The NASCAR world is still up in arms about the injury Kyle Busch sustained Saturday. The complaints have been pretty uniform, with two major talking points dominating the conversation. “Why aren’t there SAFER barriers everywhere?” is one, “We should cut the grass” is the other. What nobody is talking about is what I’m going to talk about right here. Why was Kyle Busch even out there?
It was the day before the Daytona 500, the biggest race of the year. Yet Kyle Busch was racing in the Xfinity Series, the minor league of NASCAR. This is not an isolated incident, many drivers do the same. Look at the entry list for this Saturday in Atlanta. Landon Cassill, Regan Smith, Matt Kenseth, Joey Logano, Paul Menard, Kyle Larson, JJ Yeley, Kevin Harvick, & Sam Hornish Jr are all entered. All of these drivers competed in the Daytona 500 last week. Joey Logano won it! Kevin Harvick WON THE SPRINT CUP last season. Why are they anywhere near this race? This is not a new phenomenon either. Last year Sprint cup drivers were all over the leaderboard and victory lane of the (then) Nationwide Series.
Chase Elliot was the champion of the circuit last year. He had a fantastic season, winning three races. Kyle Busch won seven. In fact, 22 of the 33 Nationwide races were won by a Sprint Cup regular. Elliot won the championship, because none of the Sprint Cup drivers are eligible to win the championship. So even NASCAR knows that it’s unfair, yet they are all still out there.
Kyle Busch was the one who got wrecked and got the headlines, but he wasn’t the only one out there. The top 10 from that race included Ty Dillon, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kyle Larson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Give me one good reason why Earnhardt had any business on that track? What other sport allows their major stars to compete in the minors? LeBron James doesn’t make any trips to the D league. Miguel Cabrera doesn’t smash AAA fastballs on his day off. Only NASCAR does this. Yes, the SAFER barrier would have helped cushion the impact for Kyle Busch. Yes, less grass would have helped Busch decelerate quicker. But he would have been totally out of harm’s way if he wasn’t racing with inexperienced minor leaguers. If NASCAR makes one change this year for driver safety, this should be it.