The Backstretch Blog: Pick One Already

January 12, 2011|By HEATHER WILLIAMS | Eyewitness Sports

I'll be the first to admit, I hate it when NASCAR changes things. I'm a fairly new fan, but I feel like every year the sanctioning body is tweaking this or tinkering with that. It gets really annoying.

But if it's true that NASCAR is finally making drivers pick a series, just one series to run for a championship, I say its about time.

I know it's not a popular position, but I think its a move that's long over due. The Patriots don't get to play for a Super Bowl and a BCS Championship in the same season and Derek Jeter cant start for the Yankees on Monday and then head to Scranton on his off day to get a little work in at AAA. And even though we all know that racing is not the same as stick and ball sports, the premise is the same, the lower tier leagues are for developing young talent.

Not that I am against a Cup driver running an off Nationwide or Truck race every once in a while, but seriously, it was getting out of hand. Good young, marketable drivers were getting kicked out of their rides because sponsors only wanted to spend money on cup drivers. I mean, it don't know them personally, but I really cant see any reason in the world that a sponsor wouldn't want to have a kid like Trever Bayne or Justin Allgaier in behind the wheel. They both finished in the top 10 in Nationwide points (in a cup packed field), they are both young, and both good looking kids who can pitch your product with a smile. BUT, they are not Martin Truex or Kurt Busch or Matt Kenseth or you get the picture.

So to NASCAR I say this bravo. Thanks for finally fixing something that was indead broke. Is this the perfect solution? Probably not. But the first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one.

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