In times like these it's nice to have your own plane, as Kevin Harvick does. Credit: Autostock

Cup, Busch two-timers start long, hot summer

LONG POND, Pa. -- No less than 12 combinations of Nextel Cup and Busch Series teams are juggling drivers and substitute drivers this weekend as NASCAR's summer of divergence begins.

Eleven of the first 13 Nextel Cup race weekends of the season had a companion Busch Series event.

Cup and Busch Results Greg Biffle No. Cup Busch 1. 31 31 2. 42 1 3. 8 NA 4. 16 4 5. 7 3 6. 31 28 7. 42 2 8. 15 NA 9. 38 6 10. 4 6 11. 1 4 12. 7 5 13. 8 12 14.   18 Points 12 7 • Relief Driver: Jason Keller Kevin Harvick No. Cup Busch 1. 14 5 2. 29 8 3. 11 3 4. 39 3 5. 2 11 6. 7 2 7. 5 8 8. 1 1 9. 23 1 10. 3 2 11. 37 1 12. 34 7 13. 3 8 14.   13 Points 8 1 • Relief Driver: Randy LaJoie Carl Edwards No. Cup Busch 1. 43 39 2. 3 3 3. 26 8 4. 40 5 5. 4 24 6. 16 5 7. 36 43 8. 4 5 9. 8 3 10. 7 10 11. 39 6 12. 3 8 13. 15 1 14.   2 Points 14 2 • Relief Driver: Hank Parker Jr. Clint Bowyer No. Cup Busch 1. 6 3 2. 14 16 3. 15 16 4. 27 9 5. 29 14 6. 22 12 7. 19 18 8. 5 2 9. 40 21 10. 10 5 11. 23 7 12. 19 17 13. 17 36 14.   4 Points 16 3 • Relief Driver: Brandon Miller Denny Hamlin No. Cup Busch 1. 30 14 2. 12 10 3. 10 1 4. 31 6 5. 14 38 6. 37 4 7. 4 10 8. 34 3 9. 22 39 10. 2 30 11. 10 10 12. 9 1 13. 11 29 14.   7 Points 11 4 • Relief Drivers: Kertus Davis, Aric Almirola J.J. Yeley No. Cup Busch 1. 41 8 2. 8 7 3. 17 4 4. 15 8 5. 33 5 6. 20 29 7. 35 42 8. 28 4 9. 11 11 10. 22 34 11. 26 31 12. 20 9 13. 42 3 14.   9 Points 27 6 • Relief Driver: Casey Atwood Kyle Busch No. Cup Busch 1. 23 25 2. 10 23 3. 3 7 4. 12 19 5. 8 40 6. 5 1 7. 15 4 8. 36 30 9. 32 12 10. 5 3 11. 7 9 12. 38 6 13. 5 23 14.   6 Points 10 5 • Relief Drivers: Justin Labonte, Dennis Setzer Reed Sorenson No. Cup Busch 1. 29 9 2. 21 11 3. 40 36 4. 10 10 5. 22 42 6. 12 27 7. 13 13 8. 40 19 9. 26 2 10. 23 17 11. 11 36 12. 10 23 13. 19 21 14.   10 Points 21 12 • Relief Driver: Kevin Hamlin

But this weekend -- when the Cup Series is at Pocono Raceway and Busch races at Nashville Superspeedway -- is the first of four times in the next seven weeks that the two series are competing far apart on the same weekend.

The twist comes when seven drivers that are trying to compete full time in both series, who coincidentally are in the top-six positions in the standings, plus Reed Sorenson in 12th; have to get back and forth to complete all their driving and meeting obligations -- or enlist substitute drivers to do the work for them.

An eighth driver, 2005 Nextel Cup championship runner-up Greg Biffle, is competing in six of the eight divergent events, despite not running for the Busch championship.

Biffle, despite running a limited schedule, finished 10th in the 2005 Busch standings and is currently seventh. He'll reportedly use a helicopter to get from Pocono to Nashville, where former Busch iron-man Jason Keller will sub for him, as he'll do next weekend in Kentucky.

This weekend, if the weather perfectly cooperates, the substitutes will drive in two Busch practices on Saturday at Nashville, scheduled for 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. ET.

The Cup drivers as a group plan to practice and qualify their cars on Friday at Pocono, then drive in two Nextel Cup practices Saturday, at 9:30 and 11:05 a.m. ET. Cup Happy Hour is scheduled to end at 11:50.

The Busch drivers' meeting is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. and Busch Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. ET.

Busch Series points leader Kevin Harvick has a 297-point edge on Carl Edwards, which means he could skip at least one race and maintain the points lead.

Last June, Edwards came to Nashville as the Busch Series leader, but heavy rain forced a one-day postponement of the race, forcing Edwards to head back to Pocono, where he won the Nextel Cup race on Sunday. His Busch title hopes were over, though.

"The thing I look at is that the next five guys behind me are in the same boat I am," said Harvick, who is also eighth in the Cup standings. "If it's weather, it's going to be for everyone. It's nice to have a big lead [because] you can lose it in a hurry."

His team computed that, during the next three weeks, Harvick would have to make flights totaling more than 24,000 miles to compete in the simultaneous venues, including Michigan and Kentucky next weekend and Sonoma, Calif., and Milwaukee the weekend after that.

Harvick, who in April won the Busch race at Nashville in his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, doesn't plan to do that. Along with his RCR teammate, Clint Bowyer, Harvick will fly between the two locations on Harvick's Lear jet, a 1,642-mile round-trip flight.

Harvick and Bowyer will use a helicopter to get from Pocono to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport on Saturday.

Former two-time Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie, who doesn't currently have a full-time driving job, will be Harvick's fill-in for the combination races, as needed.

"We've got Randy LaJoie lined up to replace Kevin whenever we need him," Harvick's Busch crew chief, Shane Wilson, said. "Randy is flexible enough that we can use him. Kevin's done this [both series at once] before so he's not worried about it.

"I haven't done it, but I'm not going to worry about it. We've got a good package in place with our Busch car and we're in great shape in the points right now."

Edwards will fly with Sorenson on Chip Ganassi's Lear 45 jet, which they will do for all the long commuting trips.

"This should be an exciting weekend," Edwards said. "I race my Office Depot Ford in Pocono and my Ameriquest Ford in Nashville -- I love racing at both tracks [so] it should be a blast. I believe we should have a great chance in both races."

Edwards' fill-in at Nashville will be former Busch Series driver Hank Parker Jr., who's served him in that role before and actually had to do the race at Nashville last June.

Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates development driver Kevin Hamlin, who has experience in the Busch and Truck series, will spell Sorenson whenever he's needed this summer.

For his part, Bowyer is the defending champion of last June's Nashville round, in his No. 2 RCR Chevrolet, and has top-five finishes in all five of his career starts there.

Bowyer, who's third in the Busch standings, 403 points behind Harvick, is also paying attention to details for the next three combo weekends, when RCR development driver Brandon Miller will be his substitute.

"Honestly, I'm approaching these three weeks like I would any other," said Bowyer, a rookie in the Cup Series. "A couple of things that I'll have to be very aware of are how much sleep I'm getting, eating right and staying hydrated.

"If you don't stay on top of that stuff, you can probably get run down pretty easily. Everyone has done a great job logistically and keeping me informed how everything is going to work.

"I had a minute-by-minute schedule for the next three weeks in my hand last weekend at Dover, so we've got a pretty good handle on everything. Uncle Kevin [Harvick] has a pretty nice airplane that he agreed to let me ride in [so] it should be fine as long as the weather cooperates."

Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, whose No. 20 Chevrolet is fourth in the Busch standings, and J.J. Yeley, whose No. 18 Monte Carlo is sixth, will share seat time on the Lear 31 jet Hamlin bought earlier this year.

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Former Hooters Pro Cup driver Kertus Davis, who has five years of limited Busch experience, will sub for Hamlin at Nashville and Kentucky, while JGR development driver Aric Almirola, who has a 10-race Busch schedule of his own in Gibbs' No. 19 Chevy this season while also competing full time in the Truck Series, will fill-in at Milwaukee, Martinsville and Indianapolis Raceway Park this summer.

Yeley's fill-in driver will be Casey Atwood, who worked with Yeley's crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, at Brewco Motorsports when he broke into the division as a teenager.

Kyle Busch, who's in the top 10 in both Busch and Cup points, including his fifth-place standing in Busch, will use Justin Labonte as his sub this week and next, and then good friend Dennis Setzer from the Truck Series at Milwaukee and Martinsville.

"We're going to get in it [at Nashville] and hopefully have a good solid effort, and try to come out of there with a top 10," Busch said. "We want to keep chasing after Harvick in the point standings, because we gained on him a little bit at Dover, but nothing like we need to be doing, yet."

The drivers' Busch teams have an interesting perspective on things.

	Credit: Autostock
	AROUND THE WORLD Cup rookie Clint Bowyer could circumnavigate the equator in less distance time than he'll spend traveling to and from Cup and Busch races during the next three weeks.  •   Around the Track

"I really have no worries as far as weather is concerned," said Chad Walter, Busch's Busch crew chief. "There's nothing I can do about that. It's out of my control. I mean, I hope it's not an issue, but if it becomes one, I can't get worried about it.

"Going into these three weeks I'm not too worried overall. Kyle has won at Nashville. He dominated at Kentucky. He's had quite a bit of seat time at Milwaukee, too -- so at least we're not going into anything blindly.

"I know the driver is going to be ready when he gets there. As a team, we have to make sure the car is adjustable to his needs come race time."

Sorenson also praised the crew of his No. 41 Dodge and their support staff.

"This weekend is actually going to be a little easier than some of the dates down the road, but a lot of the planning has been handled through everyone back at the shop," Sorenson said. "I'm just going to go where they tell me to and when they tell me to.

"I'm sure a lot of work has gone into it, but I will let them handle all of that and it's nice I don't have to worry about it -- I can just focus on driving the cars.

"I also know Kevin will do a good job giving solid feedback to the Discount Tire crew so they can get the car race ready. There are a lot of good people putting a hand in this to help me run both series and I greatly appreciate all of their efforts and help.

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"As far as health, I plan to do a lot of eating and sleeping in the air over the next few weeks."

Four teams that have Cup drivers signed for most of their Busch races -- or vice versa -- are using a substitute this weekend, and plan to do the same at most of the future races.

Owner/driver Michael Waltrip entered one of his 2007 pilots, David Reutimann, to drive the No. 99 Dodge at Nashville. Boris Said will drive Evernham Motorsports' No. 9 Dodge.

Derrike Cope, who drives the No. 74 Dodge in the Cup Series for Raynard McGlynn, was originally entered at Nashville in Jay Robinson Racing's No. 49 Ford, but that entry was changed to another Robinson pilot, Shane Hall, earlier this week.

Kenny Wallace, whose main deal this year is the full Busch Series in ppc Racing's No. 22 Ford but who also was hired to run most of the Cup schedule in Furniture Row Racing's No. 78 Chevy, will be replaced by Jimmy Spencer at Pocono.

With all the uncertainty, Bowyer spoke for the commuting group when he said he was trying to be as cautious as he could be.

"I'm not sure how bad it's going to be," Bowyer said. "But I bet that by the end of the month, I'm going to be happy we're running at the same track.

"I've seen what it can do to guys, so I'm just trying to prepare myself for it both physically and mentally. I'm making sure to get enough rest and I'm eating a lot better and drinking a lot of liquids to stay hydrated.

"The last thing I want to have to do is travel back and forth with an IV in my arm."