Stenhouse shows what Nationwide is about

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. celebrates his win in Iowa.
(Photo: Getty/Daylife)

ESPN calls them "opportunity races." Races that aren't companion events with the Sprint Cup Series and usually see less Cup Series drivers. Sunday afternoon's NASCAR Nationwide Series event at Iowa Speedway was certainly that.

Only two Sprint Cup Series regulars, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski, made the trip to Iowa in order to compete. Edwards would be fresh off his million dollar victory in the Sprint All Star race the night before in Charlotte.

There are many fans who find themselves wondering the point of the Nationwide Series. Is it a playground for Sprint Cup drivers or is it a developmental series as the next step before Sprint Cup?

NASCAR has been non-committal in their determination of the series. They don't want to limit the Sprint Cup drivers in the series because they feel they need the star power to sell tickets, but they don't want to commit to making it simply a developmental series.

Kenny Wallace gave an interesting statement during an interview for NNSRacing.com's Lee Montgomery when asked how he would change the Nationwide Series. He says they race too much and that NASCAR is trying to treat it like the Sprint Cup Series. I completely agree.

The Nationwide Series needs it's own identity in order to survive. Right now it's caught in limbo between being a development series and being a playground. There is no need for the Nationwide Series to follow the Sprint Cup around every weekend making trips all over the country at all the big tracks Sprint Cup runs at.

There are plenty of great smaller tracks around this country that could use a race. There is no need for the Nationwide Series to be Cup lite or to visit the same track twice or race 35 weekends a year. Scale back to 25-30 races, visit tracks once, select some different tracks than the Sprint Cup Series runs at and a representative sample of the bigger tracks for drivers to get some experience on the big tracks.

Other sports have a clear development ladder. For NASCAR, it's unclear what it is. In the late 90s and early 2000s, the Truck Series could be considered NASCAR's Double-A Series. Nationwide was the Triple-A Series where drivers went to get experience on the bigger tracks. Now the lines are blurred. Sprint Cup drivers regular compete in the lower divisions, something that has always been done but never to its current extent. It makes it much more difficult for younger drivers to break into the series and get an opportunity unless you have someone who will write you a big check to make sure you're driving a competitive car.

With his victory in Iowa, Stenhouse Jr. showed just how far he has come in a year. Last year in Iowa, Stenhouse tore up two race cars and used his teammates backup car to compete. Just a year later, he finds himself in victory lane celebrating his first Nationwide win. This is the same development other drivers can get if owners were to stick with them and give them track time.

A young driver got an opportunity and has gone from a driver who couldn't keep his cars out of the wall to a driver who is fast and has the talent to win races. Young drivers are getting talked about on ESPN the most they ever have. Why? NASCAR changed the point system to eliminate the Sprint Cup drivers from being eligible for the Nationwide Series championship. ESPN now has to talk about guys like Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

However, if you want a picture of why the Nationwide Series struggles to find sponsors go take a look at NASCAR.com right now. Carl Edwards, a former Nationwide Series champion and Sprint Cup driver who nearly always runs up front, only has sponsorship for half of the season and has been unsponsored in several races this season. Why? Do you see anything about the Nationwide race on the front page of NASCAR.com?

Right now I see an article about Edwards' Sprint All Star Race win. I see video of the Hall of Fame inductions. I see a set of headlines that talk about the Hall of Fame, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Edwards' All Star Race win. Nothing on the finish or the results of the Nationwide race, and that is why advertisers question their involvement in the series and want a driver who will help them get exposure. You'd think a Nationwide only driver finally winning a race for the first time in over a year would be bigger news. Let alone when it's potentially one of NASCAR's future stars.

What's worse is that on the Nationwide Series' own page (nationwideseries.com) the race article from the race at Iowa is simply a Sporting News Wire Service article that has seven sentences recapping the race. There is no true race recap. Kyle Busch wins at Darlington a week ago, that article by the same wire service has more than seven paragraphs and three quotes. Does NASCAR.com need someone to cover the Nationwide Series? Where do I sign up for that?

NASCAR needs the Nationwide Series to be a development platform and they need to focus and market on these future stars so that they can get funding to go racing. Without that, the Nationwide Series is just another series that is essentially a glorified local late model series with more television coverage, but still little true media coverage. And because of that, there really is no path to the Sprint Cup Series and we'll eventually find a series much like we have now that won't have a true rookie in the Cup Series in two seasons.