Buschwhacker

Buschwhacker (alternatively spelled Buschwacker) is a term for NASCAR drivers who are regulars in the top-level NASCAR Cup Series but who also compete on a regular basis in the second-tier Xfinity Series. The original coinage of the term "Buschwhacker" refers to Anheuser-Busch's longtime title sponsorship of the second-tier series through their Busch beer brand.

The practice is controversial due to Cup drivers, such as Kyle Busch, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick (numbers one, two, and three all time in wins in the Xfinity Series), Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt, entering a large portion of races over the course of the season and dominating the races in superior equipment, taking good finishes, competitive rides and sponsorship, and exposure away from both development drivers and veterans who are regulars in the series. Many NASCAR experts, however, contend that without Cup drivers and the large amount of fan interest and sponsorship they attract, the series would cease to exist.

Due to NASCAR rules changes that took effect in 2011, drivers must now select one of the top three touring series and be eligible for the driver points championship in that class only. This prevents Cup Series regulars from also competing for points in the lower series. Before these changes, the last series regular to win the Nationwide Series points title was Martin Truex Jr., winning in 2004 and 2005. Despite these changes, Cup drivers continued their dominance by shifting their focus to winning the owners' championship (from 2011 to 2015, the owner's championships were won by Cup-affiliated teams whose cars were driven in majority by Cup drivers), until NASCAR further curbed down on the practice by limiting how many Cup drivers can start lower series races per year.

The practice

The primary advantage of running both Cup and Xfinity Series races is extra practice ("seat time") for the drivers. Xfinity races are often run as support races a day prior to Cup Series races, and use similar equipment, though Xfinity cars have less horsepower than Cup cars. Some racing experts suggested that when the Cup series transitioned to the safety-oriented Car of Tomorrow in 2007, the advantage of Cup drivers racing in these events would decrease greatly due to differences in the designs of the vehicles. However, this did not decrease the presence of Cup drivers in the series, as each Xfinity Series (then known as the Nationwide Series) drivers' title from 2006 to 2010 was won by a Cup Series regular. The aerodynamic differences between the two series were greatly reduced when the Nationwide Series implemented its own Car of Tomorrow on a part-time basis in 2010 and full-time the following year.

The practice is also seen in the third-tier Craftsman Truck Series, particularly by Kyle Busch (who formally operated his own team Kyle Busch Motorsports, in the Truck Series), and Kevin Harvick (who formerly operated Kevin Harvick Incorporated from 2002 to 2012). Busch's #51 truck won the owner's championship in 2013, with Busch running 11 of the 22 races and scoring 5 wins, and again in 2014, where Busch won 7 out of the 10 races he participated in. Cup drivers occasionally dabble in NASCAR's regional series, such as Ryan Newman running select Whelen Modified Tour events for Kevin Manion and Mike Curb, the sister ARCA Racing Series, and local dirt and short track events.

The presence of Buschwhackers is seen as problematic by some regulars in the lower series, who complain about more accomplished Cup drivers taking the top prize money and thus leading to loss of sponsorship for their efforts. Cup drivers often run in cars fielded by or affiliated with their Cup Series teams, giving them superior equipment and increased resources. The presence of the Cup teams have driven up the costs of competition, forcing many independent Xfinity Series teams to shut their doors. Many sponsors are hesitant to put financial backing behind an unproven driver, insisting that Cup drivers run in at least part of the schedule, which has led to several incidents of young drivers receiving part-time schedules or being pulled from an entry before (or even during) a race in favor of a Cup driver. In 2010, for example, Kelly Bires was forced to sit out the Daytona season opener due to contractual obligations with JR Motorsports' sponsor Unilever stating that Dale Earnhardt Jr. drive a certain number of races for the team. Other criticisms of "buschwacking" cite the lack of Xfinity Series veterans left in the series. Long-time series regulars and champions (such as Steve Grissom, David Green, Randy LaJoie, Jason Keller, Casey Atwood, and Ashton Lewis Jr.) have seen their exit from the series in the 2000s, while 2000 champion Jeff Green has driven primarily in start and park entries since 2011.

While Cup drivers attract fans to the lower-tier series, many fans are turned off by the dominance of the senior circuit competitors over their junior league competitors, with Cup drivers often winning over half of the races in a season. Comparisons have been drawn to a top-tier Major League Baseball player competing against minor-leaguers, or adults competing against children. Some drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., have also been critical of the dominance of Cup competitors. (During the 2017 Xfinity Series season, Earnhardt's four full-time Xfinity teams were driven by Xfinity regulars, and Cup drivers ran a fifth car in only four races.) Many fans, as well as longtime series regular Kenny Wallace, also note the increased focus given to Cup drivers during the broadcast and promotion of the races. This changed beginning in 2012, when NASCAR produced several commercials promoting up-and-coming series regulars.

In spite of the negatives of the practice, the presence of NASCAR's top-level drivers attracts sponsorship to the lower series that may not be there without them, adds credibility to the series, and makes it easier for tracks to promote races. Many series regulars have also pointed out that the presence of Cup regulars allows them to improve their own driving styles and compete against the best in the sport. The series does still serve its purpose for driver development, with a steady influx of successful new drivers into the Sprint Cup Series: e.g., in 2007 three of the Top 10 drivers had less than four years of Cup experience, eight of the ten had less than 10 years of Cup experience, and only one ( Jeff Burton) was over 40 years of age. All eight drivers of the 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie class ( Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon, Justin Allgaier, Cole Whitt, Alex Bowman, Michael Annett, Ryan Truex, Parker Kligerman) had significant experience in the Nationwide Series, with six of them running at least one full season. The series also continues to provide an outlet for former Cup drivers (such as Elliott Sadler, Regan Smith, Sam Hornish Jr., and John Hunter Nemechek) to rebuild their careers, or as a way to race a limited schedule in semi-retirement (as practiced by Dale Earnhardt Jr.), as does the Truck Series for drivers such as Ron Hornaday Jr. and Johnny Sauter.

Cup crew chiefs have also been developed from this level. Kyle Busch often uses a developmental crew chief in most of his wins; Dave Rogers and Adam Stevens, two of the current Joe Gibbs Racing crew chiefs at the Sprint Cup level, both used the Xfinity level to move up. Greg Ives was the 2014 Xfinity Series champion crew chief with Chase Elliott before being called up to the Sprint Cup level in 2015 to be Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s crew chief. In some cases, a Cup driver will use a developmental engineer or crew chief, and an Xfinity regular may use an experienced Cup-level engineer.

History

Although one of the original purposes of the second-tier series was for driver development, Cup Series drivers have been moonlighting in the series since its inception in 1982 (as the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series), when Winston Cup Champion Dale Earnhardt won the series' inaugural event at Daytona International Speedway. Prior to the year 2000, Cup drivers would often limit their schedules in the Busch Series, partially because the majority of the races were held at separate venues from the Cup Series. Two of the most notable drivers to frequent the second-tier series, Mark Martin and Harry Gant

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