Only 11 Busch Series regulars have raced in all 12 Busch events this season. By Busch regulars, I mean drivers who don't compete full-time in the Cup series.
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Bobby Hamilton Jr., front, is the best of the Busch-only drivers.
The top six drivers in the standings are Buschwhackers, full-time Cup drivers moonlighting in Triple-A. Carl Edwards is going to run away with the Busch championship, just as Kevin Harvick did last year. But the true Busch champion at this point is Bobby Hamilton Jr.
At seventh in the standings, he's the highest ranking Busch regular. Hamilton also drives for a stand-alone Busch team, something that is approaching extinction with the increased involvement of Cup teams.
O.K., I have blogged on about all sorts of various details for all of the guys who need to quit trying to qualify for these Cup races. If you haven't got the message yet you must be deaf. I haven't mentioned our newby this week, Brandon Ash. But Brandon Ash? What is he thinking?
The snakes will be picked up on Snake Hill in Phoenix this week by Brandon Ash, Michael Waltrip, Jon Andretti, A. J. Allmendinger, Jeremy Mayfield, Ward Burton, and David Reutimann.
Now it is also time to pay a lot more attention to something else. I have a new game. Jay Jay has posted similar posts. But this has more to do with who can possibly make it to the top 35 in points this year to set themselves up for next year. This is a big deal. The stakes are high. Real high.
I am calling it "You Can't Drive 35." Some of these guys are so anchored as go or go home cars that they really need to start thinking about what they are going to be doing next year. If they don't, Silly Season may come really fast whether they want it to or not.
So let's start taking a look at candidates this week that are really in trouble because while they may continue to make races this year on time, they probably can't get into the top 35 thus failing to anchor five starts for their teams to start the 08 season which will make it darned hard if not impossible to secure sponsorship next year.
The first " You Can't Drive 35" candidate is a familiar face. Yes Kenny Wallace is back. Kenny drives for Furniture Row Racing sponsored by itself, Furniture Row so Silly Season may not apply to him in the usual manner. But how long can these rich boys continue spending their own funds to do this? And why do they do it? Oh yeah, I forgot, the purse for starting a cup race is almost more than winning a Busch race. We have to fix that.
O.K. then, why does Kenny demean himself by driving their car? The money?
He can't need the money. Of course, a million dollars is a million dollars and if you would like to have another million dollars and you could get it by doing something you love. And if you might just luck out and eek out a real upset win on gas mileage or something one time provided you can stay on the lead lap, well, I guess then, that's it. A million dollars. "If I Had A Million Dollars...
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