NASCAR Busch Series (Johnsonverse)

The NASCAR Busch Series (NBS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's "minor league" circuit, and is considered a proving ground for drivers who wish to step up to the organization's top level circuit, the NASCAR RCA Cup Series. NBS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a Cup Series event scheduled for that weekend.
The series was previously called the Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series in 1982 and 1983, and the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series from 1984 through 2002.
== History ==
The series emerged from NASCAR's Sportsman division, which had been formed in 1950 as NASCAR's short track race division. It was NASCAR's fourth series (after the Modified and Roadster series in 1948 and Strictly Stock Series in 1949). The sportsman cars were not current model cars and could be modified more, but not as much as Modified series cars. It became the Late Model Sportsman Series in 1968, and soon featured races on larger tracks such as Daytona International Speedway. Drivers used obsolete Grand National cars on larger tracks but by the inception of the touring format in 1982, the series used older compact cars. Short track cars with relatively small 300 cubic inch V-8 motors were used. Drivers used smaller current year models featuring V6 motors.
The modern-day Busch Series was formed in 1982, when Anheuser-Busch sponsored a newly reformed late-model sportsman series with its Budweiser brand. The series switched sponsorship to Busch in 1984. It was renamed in 1986 to the Busch Grand National Series.
Grand National was dropped from the series' title in 2003 as part of NASCAR's brand identity (the Grand National name was later used for the Busch East and Winston West series as part of a nationwide standardization of rules for NASCAR's regional racing; both series are now run under ARCA Menards Series banner after NASCAR purchased the organization in 2018).
Since 1996, the grid size has resembled its Cup counterpart at 46 cars per race.
== Races held outside the U.S. ==
On March 6, 2005, the series held its first race outside the United States, the Telcel-Motorola 200. The race was held in Mexico City, Mexico at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a track that has held Formula One and Champ Car races in the past. It was won by Martin Truex Jr. On August 4, 2007, the series held its second race outside the United States, at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, another road course. It was won by Kevin Harvick, while Quebec native Patrick Carpentier finished second. In July 2008, NASCAR announced that the Nationwide Series would not return to Mexico City in 2009, and in 2012 they announced that it would not be returning to Montreal in 2013.
== Television broadcasting ==
=== United States ===
In the 1980s, races were sparsely shown, mainly by ESPN if they were covering the cup race at the same track. Starting in 1990, more races began to be shown. By the mid-1990s, all races were shown. Most standalone races were aired on WBC or TNN, which helped grow coverage of the series, while races that were companion races with Winston Cup dates mostly aired on the network airing the Cup race. TNN and WBC aired some of these races, which also aired on NBC, ESPN, ABC and TSS.
Since 2001, WBC and TNN have been the homes of the Busch Series.
=== Latin America ===
The NBS is available in most Latin American countries on cable and satellite TV. Since 2006, Fox Sports 3 (formerly called SPEED until 2013) carries live coverage of all events. The races are also shown on Fox Sports Latin America, some of them live and some tape-delayed depending on the network's schedule. Televisa Deportes also broadcast a 30-minute recap every Sunday morning on national television in Mexico. In Brazil Fox Sports 2 carries all three series.
=== Australia ===
Network Ten's additional high-definition service, ONE, began broadcasting races from the NBS live or near live during the 2008 season. ONE continued to air highlights packages of each race until the end of 2014. Broadcasts of the series are now exclusively shown on WBC's Australian feed.
=== Canada ===
All races are live on TSN channels using WBC's or TNN's coverage. Also, races are broadcast on RDS or RDS2 in French using the world feed produced by NASCAR.
=== Europe ===
In 2012, Motors TV broadcasts all Busch races live, delayed and highlights, until 2018 when the channel ceased operations.
The Portuguese channel, Sport TV broadcasts every Busch races live.
In the United Kingdom, the Busch races—in full and highlights—are available on Premier Sports 2.
=== Asia ===
All races are live on Sports Illustrated Television channels using WBC's or TNN's coverage with highlights on WBC Sports Asia.
== Cup Series drivers in the Busch Series ==
Main article: Buschwhacker (Johnsonverse)
Since the early days of the Busch Series, many NASCAR Cup Series drivers have used their days off to drive in the NBS. This can be for any number of reasons, most prominent or often claimed is to gain more "seat time", or to familiarize themselves with the track. Examples of this would be Dale Earnhardt, who won the very first NBS race, and Kyle Busch, who has won the most races in NBS history.
== Busch Series cars ==
=== Comparison with a Cup Series car ===
With the advent of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow, NBS cars have become very different from their NASCAR Cup Series counterparts, the main differences being a slightly shorter wheelbase (105" instead of 110"), 100 pounds less weight, and a less powerful engine. In the past, NBS competitors could use makes of cars not used in the Cup series, as well as V-6 engines instead of Cup's V-8s.
In the early 1980s, teams were switching from the General Motors 1971–77 X-Body compact cars with 311-cubic inch engines. Later, teams were using General Motors 1982–87 G-body cars. Ford teams have used the Thunderbird cars consistently.
In 1989, NASCAR changed rules requiring cars to use current body styles, similar to the Cup cars. However, the cars still used V6 engines. The cars gradually became similar to Cup cars.
In 1995, changes were made. The series switched to V-8s with a compression ratio of 9:1 (as opposed to 14:1 for Cup at the time). The vehicle weight with driver was set at 3,300 pounds (as opposed to 3,400 for Cup). The body style changes, as well as the introduction of V-8s, made the two series' cars increasingly similar.
The suspensions, brake systems, transmissions, were identical between the two series, but The Car of Tomorrow eliminates some of these commonalities. The Car of Tomorrow is taller and wider than the Generation 4-based vehicles in the then-Nationwide Series, and until 2010, it utilizes a front "splitter", opposed to a front valance. The Car of Tomorrow has also been setting pole speeds slower than the NBS cars at companion races.
Previously, Busch Series cars used fuel that contained lead. NASCAR conducted a three-race test of unleaded gasoline in this series that began on July 29, 2006, with a race at Gateway International Raceway. The fuel, Sunoco GT 260 Unleaded, became mandatory in all series starting with the second weekend of the 2007 series, with Daytona being the last race weekend using leaded gasoline.
Another distinction between the cars started in 2008: Goodyear had developed a rain tire for NASCAR road course racing in both series but NASCAR had yet to use them under race conditions by the time NASCAR abandoned the program for the Cup Series in 2005 (the Cup Series eventually used rain tires at the 2020 Bank of America Roval 400 and 2021 Texas Grand Prix), but the Busch Series continued to use rain tires in races at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, since the races could not be planned with rain dates. When rain started to fall at the 2008 NAPA Auto Parts 200, the tires were used in the rain for the first time.
Another distinction was added in 2012, when NASCAR changed the fuel delivery system in the Cup cars from carburetion to fuel injection. NBS cars continue to use carburetors. Furthermore, with the Cup Series' switch to Next Gen car in 2022, Busch cars (as well as Truck Series vehicles) continues to use traditional five-lug steel wheels and centered door numbers, as opposed to an aluminum center lock wheel and numbers being placed behind the front wheel on the Next Gen Cup car.
In recent years, this practice had been dubbed "Buschwhacking" by its detractors. The colloquialism originated by combining the name "Busch" with the term "bushwhacker".
Critics claim that NASCAR Cup Series drivers racing in the NBS take away opportunities from the NBS regulars, usually younger and less experienced drivers. On the other hand, many fans claim that without the NASCAR Cup Series stars and the large amount of fan interest they attract on their own races, the NBS would be inadequate as a high-tier division. In addition, many NBS drivers have welcomed the Cup drivers because it gives them the opportunity to drive with more seasoned veterans.
In 2007, the NASCAR Cup Series began racing with the Car of Tomorrow, a radically new specification different from the NBS. NASCAR Cup Series drivers have admitted that driving the Busch car the day before the race does little to help with the NASCAR Cup Series race, as the cars differ greatly. This loosely resulted in the new Nationwide Series car making its debut in the 2010 Subway Jalapeño 250 at Daytona International Speedway. This car has a set-up closer to the current Cup car and some Cup drivers who have tested the car say it has similar handling characteristics. The new car has gone full-time since the 2011 season. In 2007, six out of the top ten drivers in the final point standings were Cup regulars, with Jason Leffler being the only non-Cup driver in that group to win a race in 2007. This number decreased from 2006 when 8 out of 10 drivers were Cup regulars. The decreased number is attributed to Cup regulars running only partial schedules, allowing for more NBS regulars to reach the top ten in points. However, the champions from 2006 to 2010 were all Cup regulars driving the full series schedule (Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, and Brad Keselowski). As a result, beginning with the 2011 season, NASCAR implemented a rule stating that drivers could only compete for the drivers' championship in one of three national series (Cup Series, Busch, and Truck) of the drivers' choosing.
On October 26, 2016, NASCAR announced plans to limit Cup participation in the lower series starting in 2017. Cup drivers who were competing for points in the Cup Series with at least five years of experience in the series would be allowed to compete in up to ten NBS races, but are banned from racing in the series' regular season finale, Chase, and Dash 4 Cash races.
== Manufacturer representation ==
=== Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series (1982–1983) ===
=== Busch Grand National Series (1984–2003) ===
=== Busch Series (2004–present) ===
== Seasons ==
=== Pre-Busch Series champions ===
== All-time win table ==
== Most wins at each track ==
=== Current tracks ===
=== Former tracks ===
Category:Johnsonverse