Busch ----

I'm sure most of you aren't surprised to see that Martin Truex Jr. won the 2005 Busch Series Championship. It was a good run for the #8 Chance II Motorsports team, which we all know is co-owned by Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. They were all on the championship celebration stage at Homestead, reveling in their rewards.

The sad part about the Busch Series championship race is that it was a continuation of the Cup driver's rout. Ryan Newman won the event, and is listed with six victories in Busch, tying Truex in victories for the season. It's no secret that Cup Series drivers won 2/3 of Busch Series events this season, as in any other season. Busch Series drivers won 11 out of the 34 events in 2005, the rest were taken by you know who.

Is this situation going to change? It's not likely to change anytime soon. In a TV show on the SPEED channel, NASCAR CEO Brian France alluded that there were no plans in the making to change the status quo in the near future. We all know that this is a sponsor driven sport. The sponsors are footing the bill and putting out the big advertising bucks to support the owners and teams. The sponsors want the best and most popular drivers available to represent their products. This is what brings the Cup owners and drivers to the Busch Series. Everything revolves around the money, all's fair in love and war, NASCAR racing seems to fit somewhere in between.

Trucks ----

The Craftsman Truck Series championship battle went down to the final event as did the rest of NASCAR's top series. A long awaited championship was finally earned by NASCAR veteran Ted Musgrave. You may remember that he was involved in a controversy a couple of years ago and should have won the championship. NASCAR made a call regarding a questionable restart, and Musgrave didn't get the nod, Travis Kvapil did.

At any rate, Musgrave, the 49 year old driver of the #1 Mopar Dodge, now has a championship trophy to spice up his mantle. I've always thought of Musgrave as a class act, even back when he was unsuccessfully competing in the Cup Series.

Dennis Setzer, driver of the #46 Chevy Silverado, Ted Musgrave's main championship rival this season, ended up 55 points down at the end of the final event. This was Setzer's third season in the bridesmaid roll. This summer Setzer was leading the championship battle by 227 points. After winning at Indy Raceway Park, his season fell by the wayside, methodically losing points nearly every event until stabilizing near the season's end at an average of 50 points down from Musgrave. Setzer was never able to gain any more momentum, and like a lot of the rest of the competitors, he says he'll just have to try harder next season.