Fork in the road As Sprint, Nationwide schedules diverge, choices must be made

Fork in the roadAs Sprint, Nationwide schedules diverge, choices must be made By RICK MINTER / Cox Newspapers
About this time of the NASCAR season, when the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series schedules find the two circuits running in different venues across the country, the debate resumes about the wisdom of Cup drivers flying back and forth to run Nationwide races.
Some feel it distracts from a driver’s Cup efforts, and that’s one of the reasons Kyle Busch dropped off the Nationwide tour even though he was leading the series in wins with five and just one point out of the championship lead heading into last weekend’s Nationwide race at Nashville Superspeedway.History has shown that cross-country trips tend to produce a lot of wins for drivers, in both Cup and Nationwide, but they don’t seem to help one’s chances of winning a Cup title.In 2008, Carl Edwards led the Cup series in wins with nine and had seven Nationwide victories while running both circuits full-time. He was second in the standings in both series.Kyle Busch had eight Cup wins and 10 Nationwide victories in ’08, but was 10th in Cup points and sixth in Nationwide.In 2009, Busch had four Cup wins and nine in Nationwide. He won the Nationwide championship but didn’t even make the cut for the Chase on the Cup side.Edwards told reporters at Pocono last week that cross-country double-dipping suits him. In fact, in 24 cross-country trips leading up to this past weekend, he won three Cup races and six Nationwide, a better performance percentage-wise than when the races were held at the same race track.“When we get to these races where we go back and forth I do feel better about it,” he said. “Maybe subconsciously I know we have done well.”
Edwards skipped the trip to Nashville on Friday, saying he didn’t think the practice session would be worth the effort.“Sometimes I believe that showing up with no expectation makes it simpler,” he said. “Maybe there is something to that, maybe not. I like the summer stretch with the hot weather and slippery race tracks, so maybe that is what it is.”
Edwards might want to reconsider after this weekend. Brad Keselowski, making his first cross-country double weekend, did go from Pocono to Nashville for practice, and that appeared to help propel him to victory on Saturday night. He now leads the series standings by 196 points. Busch maintained second place, while Edwards is third, 277 behind Keselowski.Both Keselowski and his crew chief Paul Wolfe said in their winner’s interviews that the trip to Nashville on Friday for practice was key to their victory.
“This team works in the shop on days when I’m sleeping in,” Keselowski said. “They work, and they work, and I get all the glory. It’s my responsibility to know when it’s time for me to get to work.“Sometimes, it’s not always the funnest thing to do or the easiest thing to do. There was a lot of travel (Friday), but it makes it worth it to be sitting here right now.”Wolfe seconded those comments. “It’s down to fine-tuning to win these races, and you’ve got to be close to perfect,” he said. “That’s where having Brad here to tune into what he thought he was going to need was part of it.“That’s the kind of effort it’s going to take, going back and forth. Obviously, that shows Brad’s dedication to the series and winning this championship.”At Nashville, the top three finishing positions went to double-dippers with Edwards finishing second and Paul Menard third.
Edwards said that because of the way drivers commute between race tracks in fast airplanes, the trips aren’t as grueling as one might think. He said his team owner Jack Roush flies the planes, allowing Edwards and Menard to relax on both legs of the journey.“When Jack is flying it is great because I can just sit back and relax,” Edwards said. “In some ways it is an easier weekend …“When Jack is flying … it is like a vacation.”