Buschwhacker - The Practice

The Practice

The presence of claim jumpers is seen as problematic by some Nationwide Series regulars who complain about more talented Cup drivers taking the top prize money and thus leading to loss of sponsorship for Nationwide Series 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 Nationwide Series teams entirely separate from their Sprint Cup Series ones. While most claim jumpers cherry-pick which Nationwide Series races to drive in, a few non-rookie Sprint Cup Series 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 and 2007, attempt to run every Nationwide event while also competing in a full season of Sprint Cup, even though on some weekends the two series race at venues hundreds of miles apart. Some critics of Buschwacking cite the lack of Nationwide Series 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 Sprint Cup Series drivers in Nationwide Series 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-claim jumper Nationwide Series drivers. Some fans believe the television broadcasters focus solely on the Cup drivers during the broadcast of a race.

In 2007, only three non-Cup Series regulars won during the 35-race schedule: Aric Almirola, Stephen Leicht and Jason Leffler. (A fourth winner, David Reutimann made only 26 Cup starts out of 36 events: however, Reutimann missed 8 of the remaining 10 races merely because he failed to qualify, and was benched for a road course ringer in the other two.) Almirola's victory at the Milwaukee Mile on June 23 was controversial and unusual. Almirola was pulled from his car after leading 42 of the first 58 laps to make room for his team's regular driver, Cup regular Denny Hamlin. Hamlin missed the start of the race because he was delayed flying back east to Wisconsin from California, where he was driving a Cup event at Infineon Raceway the same weekend. Even though the car lost a lot of time during the driver change, Hamlin got back to the front to take the checkered flag after 250 laps. Almirola was officially credited with the win because he made the start.

One of the Buschwhackers, Carl Edwards, clinched the 2007 Busch Series championship with two races to go. He ended the season 618 points over his fellow Buschwhacker David Reutimann. There were four non-Buschwhackers in the top 10 in drivers points: Jason Leffler, Bobby Hamilton, Jr., Stephen Leicht, and Marcos Ambrose.

There have been some proposals made to restrict Cup regulars' participation in the Nationwide Series by not awarding championship points to such drivers, none which were made official until 2011. Even though there is a widespread perception that drivers running both races hindered the development of new drivers, there has been 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.

Cup drivers turn up in other series as well. Although it would be impractical for a Cup regular to run a full Camping World Truck Series or Whelen Modified Tour schedule, there are several who run trucks part-time. Kevin Harvick in particular is very active in the Truck Series: he owns a truck team which enters at least one vehicle in every race, and he frequently drives for his own team; and the most successful of these drivers is Kyle Busch, who has won 29 Truck Series races. Most of the leading Truck Series drivers have at least some Cup experience. Cup drivers also occasionally compete in regional racing series events.

In late 2010, media reports began to indicate that NASCAR would respond to the critics of "claim jumping" by effectively splitting the difference between the two extremes of unrestricted presence of Cup drivers and none at all. It was specifically reported that in 2011, Cup drivers would be allowed to run in the Nationwide Series, but not to compete for the series championship. This rule change was confirmed by NASCAR.com in a report on January 11, 2011. Drivers are now allowed to compete for the championship in only one of NASCAR's three national touring series in a given season. The NASCAR license application form now includes a check box requiring drivers to select the series in which they wish to compete for the championship. NASCAR president and CEO Brian France officially announced this change on January 26, adding that Cup Series drivers will still be allowed to earn owner's points, but not driver's points, in the Nationwide and Truck Series.