NASCAR Nationwide Series @ Texas Motor Speedway: The Kyle Busch Show

Kyle Busch celebrating his 4th win in 6 attempts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Photo credit to  MSN/Fox Sports.

Cautions, tire strategies, a Cup-series regular filled night in Texas, a Sideshow and bad-fast speeds can all be  used to describe the Friday Night NASCAR Nationwide series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch surprised no one when he took the checkered flag for the fourth time in 6 attempts this year. I run down the pros and cons of Cup-series regulars racing in Nationwide (and Camping World Trucks) and generally sound off after the break.




First, let me say this: Kyle Busch is a damned good race car driver. His skills behind the wheel have only been overshadowed by his temper on and off the track. He'd be a champion at the cup level already if he could quell his temper and he didn't have Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson to compete against.

But he does compete against that duo, a duo that has 8 of the last 11 championships. So where does that leave him? Honing his skills to become a better driver, and shutting the hell up in front of cameras. Some guys practice, some guys race. Some hold down the fort in the broadcasting booth. Kyle Busch needs to race to improve himself, and he's doing it in the Nationwide series. Is the Nationwide series a place for Cup regulars? Well, in a sense, yes. And no.

Most of the fan-base look at the three main touring series of NASCAR: the Sprint Cup, the Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series, as a graduated-tier system. Their right; it is. But the gravy is the Cup series and everybody knows it. So one may argue as to how can a driver in Nationwide or Trucks can win races, and ultimately championships, if there is Cup-series regulars taking the checkered flag nearly every race. And the answer is by beating them. I know it sounds sarcastic, and in a way it is, but that is the truth. A Nationwide regular has to be able to overcome and beat a Cup driver in Nationwide in order to be successful. And racing against them week in and week out will only show the drivers, and their teams, what needs to be done to win against the Cup regulars.

Which brings me to another point: teams. Teams win races. Teams lose races. They are the answer. The model of the truck and Nationwide series is to allow teams to develop and run successfully with the hope of taking a shot at Cup. Joe Gibbs Racing is pretty interchangeable with Hendrick Motorsports right now; they both have the top grade of equipment available and are both in contention with multiple cars each week for the win. Where Hendrick doesn't directly involve himself with the Nationwide series, JGR does, and uses the series as a development tool for future generations of racers, much like baseball and hockey do. JGR has one of the best measuring sticks in the industry for ensuring their Nationwide cars are top-notch so their development drivers can learn the most possible amount per race, and even have a shot at winning. And that measuring stick is Kyle Busch.

It is a business model and, as much as it sucks to look at racing that way, money is king. Valuable resources, sponsorship potential and prize money are all too important in a development scenario so it makes perfect sense to put Kyle in a Nationwide race car. Kyle keeps sponsors happy, keeps engineers and technicians learning, and he brings in prize money to fund the development efforts.

But there is another business model at play here: NASCAR and the track owners all have races to do one thing: make money. Being able to say Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick or Dale Earnhardt JR is in your Nationwide or Camping World Truck race will sell tickets, get viewers on television and listeners on radio. Cup-series regulars can't run for points in those series, so it still is up to the Nationwide and Truck regulars to do their best for maximum points to win championships and the odd race between. I don't expect NASCAR to step in and stop that from happening, either.

Kyle Busch is a weapon when he is behind the wheel and, unfortunately for some fans, that means he will win a lot during his 26 races in Nationwide this year. But if that means that Darrell Wallace JR or Drew Herring has better equipment to learn in, than I'm OK with that.