Scott's Pit Box: It's Time for NASCAR To Cut Cup Drivers from Xfinity, Truck Racing

I hear the biggest excuse why Sprint Cup drivers are racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series are they provide sponsorship for teams.  The fact is sponsors can put their money on an up and coming star like Napa did with Chase Elliott, or AdvoCare did with Trevor Bayne.  It doesn't take sponsoring a big name guy like Kyle Busch to get your company splattered on the TV screen on Saturday's.

I look at the four races that Kyle Busch has ran this season and his numbers are outrageous.  He's won 3 of 4 races, he's led 626 of 713 laps he's competed in.  His average finish is 1.2, and people wonder why fans are bickering for him not to race?  I don't want to see a major league guy coming down to the NASCAR Xfinity Series and rotting up the show.  There are so many talented kids that are racing in the series that should be getting attention on Saturday's that Busch is taking away from when he races, that this needs to stop.

It isn't just Kyle Busch.  It's Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon and many more.  If you've raced in the Sprint Cup Series two or more seasons and have a full-time ride inside Sprint Cup you don't need to be racing part-time in the Xfinity Series or the Camping World Truck Series.  There is enough talent to suffice the series competition with young drivers that have a desire to win and compete.  Last season Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott had many showings against one another and they provided fans a better show than Kyle Busch could have.

People keep bringing up the discussion of Mark Martin back in the 90s and people didn't bicker about him.  Well we didn't have social media then, we barely even had discussion groups and message boards back but believe me, fans didn't like it as much then as they don't like it now.  Fans didn't have the NASCAR Fan Council like they do now, they didn't have facebook or twitter to post their thoughts to NASCAR about issues, even though I don't feel it does any good on this topic.

The Xfinity Series is off this weekend, well what does it do Kyle Busch but he has to race in the Truck Series event this weekend at Martinsville.  You don't see major league pitchers pitching in the minor leagues on Saturday and then the majors on Sunday.  NASCAR needs to get this fixed because if you read enough, many fans aren't even watching on Saturday's events when Busch is racing.  He's stinking up the show.

When Xfinity took on the title sponsorship their slogan was "Where names are made!"  How is a driver suppose to make a name for himself when they are barely able to finish on the lead lap because a Sprint Cup driver has most of the field lapped?  One of my friends had a valid point about Sprint Cup Series drivers racing in the series, if NASCAR is going to continue to let them race, make them run a car that is not fielded by their Sprint Cup Series operation like Busch, Keselowski, Logano and Dillon have been.  Make them run their own equipment and form their own team.

The sponsorship deal is an excuse to get the Sprint Cup Series guy in the door.  Last season the series champion could not even find full funding on his car and I blame that on the fact that cup drivers had the major effect on the series.  I heard that when Buescher had a sponsorship deal in place for this season, the sponsor jumped ship to a part-time deal with a Cup driver in Xfinity.  Sponsors will fill cars, even if it takes owners and NASCAR lowering the price of the way the series is ran just like the Truck Series.

There are many cases where younger drivers are put on the back burner to these Sprint Cup Series drivers.  Remember Trevor Bayne having to sit out the majority of the 2012 season because a sponsor couldn't be found for his ride?  It's time for a change get these guys out the two series that are the growing lines to the Sprint Cup Series.

Bayne, Puccia finding speed after five races

Many people questioned the move Jack Roush made in early January when he moved Matt Puccia to the AdvoCare Team of Trevor Bayne and moved Bob Osborne to Front Row Motorsports after Chris Buescher was moved in there.  Bayne and Osborne seemed to struggle last season getting their chemistry down and there were a lot of marks I put against Osborne last season in how he handled some situations with Trevor Bayne and making changes.

So I was one of the people that really, really welcomed Matt Puccia's arrival as the new crew chief of Bayne this season and for the most part I've seen a lot good things so far in the first five races this season.  Puccia has handled things much differently than Osborne did, he and Bayne have more of a working chemistry together.  After five races this season you can see a difference.

Trevor Bayne showed a lot of speed this past weekend in Fontana.  Bayne was running very competitive before a tire blew out on his No. 6 AdvoCare Ford Fusion on lap 109.  This was after the No. 43 of Aric Almirola made contact with Bayne.  The team fixed the problems on the car and the one big mark I give them is they did something I didn't see all of last season.  They came back from being down a lap to get a top-20 finish.

Those that don't think there is an improvement need to take a lot at the numbers compared to the first five races last season.  Last season, Bayne had an average start of 34.6 and an average finish of 26.8; this season Bayne has an average start of 17.0, and an average finish of 22.0.   The numbers are going to improve once Roush gets the cars completely understood and he and Puccia have more time together.

Las Vegas Pre-Race Notes

Trevor Bayne will be making his sixth career start this weekend at the 1.5 mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend when the Sprint Cup Series goes there for the Kobalt Tools 400.  Trevor Bayne scored his first career non-restrictor plate top-ten at Las Vegas in 2012 when he finished 9th.
Notes of Interest:

• Trevor Bayne comes into Las Vegas 27th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings after the first two events.
• Bayne has five previous starts at the 1.5 mile track, with 1 top-ten finish.  Bayne has an average start of 29.0 and an average finish of 20.0 at the track.  He has completed 1330 of 1335 laps.
• In Five Xfinity Series starts, Trevor Bayne has 3 top-five finishes and five top-ten efforts.  Bayne completed 1000 of 1000 laps with an average start of 11.6 and an average finish of 5.4.

Quoting Trevor Bayne on Las Vegas
"Las Vegas has always been a pretty fun track to race on.  Whether it was back in the XFINITY Series or in the Cup Series, I've really liked racing here.  Hopefully our AdvoCare Ford will have the same speed in it we did in Atlanta and that we can get a really solid run for everyone at AdvoCare and back at the shop."