After two hot August weekends in Bristol, TN for the night races, I NEVER thought I would see what I did today in this weekend’s Spring Bristol Sharpie race.

SNOW.

Yeah, yeah.  Everyone here at the NASCAR race will write about this snow, so I’ll just leave it at that fact that Lugg’s SpeedFreaks beanie was SOAKED after only 5 minutes of the thick flakes falling on our melons… and let me tell you he was not happy! 

Who am I kidding… we couldn’t stop laughing at the white out conditions in the Sharpie Mini Interactive Booth.

But the weather did make me think.  (Yeah, I know, it’s a rare thing for me to do.)

We saw on the weather this morning that our chances of show were only 40-50%. 

BUT IT SNOWED! 

The same percentages were given this a.m. for a full time Busch driver to actually win the Sharpie Mini 300 Busch race over the Cup regulars that Busch-wack the series every single week.  So, with the first outcome seriously producing snow, I thought for sure this would be the weekend for a Busch driver to break on through.

Yeah right.

As it turned out, NASCAR Cup drivers took the one through six positions in the Busch race this afternoon.  Ooooh, yeah (exclaimed sarcastically)!

Ya know what, I am over this nonsense.  It didn’t used to bother me that the Cup drivers would spend their Saturdays racing in the Busch series because we (drivers and media and fans alike) would all concur that overall it ended up being some of the best drivers racing against each other… AND that it would only make the Busch rookies better drivers by racing against the cagey veterans.  AND most importantly, it didn’t happen too, too frequently.

But this year it’s a case of those ‘cagey’ and greedy vets stealing money from the ‘less fortunate’ Busch teams.  Well, actually stealing money and points… heck, stealing the newspaper headlines and all the glory and confidence that comes with a win or a top 5.

By finishing one-two-three-four-five-six today, those Cup regulars essentially stole $220,000 from the full timers.  That’s a large chunck of change of the total purse!  Do you know what some of those Busch series teams could do with that money?  Don't you think they could make their Busch series altogether better AND create a more amenable ladder series like other forms of racing do now?

Again, we SpeedFreaks… or at least myself… I must be talking out of the side of my mouth because it’s just too obvious for the powers that be to ‘GET IT’. 

As obvious as I thought some of the other issues were over the years.  It took NASCAR almost 10 years to adopt a head and neck restraint system from their open wheel counterparts.  Heck, it took practically 50 years for them to mandate helmets!  And a traveling medical team?  That’s still not obvious enough I guess.

So making anything fair to the ‘lesser’ Busch drivers I’m sure could not be considered any sort of a priority either.

Instead it’s just another NASCAR issue that IN MY PERSONAL OPINION ONLY gets brushed under the rug until enough people bitch about it to create a headline on CNN that just might embarrass the league. 

Ooh, we wouldn’t want ANY negative press now, would we?

Um, did you forget about Chip Williams?

OK, so that may have been a cheap shot, but let's get serious here!  When are we going to see a Busch driver win a Busch race?  Wouldn't it make sense to keep your own competitors happy, instead of festering animosity?  

Come on NASCAR, please let's help out the Busch series.  Let's help them create their own identity again and let's evolve that series back into it's own soap opera for the fans to follow… what are the chances?

Not a snowball's chance in H**L, er, Bristol? 

I'm optimistic now… yep, it DID snow today!

Questions, comments… CrashG@SpeedFreaks.TV