Joe Balash is the NASCAR Nationwide Series Director, the man who controls the series for the sanctioning body. The series is his responsibility and his passion, and he took some time out of a busy Charlotte schedule to speak with the Nationwide Series Insider on how the season has gone so far, the state of competition, the long summer haul toward the title and the future of the series' new car.

Throughout the entire conversation, Balash expressed his excitement and optimism for the Nationwide Series as a whole.

As the Nationwide Series Director, what has been your opinion of the series thus far in 2009?

JB: "I think first of all I'm very happy with the car count and quality of cars that we've had at the events. Ending up last year, we had some pretty strong car counts, but some people had concerns about the number of cars we would have at the start of 2009. I've been very happy with the quality of the cars and the quality of the competition that has been on the race track with all the cars involved."

Speaking to a lot of people at the track, it seems to be trending that they would rather stay and watch the Nationwide Series event even more than the Sprint Cup events. Is that something you've noticed?

JB: "I'm prejudiced, but the way I look at it is, with the Nationwide Series being positioned as the No. 2 series, the best day I could ever have is when someone in Daytona would call me and say, 'we're doing too much for the Nationwide Series.' We want to keep working as hard as we can to provide good quality competition on the track, have strong teams, do what we can do to make sure the teams have strong sponsorships...in all those things that it takes to run the series, we want to work as hard as we can to do that. Realistically, we'll never be where we need to be because the series is always growing and changing. We have a lot of opportunity if we keep working hard and improving ourselves."

Nationwide is in its second season as the series sponsor. What is the biggest change that you've noticed from the first season to the second?

JB: "I think the first year, when you're new to the sport, you don't know what you have. There are so many possibilities and things you can do to be involved and to activate and do things. This second season, the Nationwide organization knows the questions to ask, they know how to get involved and get some really good activation. The Dash 4 Cash has been really cool and well-received, with those four stand-alone races that provide some additional incentive for Nationwide regulars to go out and win the event. As the year progresses, they're going to be involved with more hospitality, and they've taken the opportunity to stretch what they're doing with their brand and what we're doing to promote the Nationwide Series. You've seen it everywhere we go, with Nationwide billboards and advertising. I just see a lot more of that as we go along."

One of your regulars, Brad Keselowski, won the Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega in April. What were you feeling when that happened?

JB: "Watching the end of the Talladega race was a neat deal just because of knowing all the Keselowskis, and how much they've been involved in the sport of NASCAR racing as a family. It's not just one person, it is the whole family that has been involved, and how much it really means to be involved in the sport.

That finish was set up because of what happened the previous year with the yellow line. He did everything he needed to do to win the race and gain the respect of his peers. He did what he had to do to win. I think everyone needs a couple of seasons in the Nationwide Series to get a lot of laps and learn from the best in the sport and hone their skills. That puts them in the position to make the right choices, and at the end of the day, he walked out of there with the victory, the trophy and a big check."

How is the series going to handle the heat of the summer?

JB: "We go into a long stretch of races now, and I think the tight point battle is going to continue. We have some people that are up in points, like Jason Leffler, and our rookies are doing a great job. I'm happy to see all the rookies are involved, like Justin Allgaier and Michael Annett, Brendan Gaughan and Scott Lagasse Jr. in the 11 car. I expect to see a really tight point battle the rest of the year, especially with that kid in the 18 car...what's his name? Oh, yeah, Kyle Busch. You're going to see some excitement from him and Carl Edwards, and there'll be a victory or two coming from the No. 38 car (Leffler) and some other people."

Looking forward, the new Nationwide Series car is starting to take shape. When do you think that will come to pass?

JB: "We're really working hard on that project. This is our second build, based upon the software that really controls the body versus having a couple of templates control the body. We're getting pretty close to finishing up the recipe book that builds the car, and we're close to finding out what the right launch point is for the new Nationwide car. We're doing everything we can to make sure that we launch at the right time. There's never a good time for change, so we have to take a lot of things into account. I think the new car will spice up the competition even more. Teams that have lower budgets won't be forced to go to the wind tunnel to compete. I'm very excited about the future."