The Best Nascar race isn't...

...even in NASCAR's Top Series (The Sprint Cup). The best race is in the Nationwide Series (sort of a "Triple A" league to the Sprint Cup's "Major League" status). The race has been held for the last four years in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez -- a 2.5 mile road course.

This weekend's race had everything that is missing from too many nascar races: Great driving, a very tough track, competion so fierce that drivers were knocking each other off the track left and right, and exciting passing. The road course races are superior to the oval track races (due to a number of factors including road course specialist drivers going all out because they don't have a "second chance"), and add to it the festive atmosphere of Mexico City (with six Mexican drivers in the race) and you have a very fun time. This is the only race this year I've managed to watch start to finish without getting bored. The Nascar Sprint cup road races are great (Watkins Glen and Sonoma) but they are just 2 of several dozen races. Too bad. Looks like I'll be switching to indycar as my racing fandom time slot filler -now that the series is finally unified.

An End to "Busch-Wacking"?

According to something called Scene Daily, NASCAR is considering a rule change for its 2nd level series (formerly known as the Busch series, now with Nationwide Insurance as the new title sponsor) that would prevent NASCAR's top drivers (in the Nextel Cup) from getting victory points in the lower series. Read the story here.

This is an essential move if the Busch...err Nationwide Series is to have any meaning. Right now the series is dominated by Nextel Cup drivers who drop down for extra practice and ca$h. This would be like Major League Baseball teams playing minor league teams and being eligible to win AAA level championships (Hey, maybe the Reds can finally win again!).