Kyle Busch should not be driving in the Xfinity Series' championship Chase. Neither should any other full-time Sprint Cup driver.
Why? Because that makes the competition unfair for Xfinity regulars. Let Xfinity drivers decide the championship without Cup drivers' impact.
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NASCAR isn't tone deaf, at least in this case. Steve O'Donnell said so this week, indicating NASCAR could soon segregate drivers according to their series.
Here's what O'Donnell, a NASCAR vice president and chief racing development officer, said Monday on SiriusXM regarding keeping the racers separated.
"It's certainly on our radar. We've heard the fans. It's interesting, it's been a balance throughout the years. We've always had Sprint Cup drivers come into the Xfinity Series and sometimes dominate, going back to the Mark Martin days.
"As the sport has evolved, one of the great things is we've got more of a fan following in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series," O'Donnell said. "They like seeing those drivers come up through the ranks, and it's our job to make sure that Xfinity is where names are made. We've got to do that on the racetrack.
"That is something we're taking a really hard look at for next year; I'd say, stay tuned. We're going to look at it and probably have something to announce fairly soon."
The sooner, the better.
This is not to pick on Busch, who has won a record 85 Xfinity Series races. Consider the first elimination race in the Xfinity Chase. It was won by Joey Logano, who like Busch is in the Cup Chase. Four of the top 10 finishers at Charlotte were Cup drivers. That's like a Major League players going down to Triple-A for a playoff game, or Sidney Crosby dropping to the Penguins' AHL team with the Calder Cup on the line.
A championship should be determined by the regular and eligible participants.
There are seven races in the Xfinity Chase. Cup drivers can drive in all of them except the championship race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. So why let Cup drivers race in any of them?
In an article for Fox Sports, analyst Larry McReynolds got it right: In a series designed to develop the stars of tomorrow, NASCAR lets Cup drivers come in and dilute the product.
Brendan Gaughan made a valid point last week about Cup drivers in Xfinity races. Whether developing 20-somethings or long-time veterans, everyone wants to race against the best.
Here's where Gaughan is wrong: Don't do it in championship competition.
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Fans want to see their favorite drivers when they can. Track owners want more fans at Xfinity races. You see the junction here. Both series racing at the same track facilitates the convergence.
So … separate either the drivers or the races. When the Xfinity Chase ran at Kentucky, Ryan Blaney was the only Cup regular in the race. And it was a terrific race, close, competitive and exciting. Cup drivers were at New Hampshire.
At Dover, where both series raced on the same day, Blaney drove again as one of the few participants in both races. Why? Because the Xfinity race came before the Cup race.
At Charlotte, the Xfinity race came after the Cup race, so Cup drivers didn't have the concern of fatigue in their series. Five Cup drivers finished in the top 15.
Cup drivers in the Xfinity Series used to be called Buschwhackers, a play on words using the series' former sponsor and the term for low-down rotten scoundrels who ambush the defenseless. The term still applies even with a new series title sponsor.
Of the 30 Xfinity races to date, Cup drivers have won 19. Nearly two of every three. Busch is the latest, with his ninth win of the Xfinity season at Kansas.
Another look at Busch's Kansas win. Empty seats are plentiful. (Getty Images)
Were it not for Busch winning at Kansas, race runner-up Elliott Sadler might have won to assure his place in the championship four. Now he faces the peril of running two more races to get into the final four.
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Mark Martin was the original Buschwhacker, stepped down from Cup to drive in the subseries with cars built by a major NASCAR team. In the 1993 Busch Grand National Series, for instance, Martin won seven of 14 starts for owner Jack Roush. Dale Earnhardt won twice that season (no surprise, at Daytona and Talladega), both in self-owned cars.
Martin win 49 races in what is now the Xfinity Series. Busch has nearly doubled that total.
Want to argue about Cup drivers adding appeal and boosting track attendance for Xfinity races? NASCAR no longer provides attendance figures, so the evidence is in the eyes. In April, Bristol attendance was terrible for an exciting race on a perfect day.
A local media outlet, the Johnson City Press, noted that "Bristol Motor Speedway looked around a third full" for the Cup race. And, "The crowd was even more sparse for Saturday's Xfinity Series race and the Friday qualifying crowd was virtually non-existent."
It's not just Bristol. Even Daytona has reduced total capacity rather than have thousands of empty seats. NASCAR attendance and TV ratings are tanking. The Chase was supposed to help improve both numbers. It hasn't. Neither does the presence of Cup drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., help Xfinity race attendance.
Teams need sponsors, and sponsors want big-name drivers. So Busch helps Joe Gibbs Racing get money to let Erik Jones, Daniel Suarez and Matt Tifft race. Same thing for every organization.
But the problem remains: Cup drivers don't help in Xfinity Chase races. Not in terms of fans. Not in terms of competition. Not in terms of development.
So look for O'Donnell and NASCAR to announce that in 2017, Cup drivers won't drive in Xfinity Chase races.
It's a good thing. Make it so.