 35 1 12 17 Denny Hamlin 35 2 12 23 J.J. Yeley 35 0 9 22 Kyle Busch 34 1 4 12 Reed Sorenson 34 0 5 14 Greg Biffle 30 1 9 18 Total 273 18 89 163 • All eight finished in top 10 in standings Inside the Numbers Cup drivers running 2007 Busch Series races Driver Schedule Dave Blaney Full Carl Edwards Full David Ragan Full David Reutimann Full Jon Wood Full J.J. Yeley Full Greg Biffle Partial Clint Bowyer Partial Jeff Burton Partial Kurt Busch Partial Kyle Busch Partial Dale Earnhardt Jr. Partial David Gilliland Partial Robby Gordon * Partial Denny Hamlin Partial Kevin Harvick Partial Jimmie Johnson Partial Kasey Kahne Partial Matt Kenseth Partial Bobby Labonte Partial Mark Martin Partial Jeremy Mayfield * Partial Jamie McMurray Partial Casey Mears Partial Paul Menard Partial Juan Montoya * Partial Ryan Newman Partial Scott Riggs Partial Elliott Sadler Partial Johnny Sauter * Partial Regan Smith Partial Reed Sorenson Partial Tony Stewart Partial David Stremme Partial Martin Truex Jr. Partial * Denotes likely to run

"Something like a schedule can't be changed without negotiation of all parties involved," Balash said. "The event schedule comes down to NASCAR working with track officials and with our television partners in order provide something that fits everybody involved. It takes a lot of people to come up with what's best for everybody and our partners."

What's best for 2007 is dropping the Martinsville date after a one-shot return to the historical short track in favor of an international weekend in Montreal at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course. The rest of the schedule remains the same with the exception of a few swaps.

Texas and Nashville trade weekends in April. New Hampshire moves up two weekends to precede the Daytona race. Gateway and ORP move up a week to fit Montreal in before Watkins Glen.

"To cut back the schedule, it would take over $5 million of revenue out of the series," Balash said.

But scheduling is to Martinsville's tiny racetrack as addressing the onslaught of Cup regulars is to Montreal's grueling 2.71-mile endurance course.

Limiting Cup driver participation, Balash said, is not an option.

"Part of it is so we can have free competition," he said. "Part of it is for growth."

Translation: Track promoters like the idea of touting the fact they have a handful of the sport's biggest stars on back-to-back days.

"We know our track promoters would tell us if this was a bad thing," Balash said, "and so far they haven't said that."

Aside from dollars and legalities, preventing participation from a group of competitors opens the possibility of not filling the 43-car field.

Milwaukee -- won by Busch regular Paul Menard -- had that happen just last season, when only 41 cars showed up. The Cup Series was at Sonoma that weekend, 2,200 miles away.

Five races had just 43 cars on the entry list: Talladega and Daytona (pricey plate races), both Dover races and New Hampshire.

"I talked with someone the other day and was asked the question, 'Without Cup drivers coming out every week, will you guys be able to fill the field?'" Balash said. "So one side says it's bad for Cup drivers to compete so often. The other side says it's bad if they don't because we won't have a full field. It's not a bad thing."

No matter what side of the fence critics plant themselves -- and several Busch drivers have made it clear they enjoy the top-shelf competition -- Cup participation in the Busch Series is here to stay. And Balash said the sudden transformation of the series is not a concern for NASCAR.

"We want the Busch Series to be a championship among the best of the best," he said. "We don't want an asterisk to be placed beside a driver because we put a limitation on what he did. We're not in a crisis."