The Busch Series is a stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR. It is NASCAR's second division (often compared to Triple-A baseball), and is a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level, the Nextel Cup.

History

The series emerged from NASCAR's old Sportsman division, which was formed in 1950 as NASCAR's short track race division. It became the Late Model Sportsman series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks, such as Daytona International Speedway.

The modern-day Busch Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand. It switched sponsorship to the Busch brand in 1984, and in 1986, was renamed from the Sportsman series to the Busch Grand National Series. Grand National was dropped from the series' title in 2003.

Busch Series cars are slightly smaller versions of their Nextel Cup counterparts. In the past, the Busch Series used makes of cars not used in the Cup series, as well as V-6 engines instead of Cup's V-8s, but now the cars used in the series are more similar.

The series has become a minor league series in recent years, but is frequently populated with Cup regulars, especially on the weekends where a Busch race is run on a Saturday prior to a Nextel Cup race being run at the same track on a Sunday, which is common. Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt was the first winner of a Busch Series race, and the winning-most driver in series history is Mark Martin, who won most of his races while driving in Winston Cup at the same time. Cup regulars that race in the Busch Series (often referred to as "Busch-whackers") are sometimes criticized for racing against inferior competition, but many NASCAR experts contend that without Cup drivers in Busch, and the large amount of fan interest that they attract, the series would cease to exist. However to counter the "Busch-wackers" there are a few constant drivers in the series including David Green, Mark Green, Jason Keller, Stacy Compton, Kenny Wallace, and Ashton Lewis.

On August 5, 2004, NASCAR announced that the Busch Series would hold a points-paying race in Mexico City at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on March 6, 2005. This track has hosted both Formula One and Champ Car races in the past. Martin Truex Jr. was the winner of the race. For more information see 2005 in NASCAR Busch Series.

Beginning in 2007, ABC, ESPN and sibling network ESPN2 will be the exclusive carrier of all Busch Series races. Currently FOX, FX, TNT and NBC own the rights to the races, with the cable carriers (FX and TNT) carrying most of the races.

Some sponsors have cricitised the new television deal, noting a maximum of four races will appear on broadcast network television, and most likely none in prime-time; in recent years, as many as nine races in the Busch Series have aired on network television, with two 2005 races ending up in prime-time television.

In April 2005, the Busch Series made its first appearance in prime-time network television; the Aaron's 312 at Talladega, because of a rain delay and excessive length caused by a crash, ended in near-darkness (7 PM CT) in prime-time, on Fox. In September 2005, the AmeriQuest 300 at California became the first Busch Series race to air in its entirety in prime-time network television, on NBC.

List of Champions

See also

• 2006 in NASCAR Busch Series
• List of NASCAR teams
• NASCAR
• Nextel Cup
• Craftsman Truck Series

External links

• NASCAR Busch Series News