Buschwhacker
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A Buschwhacker is a term for NASCAR drivers who are regulars in the NEXTEL Cup Series but who also compete in races in the Busch Series. Because the Busch Series is basically a minor league for the major-league NEXTEL Cup Series, this is a controversial practice. Critics say that Buschwhackers are racing against inferior competition and taking opportunities away from younger, less-experienced drivers, but many NASCAR experts contend that without Cup drivers in Busch and the large amount of fan interest they attract, the series would cease to exist. Because the Busch Series runs most of its events as undercard races for the NEXTEL Cup Series, there is almost no time conflict for Cup Series drivers who wish to compete. Cup drivers like to race in Busch races, usually run on Saturdays, as preparation for the NEXTEL Cup Series races, usually run on Sundays. Because Busch and Cup cars are only subtly different, the primary advantage of Buschwhacking is extra practice ("seat time") for the drivers. Some racing experts suggest that with Cup moving to the Car of Tomorrow, the advantage of Cup drivers racing in Busch events will decrease greatly.
[edit] The practice
The presence of Busch Whackers is seen as problematic by some Busch regulars who complain about more talented Cup drivers taking the top prize money and thus leading to loss of sponsorship for Busch teams with no Cup affiliation. Also, in some cases, Cup regulars have better equipment thus taking away the regulars chance to win and score much needed championship points. Other Cup drivers will run equipment independent of the Cup Series; in recent years, Tony Stewart, Joe Nemechek and Jamie McMurray have raced with Busch teams entirely separate from their Nextel Cup ones. While most Buschwhackers cherry-pick which Busch Series races to drive in, a few non-rookie NEXTEL Cup drivers, including Greg Biffle in 2004, Carl Edwards in 2005, and Biffle, Edwards, J. J. Yeley, Denny Hamlin, Reed Sorenson, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick in 2006, attempt to run every Busch event while also competing in a full season of NEXTEL Cup, even though on some weekends the two series race at venues hundreds of miles apart. Some critics of Buschwacking cite the lack of Busch veterans left in the series, after long-time series veterans and champions (such as Steve Grissom, David Green, Randy Lajoie, Jason Keller, Casey Atwood, and Ashton Lewis) could not find a team to drive for as all the seats were taken by Cup drivers.
Still, the presence of NEXTEL Cup drivers in Busch races increases the exposure for the series and raises the attractiveness of the series for potential competitors as well as potential sponsors. It also increases the level of competition, and accelerates the development of non-Buschwhacker Busch Series drivers.
In 2006, only two non-NEXTEL Cup regulars won during the 35-race schedule:
1) David Gilliland, a former short-track star from Bakersfield, California driving for a part-time unsponsored team, Clay Andrews Racing, broke the streak with a huge upset victory at Kentucky Speedway on June 17. It was his first career Busch Series win. The win also opened up an opportunity for him to drive for Robert Yates Racing in the NEXTEL Cup Series later that same season. When Gilliland left to drive for Yates, Andrews shut down his team.
2) In the next race at The Milwaukee Mile, Paul Menard also won his first career Busch Series race, this time, in front of a hometown crowd. Menard has occasionally raced in Nextel Cup for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., but was not considered a Buschwhacker because of his limited Cup schedule. His team will move up to the Cup series for 2007. It is worth noting that neither of the two races were run in conjunction with the NEXTEL Cup Series.
One of the Buschwhackers, Kevin Harvick, clinched the 2006 Busch Series championship with four races to go, holding a 775-point lead over second-place Carl Edwards, finishing with an 824-point lead over Edwards.
In 2007, most drivers who had been seen as Buschwhackers, such as Harvick, Bowyer, and Hamlin, will only run part-time schedules, Carl Edwards will run the entire 2007 schedule.[3]
Furthermore, the new television schedule for the Busch Series will reduce the number of races on national broadcast television, from nine in 2006 to six in 2007. The six races on over-the-air TV in 2007 are scheduled to be at Las Vegas, Atlanta, Bristol, Talladega, New Hampshire, and Chicagoland. The Daytona race in February - which had been shown on a broadcast network every year since 1997, when the race was part of the Daytona 500 television contract (1997-2000), with the exceptions of 2002 and 2006, was shown on ESPN2 instead on February 17, 2007. The Mexico City race has also been shifted away from network television, when the ratings dropped 34% from 2006. (By the way, the races ESPN chose to showcase on ABC were not chosen coincidentally. The first three, in March, come when ESPN2 shows college basketball tournament games, the last two weeks of those three being the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship. Also, there are no telecasts after the summer, when college football returns to ABC. The irony, of course, is Champ Car and IndyCar competition airs on ABC when NASCAR does not air on ABC.)
[edit] Usage
The term originated in an argument Craig Witkowski had with another user "Tinadog" in the Usenet newsgroup rec.autos.sport.nascar in May 1997. Tinadog was against Dale Earnhardt and liked Mark Martin, and Witkowski the reverse. He was especially critical of Martin using his Winston Cup team and resources to beat up on the drivers in the lower Busch Grand National Series. The old western term of "bushwhacker" was morphed into "Busch Whacker".
The term continued in use among the regulars on rec.autos.sport.nascar ("rasn" for short), referring now to any driver whose primary ride is in the Cup series and cherry-picks Busch races. The term was picked up by Fox Sports broadcaster Mike Joy, who also participated in the group. After Mike Joy used the term in his broadcasts, it was picked up by other members of the media and found its way into common use. Mike gave credit on the air on lap 64 of the Fox telecast of the Hershey's 300 Busch Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Fox later discontinued the use of the term on its telecasts. This may have been done to save face among the critics of this practice, or perhaps because few of the leaders were non-Nextel Cup drivers anymore. It is reminiscent of when World Championship Wrestling announcers had to use the phrase "international objects" because the word "foreign" was banned by its owner, Ted Turner.
[edit] Sources
- ↑ http://groups.google.com/group/rec.autos.sport.nascar/msg/123cac6eb8ae3bb9
- ↑ http://groups.google.com/group/rec.autos.sport.nascar/browse_frm/thread/167b5763e2f50155
- ↑ The Death of WCW, a book by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez published in 2005
- ↑ http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CAR_NASCAR_BUSCHWHACKING_THE_BANQUET?SITE=GENERIC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-12-07-21-13-40
