For anyone even remotely interested in American open-wheel racing in the last decade or so, the following is a great series of articles from Ed Hinton, a journalist who reported on the split and the fortunes of the two separate series throughout. Make yourself a cup of tea and enjoy his analysis, knowing how the story ended up...

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=hinton_ed&id=5195237