Busch Series fill-in drivers trying hard to turn right heads
Busch Series fill-in drivers get another chance to shine this weekend at the Milwaukee Mile. With the Cup series on the West Coast -- and some drivers opting out of double duty -- it's one of the last best chances to turn heads, writes Mark Ashenfelter.
Their names don't appear in the race results, and sometimes they barely get to spend even 20 laps inside a race car. But the past two weeks, and again this Saturday at The Milwaukee Mile (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET), several drivers will at least get a chance to open some eyes.
With NASCAR's Busch Series and Nextel Cup Series completing a three-week stretch of racing at separate venues, things have been a bit crazy for the drivers trying to run both series on a full-time basis. Crazy enough, in fact, that J.J. Yeley is staying in Sonoma, Calif., to focus only on the Cup race this weekend.
Yeley will miss just his second race of the season, and he's not the only driver focusing on the Cup race, as David Stremme will skip the Busch race after flying between Pocono and Nashville and then Michigan and Kentucky the past two weeks.
That opens the door for Scott Lagasse Jr., who practiced Chip Ganassi Racing's No. 41 Dodge for Stremme the past two weeks. Lagasse, part of Ganassi's driver development program, hasn't started a Busch race since 2005, when he made his only five starts in the series.
The highlight was a 22nd-place finish at Milwaukee, so this is obviously an opportunity for him to shine. Since his last Busch start, the 26-year-old ran in 10 Craftsman Truck Series races a year ago and finished 21st at Dover in his lone race this season.
Lagasse won Kansas Speedway's ARCA race in April and finished fourth in Kentucky Speedway's event last month.
Proof that a driver can make an impression even just practicing the car could again be provided by Aric Almirola, who will be practicing and qualifying the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevy for Denny Hamlin. A year ago, Almirola put Hamlin's car on the pole, even though Hamlin had to start at the back of the pack since he wasn't the one who qualified the car.
This week, Travis Kvapil will practice and qualify the car of runaway points leader Carl Edwards, while Erik Darnell will handle the duties for Roush Fenway Racing teammate David Ragan. At Nashville and Kentucky, Matt McCall filled in for Edwards, with Auggie Vidovich doing so for Ragan.
McCall hasn't raced in one of NASCAR's top series since making five Busch starts for Robert Yates Racing a year ago. And Vidovich saw dreams of a full-time ride in the series this year fall apart in January when his team closed its doors.
So while neither got to qualify or race the past two weeks, simply being back in a car was a bonus.
"It's exciting to get in a car that you know the feel is going to be good no matter what," McCall said. "When you can get in a car that's winning races, it's hard to turn down that chance. … It's my job to get the car as good as I can and give Carl a chance."
McCall is running a Late Model car owned by former Cup team owner and current ESPN analyst Andy Petree and hoping an opportunity comes his way.
"I'm just beating on the door, that's all you can do to see if you can get something stirred up," McCall said. "That's what it's all about. This helps; it gets you back to the race track and in a car.
It's great to get in good equipment. It's great to feel what a car's supposed to feel like.
Auggie Vidovich
"This is a little different than just walking around trying to talk to people. This helps. [Being in limbo] is hard. … You just have to hope the right opportunity comes. It's all about perfect timing."
Vidovich knows the importance of timing after his opportunity for this year fell through too late in the game to round up another ride for this season. Now he just has to hope that something comes his way when the time is right.
Needless to say, after making 21 Busch starts a year ago, it's not easy being sidelined.
"I was very fortunate … to get this opportunity. I want to help [Ragan's team]," Vidovich said. "It's great to get in good equipment. It's great to feel what a car's supposed to feel like. We're not out there to wreck the cars; we're out there to just get a good feeling, to run 75 percent and tell them what the car has for when David gets here."
While the likes of Lagasse, McCall, Vidovich and Brandon Miller (who practiced Clint Bowyer's car at Nashville) look to make their mark, Casey Atwood was looking to get his foot back in the door shaking down a car for Brewco Motorsports.
Atwood has run in the Cup series and is a two-time winner in the Busch Series, but he hasn't run in either series this season. With just 12 Busch races the previous two years, it's easy to forget about him, but Atwood says he can still get it done.
"I just want to try to find a competitive ride," Atwood said. "…I've got plenty of time. Something will happen. … I just have to wait for the right opportunity to come along."
Atwood has plenty of company in that regard, but for the fill-in drivers, the past few weeks were at least a chance to remind car owners they're still looking for a break.
Mark Ashenfelter is an associate editor at ESPN.
