NASCAR: Kyle Busch’s Championship Hurts The Sport

By Brian Thornsburg | Nov 25, 2015

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

A champion is only as impressive as what he fought against to get there. For the NASCAR sprint cup Series, that has always been someone who has battled 42 other drivers in 36 grueling races for the privilege of calling themselves the best in the sport, unfortunately those days are now long gone and replaced with an era where a driver can win a title after missing 11 races.

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I’m not saying that the feat accomplished by Kyle Busch isn’t impressive, any man who can return from two major leg injuries in 11 weeks, win five races and then a champion is definitely worthy of ever driver and fans respect, but does that mean that they are also worthy of calling themselves a champion at the end of the year? Before you answer that, consider the 42 other drivers that did battle for a chance at the title all season long.

Also, what about all the fans in the stands and watching on television all season long? Didn’t they deserve a champion that raced all season long and didn’t have to ask NASCAR for waiver to possibly qualify for The Chase?

Let’s be honest here. The only reason why Kyle Busch’s name is sitting under the word champion in the history books right now is because of a waiver he was granted by NASCAR to qualify for The Chase. Sure, it was still up to him to win a race in order to make the wavier usable, but again, if it wasn’t for that rule, he wouldn’t have even made the Chase and wouldn’t have won the championship at the end of the season.

While Kyle Busch fans are probably singing the new rules praises and deeming it a wonderful thing that NASCAR has thought, they also need to realize that allowing this rule sets the stage for very dangerous and tarnishing debate that could hurt NASCAR more than most fans want to believe.

One of the questions that NASCAR fans must now ask themselves is what the point of their 26 race regular season is. Sure, NASCAR has stated the almost tired motto, “win and you’re in”, but what happens after you win? I’m not saying that any of the 43 drivers in the Sprint Cup Series are slacking or holding back during races, but the new rule certainly lends itself to that one day possibly being the case.

And why wouldn’t it be?

I mean, there’s virtually no incentive for drivers to win again once they lock themselves into the chase during the regular season. There’s no real motivation to win again and even less motivation to risk equipment for a win that will mean nothing the second you cross the finish lane.

Another issue is this injury waiver that helped Busch get his hands on the first championship of his young career. Again, I’m not saying he didn’t race the hardest that NASCAR fans have ever seen him race in his life, and I’m not saying he didn’t deserve to win that championship, I’m just saying that a rule likes this sets a dangerous precedent for how new fans and those outside of our sport will view NASCAR as a whole.

For example, what other sport in the world allows for something like what happened to Kyle Busch to take place? While many fans will point to the situation being the same as a football team losing their quarterback at the beginning of the season and then getting him back just in time for a playoff run, NASCAR is not a team sport in the same way that other sports are, so that logic doesn’t really fit well for the argument.

Although drivers do have a team of crew members, crew chiefs, spotters and mechanics, the driver is the only one that can collect points towards the driver championship. With that being said, not having the driver is like a team continuing without a quarterback, sure, they can find a replacement driver to fill in while the other driver is away dealing with injury, but that driver cant contribute points or wins to someone else’s championship.

While the owner’s championship fits the football analogy almost perfectly, the drivers’ championship Is an entirely different beast. Know that we have that argument settled, lets again ask the crucial question of how is Kyle Busch’s injury situation similar to any other injury case in sports. The unfortunate truth is that it is absolutely not like any other sport and that remains to be NASCAR’s biggest problem when it comes to validity of a champion.

Let’s forget about NASCAR’s ridiculous gimmicks like the win and you’re in motto, the chase, the rounds the eliminations for a moment and let’s just look at validity. Even if a new or casual fan could get past the countless gimmicks I’ve listed above, I doubt they could get around how a championship was determined at the end of the season.

It just doesn’t make sense and NASCAR needs to change the rule before a scenario like this can play itself out again. Whether a driver is injured or dealing with a personal issue, they should not be able to compete for a championship at the end of that season. Allowing them to do so only makes the sport more of a joke then what it already is, and tarnishes the legacy of The Sprint Cup title.

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If it was three or even five races that Kyle Busch had missed, I could probably understand that he still deserved to race his way into The Chase, but when you miss 11 races regardless of the reason, you’re taking a drivers place who raced all season long and deserves a spot in the postseason.

With all this being said, Kyle Busch should enjoy his truly one of a kind championship season. One that if NASCAR can get their head on straight and make decent adjustment to their rules, will never happen again in the history of the sport.

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