Over the weekend, NASCAR made its return to start the 2021 season at Daytona. The annual Speedweeks allowed fans to see the drivers in new places, new sponsors, and new teams. It also allowed them to see the future stars of NASCAR competing in the ARCA, Truck, and the Xfinity Series.
The official racing got started on Friday night with the Truck Series. The race had ten cautions; many of them were caused by inexperienced drivers who should not be in the Truck Series. These drivers need to be in ARCA to continue their development. They are also racing against those who have been in the series for years. Due to the lack of driving time, teams have lost a significant amount of money repairing the trucks.
A long time ago, the Truck Series was regarded as one of the best NASCAR series out of the three. They had many veteran drivers from the Cup Series in them, with Ted Musgrave, Todd Bodine, Ron Hornaday, Jack Sprague, Johnny Benson, Mike Skinner, and more. The series was on top from the mid-’90s to the mid-’00s.
The action repeated itself on Saturday in both the ARCA Menards and the Xfinity Series races. The ARCA race only had four cautions, once again caused by inexperienced drivers. These drivers were rushed up too soon to ARCA and should still be in the ARCA East and West Series. These drivers lacked patience. Instead, they were rushing to get to the front rather than remain calm and work their way to the front.
Like the Truck Series, ARCA was another good series back in the day that featured veterans from Bobby Gerhart, and Frank Kimmel, who won the ARCA championship ten times. ARCA has seen a decrease in the number of cars entered in the races, leaving little to no room for drivers to develop. Partly because NASCAR has raised entrant fees, and there is little to no prize money. So, what do the teams do? They put their drivers up a notch in the ARCA series regardless if the drivers are ready or not.
In the Xfinity Series, the race had nine cautions, taking out almost half the field. This was caused by inexperienced drivers who should be in the Truck Series. Like the ARCA Series, many impatient drivers were rushing to get to the front. Rather than devise a plan to move forward, they end up making mistakes that cost many teams money, sponsors, points, penalties, and the loss of respect, among other drivers. That is clear when you listen to in-car radios.
Don’t get me wrong, some of these drivers do have a bright future ahead of them. I’m blaming the teams and manufacturers for moving these drivers up way too fast. They are not ready for the next step, and it shows. If teams and manufacturers were patient with these drivers and let them develop over time, they could become successful drivers. We’ve seen many drivers who were painted as the next big thing, only to find themselves out of the team for poor performance. Well, who’s fault is that, not them? They were rushed up way too soon, and just as quick as these teams praised them, they get rid of them, leaving them with an uncertain future.
These inexperienced drivers as of right now should not be in the series they are at right now. They need to go down a series or two and continue to race there for their own good until they have shown they are ready for the next step. In an article I wrote last year, I suggested that NASCAR should fix its developmental system. Treat the lower series like high school. In high school, you need to be there for four years to get your degree. The same thing should be applied to both the ARCA East and West series.
Once they have raced in the East and West Series for four-years, they can move up to the ARCA Series. While they are there, they should spend an additional two to four years, depending on their development progress. Some may need to be there a little bit longer before they can move up to NASCAR. The point is, once they reach NASCAR, they would have a ton of experience because they had time to develop in ARCA. By allowing these drivers to develop, it could lead to better racing in the future.
And while this is going on, the veteran drivers are being pushed out. There are so many drivers currently sitting that were good consistent drivers. How I long for the days when these drivers weren’t pushed out for the younger drivers. Bring them back, and you will see the fans come back.
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