In most sports, you just don’t generally see a major league player drop down to play in the minor leagues (except Roger Clemens for part of that one season). You don’t normally even see it in most racing series. However, it is prevalent in NASCAR racing. Scott Wimmer won the Nationwide (formerly Busch) series race this past Easter weekend at Nashville Superspeedway. It was his first win since July 2003 at the erstwhile Pikes Peak International Raceway in Colorado. It was also the first time a Nationwide-only regular who does not run in the superior Sprint Cup Series won a race since Stephen Leicht won at Kentucky last summer. Even so, wins by drivers who only run the Nationwide series have been few and far between since the 2005 season. There were the days when drivers like Mark Martin, Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, and the late Dale Earnhardt, would run 10-15 companion events, (those that took place at the same track on the same weekend as the Cup series race) making the series essentially a proving ground for young, up and coming drivers, and also a place for veteran drivers to race who did not want to be bogged down by the Cup series schedule and its demands, such as Randy Lajoie. Much to the chagrin of a lot of NASCAR fans, the series has basically become a test session for Cup drivers to run on Saturdays before Sunday’s Cup race as some Sprint Cup drivers have opted to, in recent years, run the entire Nationwide Series schedule in addition to their Cup series schedule. There are several reasons for this: first of all, the ever-growing cost of racing (and life in general) has forced a lot of the classic teams and owners out of the sport, leaving only room for the high-profile Sprint Cup teams and their owners to fill the series. Second of all, it is these owners, and their accompanying Cup drivers, who are able to attract the sponsorship dollars necessary to compete in the Nationwide Series. If someone has to choose between Carl Edwards and an up-and-coming local short track driver to represent their product, it is likely that they will go with the proven name. There have been several ideas for how to curb the influx of major league drivers into the “farm-team” series. Some suggest that NASCAR limit the amount of full-time Cup drivers who can compete in each Nationwide Series event. Others believe that Cup guys should be banned altogether. Possibly the most sensible answer to the question was given by former team owner, Brad Daugherty. He said that the Cup guys should be allowed to race, but make them either run their own equipment, or run for a team other than the one that they drive for in the Cup Series. That way, at least the Cup guys and the Nationwide guys would be on a more level playing field competition-wise if the Cup guys aren’t allowed to have the multi-million dollar equipment and funding from their Cup team owners. One answer is easy: the Cup guys probably aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, so people are just going to have to deal with them for now in some capacity.