The latest rumor to run around the NASCAR town is that the sanctioning body is looking at relaxing the restriction that it imposed on NASCAR Cup Series drivers with more than three years of experience from participating in more than five races in the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series every year. This, if true, could have serious implications on certain team owners in the lower tiers.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. explained on the recent episode of Dale Jr. Download that team owners begin each season with a solid plan in their mind. They predict the position in which they are going to finish a season, the winnings they would earn from the same, the expenses they will incur, and finally, the profit they get to enjoy. Bringing Cup Series drivers into this fold on a regular basis complicates matters.
Not every Xfinity Series team can afford to have Kyle Larson or Christopher Bell racing for it every weekend. The financially weak outfits will find it hard to grab top positions when more and more premier tier drivers are on their grid. This will ultimately affect their season and their winnings on a great scale. So, what Junior wants NASCAR to do is find the perfect balance.
He said, “When Kyle Busch quit running 25 races a year, right? Or you know, Carl Edwards and all these other guys when they stopped running all these races and winning half of them or more, teams like ours started winning races. To go backwards would be tough for us. I encourage competition and I think it’d be good if they could run more, but there’s a balance.”
Why were restrictions imposed in the first place?
As things stand, a Cup Series driver can race in five Xfinity Series events and five Craftsman Truck Series events every season. All these entries have to be before the regular season finale. This rule was imposed from the 2017 season, considering the insane amount of lower tier races that the likes of Kyle Busch were racing.
Not surprisingly, the rule is unofficially known as the ‘Kyle Busch Rule’. What the promotion might be looking to do now is relax this leeway to ten races a season in each tier. Will that be good for the sport in some ways? Dale Jr. thinks yes. He noted how the fans will turn up to race tracks more on Saturdays and Fridays if their favorite Cup Series driver is set to participate.
A potential change could come in 2026. Along with the expected changes to the playoff format, we could be looking at a massive overhaul in coming seasons.
