Busch Series
 |
NASCAR Busch Series logo |
The
Busch Series is a
stock car racing series owned and operated by
NASCAR. It is NASCAR's second division (often compared to
Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level, the
Nextel Cup.
The series emerged from NASCAR's old
Sportsman division, which was formed in
1950 as NASCAR's
short track race division. It became the
Late Model Sportsman series in
1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks, such as
Daytona International Speedway.
The modern-day Busch Series was formed in
1982, when
Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its
Budweiser brand. It switched sponsorship to the Busch brand in
1984, and in
1986, was renamed from the Sportsman series to the Busch Grand National Series. Grand National was dropped from the series' title in
2003.
The cars used today in the Busch Series are slightly different versions of their Nextel Cup counterparts, the main differences being a slightly shorter
wheelbase (105" instead of 110") and a larger
spoiler (57" wide x 5.75" high instead of 55" x 4.5"). In the past, Busch Series competitors could use makes of cars not used in the Cup series, as well as V-6 engines instead of Cup's V-8s, but the cars used in the series now are very similar.
On
March 6,
2005, the Busch Series held its first race outside the United States, the
Telcel-Motorola 200. The race was held in
Mexico City,
Mexico at the
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a track that had previously held
Formula One and
Champ Car races in the past, and was won by
Martin Truex Jr..
Beginning in
2007,
ABC,
ESPN and sibling network
ESPN2 will be the exclusive carrier of all Busch Series races, currently shown on
FOX,
FX,
TNT and
NBC. Some sponsors have cricitised the new television deal, noting a maximum of four races will appear on broadcast network television, and most likely none in prime-time; in recent years, as many as nine races in the Busch Series have aired on network television, with two 2005 races ending up in prime-time television.
Busch Series cars use fuel that contains
lead. NASCAR will conduct a three-race test of unleaded fuel in this series beginning with the July 29, 2006 race at
Gateway International Raceway.
Leaded fuel will return after that while NASCAR reviews the data collected during the test.
Once the
Car of Tomorrow is implemented in the Nextel Cup series, NASCAR will begin work on changing the cars run in the Busch Series. NASCAR has been approached by manufacturers about using differently shaped and named car models as the basis for the cars in the Busch Series when this change is made. NASCAR has been receptive to the idea.
Since the early days of the Busch Series, many
Cup drivers have used their days off to drive in the Busch Series. This can be for any number of reasons, most prominent or often claimed is to gain more "seat time", or to familiarize themselves with the track. Examples of this would be the first ever winner of a Busch Series race,
Dale Earnhardt, and the winner of the most races in Busch Series history,
Mark Martin. In recent years, this practice has been termed "Buschwhacking" by those that criticize the practice, claiming that Cup drivers racing in the Busch Series takes away opportunities from the Busch Series regulars, drivers that are usually younger and less experienced. Proponents of this practice, however, claim that without the Cup "superstars" and the large amount of fan interest they attract, the series would cease to exist.
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2006 in NASCAR Busch Series*
List of Busch Series champions*
List of NASCAR teams*
List of NASCAR drivers*
Craftsman Truck Series
