Maybe the best steppingstone. Three of the top five finishers in last year's Truck Series standings will drive Winston Cup in 2001. The traditional route to Winston Cup has been the Busch Grand National Series. Busch cars were, quite simply, the closest thing to Cup cars. Although Busch cars still look most like a Winston Cup car, they no longer perform most like a Cup car.
Trucks have the same horsepower.
Crafton said that fact can smooth the upward transition that young drivers are so eager to make. In Busch, you just don't have the horsepower. Ted Musgrave, a veteran from the Winston Cup Series who will drive a truck this year, agreed the similarities in horsepower are important. But it's not just horsepower that is making the Truck Series a more viable steppingstone series. The wheel base and the weight are the same.