2006 NASCAR Busch Series - Invasion of The "Busch Whackers"

Invasion of The "Busch Whackers"

There has been some controversy of the use of NEXTEL Cup teams with their drivers in Busch Series races, most notably at NEXTEL Cup tracks where there are Busch Series support races. This has been dubbed by Fox Sports announcer Mike Joy as "Busch Whacking", and many underfunded (or one-car) teams have failed to qualify for these races because of this. The 2006 season has been notable for those "double duty" drivers even traveling to sites where there are stand-alone races at Nashville Superspeedway, Kentucky Speedway, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and The Milwaukee Mile just to name a few, even on the rare weeks where there are no NEXTEL Cup races. Kentucky was the big upset where one of the underfunded one-car teams took advantage and pulled off the big upset. In the end, Kevin Harvick, who drives for Richard Childress Racing in the Cup series, won the 2006 championship on October 13, the second of his career having previously won in 2001. There is talk about limiting the number of "Busch Whackers" in each race or capping the double-dippers appearances for the entire season and even having a "Chase for the NEXTEL Cup" playoff system in place for the 2007 season since Harvick was so domiment during 2006 as NEXTEL Cup drivers won every race but two in the season.