Preseason Driver Rankings: #2 Kyle Busch

02/26/2012 By Leave a Comment

Kyle Busch
No. 18 M&M’s/Snickers/Combos/Double Mint Gum/Interstate Batteries Toyota
Team: Joe Gibbs Racing
Crew Chief: Dave Rogers

2011 Stats
Wins: 4
Top-5s: 14
Top-10s: 18
Poles: 1
DNF: 4
Average Start: 15.3
Average Finish: 13.0
Races Led: 26
Laps Led: 1,455
% Laps Completed: 95.3%
Points Finish: 12th

2011 in a Nutshell
Through 26 races Kyle Busch had the appearance of a driver who had turned a corner. Gone were the moodiness and temper tantrums which had marked most of his career. In its place was a driver who appeared at ease with himself and his place in the sport. And this “new” Kyle Busch possessed all the same talent of the “old” Kyle Busch as demonstrated by his four victories during the regular season and claiming the number one seed going into the Chase. It was then, however, where the 26-year-old driver reverted back to his old ways. Not having the same speed in his cars as he had earlier in the year, Busch went winless. More telling and even more disconcerting was his on-track meltdown at Texas when he deliberately wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution and earned himself a one-race suspension by NASCAR. A year which had such grand potential, ended up being nothing more than a referendum on whether Busch would ever maximize his talent to its full potential.

Reasons to Believe
If you had to pick one driver to win a race on a given weekend, no matter the track, Kyle Busch would have to be that guy … There is not a track where Busch struggles … There is a genuine belief in the garage that his one race hiatus was the eye-opener he desperately needed … Crew chief Dave Rogers has a good gauge of his driver and knows how to harness his emotions … The merger of the JGR and the Toyota engine departments should be a big help for a team which lacked horsepower last year and had serious issues with reliability … No matter the caliber of the team he’s with, Busch is a virtual lock to lead a lot of laps and win multiple races … Fewer Nationwide and Truck Series races should help to keep Busch more focused on his Cup ride … Since joining JGR, he has won no fewer than four races in a season.

Reasons to Doubt
Until he actually shows it over an extended period of time, there will be serious doubts about whether Busch has the maturity to be a championship contender … He is still looking for his first Chase victory with Joe Gibbs Racing. More so, throughout his career, Busch has never done particularly well in the NASCAR’s 10-race playoff … If his car isn’t right, he’s prone to falling into the trap where he rants and raves instead of offering tangible feedback on how to make his Toyota better … There are those in the garage who insist he and JGR teammate Denny Hamlin don’t get along … His new Nationwide Series team could easily be an unwelcomed distraction.

Area of Strength: Richmond
Kyle Busch isn’t just good at Richmond, he’s sensational. Even that word may not give the proper amount of credit. But what is there to say about a guy who in 14 career starts one the .75-mile track has three wins, 11 top-fives, 12 top-10s, an average finish of 5.0 and hasn’t finished worse than sixth since Obama took office.

Area of Weakness: Maturity
There’s no need to continue to harp on a subject I’ve covered many times over. All that needs to be said, is if Kyle Busch wants to ever win a Sprint Cup championship, he is going to have to start acting like a professional driver not only when he’s behind the wheel but out of the car as well.

Best-case Scenario For 2012
In his fifth year driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, everything comes together for a focused and very determined Kyle Busch. Leading the Sprint Cup Series in wins, laps led, top-fives and top-10s, Busch drives to his first Cup championship.

Worst-case Scenario For 2012
The anger issues resurface in a big way – think similar to what happened at Texas – and Joe and J.D. Gibbs have zero choice but to cut their talented driver loose in order to appease their sponsors who can no longer tolerate Busch’s antics.

In Their Words
“I know Denny (Hamlin) always had some reservations about engines or chassis or the way they were being made or what have you. I think for me and Dave [Rogers] (crew chief), we build off what we have and we work with what we’ve got. I’m not sure exactly what Denny was looking for, but I’m hoping that Darian [Grubb] (No. 11 crew chief) and Dave and Jason [Ratcliff] (No. 20 crew chief) can all put that together for this year and make it to where we’re all competitive and not just one of us is or none of us are, but we all are.”
–Kyle Busch

Predicted Number of Wins: 5

The Racing Geek’s Final Thought
If Kyle Busch can keep his head on straight for an entire season, there is no way he won’t be in contention for the championship. Then again, that’s as big an ‘if’ in NASCAR as they come. Either Busch finally lives up to his potential or he has yet another relapse. No matter how it unfolds, it’s going to be a fantastic story.

Filed Under: 2012, Busch, NASCAR, Preseason Rankings, Sub-Feature

Preseason Driver Rankings: #22 Kurt Busch

02/11/2012 By Leave a Comment

Kurt Busch
No. 51 Phoenix Racing Chevy
Team: Phoenix Racing
Crew Chief: Nick Harrison

2011 Stats
Wins: 2
Top-5s: 8
Top-10s: 16
Poles: 3
DNF: 3
Average Start: 12.0
Average Finish: 14.6
Races Led: 20
Laps Led: 770
% Laps Completed: 98.8%
Points Finish: 11th

2011 in a Nutshell
There were times in 2011 when Kurt Busch looked poised to win his second Sprint Cup championship. There were also times in ’11 when Busch and his team looked on the verge of imploding. In a sport where consistency matters more than anything else, the end result saw the driver finish far below expectations and ultimately lose his job due to his volatile personality.

Reasons to Believe
Since 2001 – Busch’s rookie year – only three drivers (Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon) have won more races … He runs well on just about every kind of track, and in the right equipment, is capable of winning any week … Busch is never lacking in the confidence department … With the exception of his rookie season, Busch has won at least one race every year … No matter who’s driving, Phoenix Racing has a history of running exceptionally well on the plate tracks … Team owner James Finch is all-in knowing that this may be his one and only opportunity to contend for wins regularly and put a driver in the Chase … The quality of equipment shouldn’t be an issue, as the team is getting its cars and engines from Hendrick Motorsports … If you believe in what he’s said thus far, Busch is far more relaxed than at any point in his NASCAR career … As a follow-up to the previous point, one has to assume the former champ will be on his best behavior throughout the year knowing that one slipup could mean the end of his days in NASCAR’s top series.

Reasons to Doubt
A single-car team has never made the Chase … Busch has a long history of second-guessing and feuding with his crew chiefs … James Finch is on record saying he won’t tolerate any of Busch’s uncouth behavior … No matter how much fun Busch says he’s having now, lets see what happens the first time adversity strikes … Despite what everyone is saying publically, this to me doesn’t have the makings of a partnership that’s going to last the entire season … Busch’s focus inside the cockpit can sometimes wane.

Area of Strength: Daytona and Talladega
Although Kurt Busch has never won a points-paying race at either Daytona or Talladega, he’s rightfully regarded as one of the best restrictor-plate racers in the garage. When you take into account that Phoenix Racing through the years continually fielded fast plate cars, – the team’s only victory came at Talladega in 2009 – it would surprise no one if Busch drove to Victory Lane in one or more of the four plate races this year.

Area of Weakness: Being a lone wolf
Picking on Kurt Busch and his issues with anger management is too easy, so instead allow me to call attention to the fact that in the Chase Era, no driver has ever made NASCAR’s version of the playoffs driving for a single-car team. Despite Busch being immensely talented, and despite having a technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, being a one car team is simply too big of a hurdle to overcome.

Best-case Scenario For 2012
A rejuvenated and highly motivated Kurt Busch finds Victory Lane a couple of times and wills his team into the Chase.

Worst-case Scenario For 2012
Kurt Busch continues to be his own worst enemy and as a result, he finds himself once again unemployed.

In Their Words
“Just a ton of excitement. The way the guys are together on this, they’re looking at me to grow and to learn, and I’m looking at them to grow and to learn. So it’s going to be a lot of fun this year. This is exactly what I needed.”
–Kurt Busch

Predicted Number of Wins: 0

The Racing Geek’s Final Thought
One way or another this is going to be a fascinating story to watch unfold. Either Kurt Busch is going to keep his temper in check and let his talent do the talking, all of which should lead to solid results on the track. Or, we’re going to get more of what we’ve seen the last couple of years – more blowups, frayed nerves and Busch finding himself on the sidelines without a ride.

Filed Under: 2012, Busch, NASCAR, Phoenix Racing, Preseason Rankings, Sub-Feature

Fired Busch Facing Uncertain Future

12/06/2011 By 2 Comments

Times are tough throughout the racing world. Sponsorship can’t be found, teams are being forced to cutback and many a talented driver and crew member have found themselves jobless as a result.

The latest causality is Kurt Busch who was fired Monday from his high-profile ride as the driver of No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger for Penske Racing.

Except Busch’s release had nothing to do with the slumping economy.

Instead, it had everything to do with his continued boorish behavior which often resembled that of a child whose favorite toy was being taken away because he didn’t know how to share.

The latest example of his behavior came in the last race of the year at Homestead when Busch melted down to a member of the media. In the video which was captured by a fan, Busch is seen berating longtime ESPN pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch. A barrage which included numerous expletives and a complete lack of respect for the much-admired broadcaster.

This tirade was the cherry on top of the proverbial sundae in a season in which Busch repeatedly bullied the media, including challenging one reporter to a fight, and in another instance ripping up a piece of paper presented by another and then scattering it across her workstation.

Not to mention on numerous occasions Busch has verbally abused his crew chief and other members of his team including car owner Roger Penske over the radio.

His actions became a continued public black eye for Busch’s sponsor, Shell/Pennzoil. To the point, the company all but had no choice to ask for his removal after this latest public transgression was videotaped for the world to see.

In a flooded market with many a talented a driver available, albeit none as talented as Busch, Roger Penske was put in a position where he had to make a decision.

Does he continue to standby a driver who has won 24 races in his career and has a Sprint Cup title to his name? Or, with his sponsor threatening to withdrawal their support and no other company willing to fill the void, does he cut bait and find someone else to drive one of his Dodge’s?

To Penske, the choice was a no-brainer.

Which is why today, Kurt Busch now finds himself out of a ride and staring at a future which can best be described as bleak.

In NASCAR there are six what I call superteams. In no particular order they are, Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, Roush Fenway Racing and the team Busch has driven for the last six years, Penske Racing.

These six organizations are the big money teams with high-buck sponsors, a vast amount of resources and continually field cars which compete for the championship on a yearly basis.

Landing a spot with one of these teams is no easy proposition. And without one of these coveted rides, a driver’s chance to win races and contend for the championship is diminished greatly. Since 1993 only one championship has been won by a driver not aligned with one of these organizations (Dale Jarrett in 1999 with Robert Yates Racing).

However, for a variety of reasons, both in and out of his control, Busch is now on the outside looking in and facing the very real prospect of having to drive for a team that won’t be able to give him the equipment which matches his immense talent.

First and foremost on that list is Busch’s old car owner, Jack Roush.

To say Busch burned the bridge with Roush would be an understatement. The more apt description would be scorched and reduced to a pile of ashes.

In 2005, one year removed from winning he and Roush’s first title, Busch made it crystal clear to his boss that he felt he was underpaid and thusly would be leaving the team at the end of the year. Roush, who had grown tired of his driver’s petulance, had no qualms about seeing Busch go elsewhere.

But the last straw came with two races left in the ‘05 season, when Busch had a run-in with police who cited him for reckless driving. Roush responded by parking his departing driver for the final two races of the year.

Without divine intervention, there is little chance Busch will ever sit in a racecar bearing Jack Roush’s name.

While Kurt has never driven for Rick Hendrick, his younger brother Kyle has. And after that experience, which can nicely be described as turbulent, the man who has won 10 Sprint Cups as a car owner has no inclination to resume his relationship with the Busch Brothers.

Not to mention, Hendrick is at the NASCAR-imposed four-team limit and has long-term contracts in place with Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne.

The same dilemma of having a brother with a lengthy rap sheet is why Joe Gibbs Racing is also not an option for Kurt.

The team has a hard enough time keeping one Busch in check, trying to supervise two would borderline on impossible.

Over at Stewart-Haas, the organization has its hands full. Not only do they have to put the pieces in place for a third car featuring Danica Patrick, Tony Stewart also needs to find a competition director to lead his blossoming team. Adding a fourth car on top of all this is simply not in the cards.

Although Richard Childress is below the four-team limit and has room to expand, it’s not going to happen. At least not to make room for Busch.

If the money could be found, the fourth car in all likelihood would be earmarked for Childress’ grandson, Austin Dillon, who just became the youngest champion in Truck Series history and will drive fulltime next season in the Nationwide Series.

It’s also hard to image Busch and Kevin Harvick being under one roof together. Having these two Type-A personalities on the same team would surely cause some sort of cosmic explosion.

And why, with Childress’ long and notorious history with Kyle Busch, would he want to bring in the older brother who’s just as much of a troublemaker as his younger sibling?

Busch’s best bet, if he wants to continue in NASCAR and get back in the good graces of a car owner that would be able to better help him win his second championship, is signing on with a underfunded backmarker. Be it Front Row Motorsports, Tommy Baldwin Racing or a team of that ilk.

A team which might be lacking in stature and resources, but has a seat available and more importantly, is more willing to put up with Busch’s sometimes, shall we say, quirky personality.

If he does that, rehabs his persona both publically and privately, the odds of him eventually landing with a bigger team go up considerably.

Otherwise, at the age of 33 and in the prime of his career, Kurt Busch’s days of being relevant are effectively over.

 

If you would like to contact the author of this post, simply click here, and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, NASCAR, Penske, Sub-Feature

Where Does Kyle Go From Here?

11/09/2011 By 6 Comments


The issue is no longer whether Kyle Busch deserved to be parked for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution during Friday night’s Truck Series race at Texas.

That in and of itself is a pretty straightforward answer that doesn’t need much elaboration.

When you have a lengthy history of on track run-ins accompanied with behavior that could best be described as boorish, and you proceed to deliberately turn a competitor – who also happens to be in the championship fight – head-on into the wall under the yellow flag, you more than deserve whatever punishment NASCAR deems appropriate.

The question now becomes where do we go from here? What lesson does Kyle Busch take from this and what is the long-term fallout of what transpired last weekend?

The answer to the first question is NASCAR has given the green light for Busch to take to the track this coming weekend in Phoenix. The sanctioning body, in a statement released yesterday, said they’ve lifted the “parking directive” issued Saturday morning. They also fined Busch $50,000 and put him on probation through the rest of the year.

If Busch violates his probation in any way, NASCAR left no doubt as to what will happen next.

“If during the remaining NASCAR events in 2011 there is another action by the competitor that is deemed by NASCAR officials as detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR, or is disruptive to the orderly conduct of an event, the competitor will be suspended indefinitely from NASCAR.”

As for Busch, it’s too early to tell what impact, if any, this one-race ban has had him.

It’s easy to say this will be the wakeup call the 26-year-old driver desperately needs. That seeing his racecar driven by someone else will make him reevaluate how he goes about conducting himself both on and off the track.

However, the same thing has been said in the past.

Ironically enough, the most recent incident of this magnitude was 12 months ago at Texas Motor Speedway when Busch berated NASCAR officials and then took it to another level when he gave an obscene gesture to the official assigned to his pit box.

For this NASCAR black-flagged Busch two laps and subsequently fined him $25,000.

With everyone from team owner Joe Gibbs to crew chief Dave Rodgers decrying his behavior, it was assumed this was the cold water in the face Busch needed.

Busch knew than that another incident of this caliber could be career-threatening.

It seemed for a while that Busch had learned the errors of his ways.

Through the first part of this season there were numerous stories written talking about the “New Kyle Busch” and how much more mature of a driver and person he was. Most attributed this to him getting married in the offseason.

But slowly, like a faulty sidewalk, cracks started to appear.

First, was the run-in with rival Kevin Harvick at Darlington. When Busch appeared to deliberately wreck Harvick and then had a confrontation with the Richard Childress Racing driver on pit road.

This was followed by another incident a few weeks later when Busch was tagged going 128 mph in a 45 mph zone through a residential area.

And just weeks after this latest transgression, Busch and Harvick’s team owner Richard Childress had a physical altercation in the driver’s lot at Kansas Speedway. Although by all accounts Busch was the not the aggressor this time around, it still speaks volumes about how much his behavior was grating those around him.

Now, just days removed from the most telling episode in what has been a controversial career, Busch is now very much at a crossroads.

If he is truly remorseful, Busch will put this behind him and will continue to do what he does better than anyone and eventually win the Sprint Cup championship that thus far has eluded him.

If Busch needs advice on how to rehab an image that has taken some significant blows as of late, there are two drivers who could be of great help.

One is his chief antagonist, Kevin Harvick. Harvick, like Busch, was once a young driver who wore his emotions on his sleeve and frequently let those same emotions get the best of him. Harvick’s awakening came following a Truck Series race in 2002 at Martinsville, when NASCAR upset with Harvick’s continued reckless driving, benched him for the next day’s Cup race.

The second person is a driver who knows all too well the inner workings of Joe Gibbs Racing.

From the time following a race when he slapped a reporter’s recorder to the ground, to when he got into an argument with a NASCAR official over his refusal to wear the required head-and-neck safety restraint, to the time he shoved a photographer, it’s fair to say during his 10 years at JGR, Tony Stewart was certainly no choirboy.

It got to the point that following the alleged assault of the photographer, Home Depot, Stewart’s sponsor at the time, stepped in and fined the driver $50,000. They also made it abundantly clear that another such incident would result in them removing their name from the side of his car.

Not much different in tone from the statement M&M’s released Sunday.

“The recent actions by Kyle Busch are not consistent with the values of M&M’S and we’re very disappointed. Like you, we hold those who represent our brand to a higher standard and we have expressed our concerns directly to Joe Gibbs Racing.”

Thanks to the patience of Joe and J.D. Gibbs, Home Depot, then-crew chief Greg Zipadelli, along with many others, Stewart persevered and eventually molded himself into a person the sport is proud to have represent them.

Coincidently or not, Stewart, now the owner of his own two-car team, is in the thick of this year’s championship race. With just two races left in the season, the winner of four races this year is a scant three points behind leader Carl Edwards.

A seat in one of Joe Gibbs’ Toyotas is one of the premier rides in all of motorsports. If they choose to remove Busch from his No. 18 for good, the team would have no shortage of viable options to choose from.

If there is one thing to take out of all this, it’s that hopefully a week off taught Busch a lesson he will never forget.

If not, it’s only a matter of time before he’ll learn the cold, hard truth.

It takes more than just talent to be a championship driver. If Busch can’t learn to play within the rules like everyone else, even if NASCAR is better off with him a part of it, then he needs to be sent home.

Permanently.

Although the sport will miss him, it will easily continue on without him. The machine as a whole is bigger than the parts. If NASCAR can overcome the death of its most popular driver in its biggest race, they’re not going to worry too much about a driver who thinks he’s above the law no matter how talented a wheelman he may be.

The onus is now on Kyle Busch to change.

There’s no reason he can’t go down the same path as Harvick and Stewart.

All he needs to do is acknowledge what he did was wrong, vow to correct his misdeeds, and more importantly, actually make the changes he promises to craft.

Above all else, Busch needs to remember actions will always speak louder than words. It’s going to take a long period of time for people to believe that what they’re seeing from his is genuine and that it’s not simply a front created by him and his advisors in attempt to smooth things over.

This is Busch’s second strike; he will not get a third.

 

If you would like to contact the author of this post, simply click here, and you can also follow The Racing Geek on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Gibbs, NASCAR, Sub-Feature

Lessons Learned At The Halfway Point

06/12/2011 By Leave a Comment

When the checkered flag waved on the STP 400 last Sunday at Kansas Speedway, it signaled the official halfway point of the 2011 Sprint Cup regular season. What a memorable first half it’s been.

Through 13 races we’ve had unexpected first-time winners in two of the sports biggest events, a legend finding lost glory, NASCAR’s favorite son returning to prominence, Carl Edwards flexing his muscles on the track, with Richard Childress wielding his fists off of it, Richard Petty Motorsports rising up from the ashes, Kyle Busch getting some form of comeuppance, Juan Pablo Montoya threatening legal action against Ryan Newman for punching him, midrace temper tantrums from Kurt Busch and Martin Truex Jr., which brought in sweeping changes for their respective teams, notable flops from drivers who were expected to contend (Jeff Burton, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray), secret fines that weren’t so secret, Ford, Chevy, Dodge and Toyota all having won at least once, and a plethora of other happenings which has made this season a worthy sequel to the phenomenal year that we saw in 2010.

Here’s a look back at some of the lessons we’ve learned thus far in 2011.

●With an emphatic victory at Phoenix which snapped his 66-race winless streak, Jeff Gordon showed the racing community that he still knows how to win. The bad news, his bouts with inconsistency likely will prevent him from winning his fifth Sprint Cup title.

●Not only is Jeff Gordon’s former crew chief, Steve Letarte, proving to be a miracle worker; he’s also proving to be a much better crew chief than I gave him credit for this offseason.

●Instead of going out with a bang in his final season with Hendrick Motorsports, Mark Martin – zero wins, one top-five, and four top-10s – is going out with a whimper. It’s all but a certainty that in what is likely his final full season in Sprint Cup, the driver who has finished runner-up in the championship five times will be on the outside looking in for the second straight year when the Chase commences in September.

●Ford (particularly the Roush Fenway cars) is head and shoulders above everyone else. Counting the non-points All-Star Race, cars with a blue oval on their hood have won five events this season. On top of that, points leader Carl Edwards is the clear-cut championship favorite, while teammate Matt Kenseth, with victories at Texas and Dover, is also a fringe title contender.

●As a follow-up to the above point, the Ford FR9 is everything it was cracked up to be and more. Since working out the kinks last summer of their long developed and much-maligned power plant, Ford has seen cars bearing its name make eight trips to the winner’s circle, including Trevor Bayne’s much celebrated victory in the Daytona 500.

●Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith, and Brad Keselowski have all won this season, while Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer all are still looking for their first checkered flag of 2011.

●For fear of getting taken to the woodshed, you don’t mess with Richard Childress. A lesson Kyle Busch now knows all too well after the 65-year-old grandfather sent the 26-year-old cowering to the ground in a fetal position last Saturday in Kansas. Also, the expression “Here, hold my watch” has entered our lexicon as phrase that signals someone’s about to put a whuppin’ on somebody.

●The pipeline of young drivers climbing up through the ranks, which seemed dry just a season ago, is now oozing with talent. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Allgaier, Cole Whitt and Austin Dillon have all shown that they have the talent to one day be winners at the Sprint Cup level. And that’s not even taking into account 20-year-old Trevor Bayne’s triumph in the Daytona 500. Even better for these youngsters is there are more opportunites to compete at the next level than there were a couple of years ago, when Cup team owners shied away from putting a young driver in one of their cars due to lack of sponsorship and the cost involved in repairing wrecked cars through the inevitable growing pains associated with moving up to NASCAR’s top series.

●There is no more schizophrenic team in all of NASCAR than Kurt Busch and his No. 22 team. One week they look like world-beater’s, the next they look like a team coming apart at the seams. For example, last week at Kansas Kurt Busch started on the pole. Yet, as soon as the green flag dropped, the volatile driver was on his radio complaining he had a 43rd-place car. And what happened? All he did was lead the most laps and would’ve likely won had the race had not turned into a game of fuel-mileage. Judging from some of Busch’s comments this season, you’d think he would be somewhere in the teens points-wise. Instead, with a team he rails against almost weekly, he’s sixth overall and has racked-up the third-most top-10 finishes.

●The curse of finishing second to Jimmie Johnson lives on. A year after finishing runner-up to Johnson in the championship standings, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards and Mark Martin all went winless and came nowhere close to the form they showed the previous year. Although he’s ran better as of late, and the expectation is he wins today at Pocono, the fact is Denny Hamlin has struggled for much of the year and is still is looking for his first victory of 2011.

●With just two top-10s and buried back in 27th in points, Jamie McMurray’s magical season of a year ago which saw him win a career-best three times, is looking more and more like a fluke.

●NASCAR’s revamping of how one qualifies for the Chase and implementing the two wildcard spots, is turning into a stroke of genius. The greater emphasis placed on winning has produced some outstanding racing with teams more willing to gamble and go all-out for victories than ever before. The ferocity will only get ratcheted up as the regular season dwindles down and the opening Chase race at Chicagoland gets closer and closer.

●Joey Logano may be all hype with little actual substance. The third-year driver, despite driving for the powerhouse known as Joe Gibbs Racing and having two-time championship crew chief Greg Zipadelli guiding the Home Depot team, Tony Stewart’s handpicked successor continues to languish in mediocrity.

This is just a sampling of the lessons we’ve learned halfway through the regular season. All of which brings us to some storylines I’m keeping an eye on as we enter the second half.

Crew Chief Roulette
Being a crew chief is a tenuous position with your job status always in constant flux. But with many a big-name driver – Jeff Burton, Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, Jamie McMurray, and the aforementioned Joey Logano – all struggling to find consistent success, perhaps none more so than in the next couple of months.

We saw the first shoe drop earlier this week when Michael Waltrip Racing announced Pat Tryson had been replaced as crew chief for Martin Truex Jr. Not a surprise, considering everyone knew the noose around Tryson’s neck was tightening following Truex’s meltdown a month ago at Richmond, all of which predicated an overhaul of his pit crew a few days later.

With the pressure to perform higher than ever and with the opportunity to sneak into the Chase now an option thanks to the wildcard, owners will not hesitate to make a change if they feel it will jumpstart their chances to get their driver into the playoffs. As with the stick-and-ball sports, it’s always easier to fire the manager than the players. The same theory holds true in NASCAR, where crew chiefs are often looked at as nothing more than scapegoats.

Wild Road To The Chase
The wildcard to getting a wildcard into the Chase is what happens at the two road courses the series visits each year, first later this month at Infineon and in August at Watkins Glen. Say Juan Pablo Montoya wins one or both of these races; the odds are it will be enough for him to snag a spot in the Chase. The same can be said for Marcos Ambrose, another expert road racer who has had a sneaky good year in his first season with Richard Petty Motorsports.

The King Is Dead, Long Live The King?
We say it every year, but it may apply more this year than any other, as there are some chinks in the armor of Jimmie Johnson and the 48 team. The vaunted pit crew which was overhauled in the offseason is still prone to the occasional blunder on pit road, and the magic wand which Chad Knaus often uses to make the Lowes Chevy stronger late in races seems to have run out of pixie dust. More than anything though, Johnson’s reign may come to an end not because of anything he or his team did or did’nt, but simply because the Roush Fenway camp is that much better. Particularly points leader Carl Edwards who, with the exception of Martinsville, has been stout week in and week out.

What’s Mark Going To Do?
Mark Martin has repeatedly said he has no plans to retire at the end of the year and that he plans to race somewhere in 2012. The question is for what team and in what series? No one wants to see one of the classiest and well respected drivers to ever turn a wheel put out to pasture, but the way things are unfolding there doesn’t look to be a ride for the 40-time Sprint Cup winner.

To be honest, I’m not sure Martin is set on enduring the 38-week grind known as the Sprint Cup Series. Look for an announcement sometime this summer that Martin will run a full Nationwide slate for Turner Motorsports with a handful of Cup races sprinkled in.

Danica Mania All The Time; But For Which Team?
Speaking of pending announcements, it’s all but a certainty that in the next month or two Danica Patrick will make it known she will be leaving IndyCar and will be making a fulltime move to NASCAR, where she will run the entire Nationwide schedule next year in preparation for move up to Sprint Cup in 2012. Like Martin, the question is which team will Patrick align herself with?

Conventional wisdom says she’d be foolish to leave Hendrick/JR Motorsports where she’s grown quite comfortable working with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. and where the equipment is always second to none. However, there are those who say it’s no guarantee that Patrick will continue her association with Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and that she, along with sponsor Go Daddy.com, will be taking her services elsewhere.

The Year of The Surprise
From Daytona to Kansas, 2011 has undoubtedly been the year of the surprise. Even after improbable winners at Daytona and Darlington, and an unlikely winner in Kansas, it’s hard to imagine we’ll see another unexpected race winner or amazing finish the rest of the year. One that will collectively make everyone go, “Wow, I didn’t see that coming.” However, with the way things have been going, there is always a chance. I’m not sure who it will be next, or when over the next 13 races it’s going to happen, but the way this season has gone, I think its fair to say expect the unexpected.

 

 

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Filed Under: Allgaier, Ambrose, Bayne, Busch, Danica Patrick, Edwards, Ford, Gibbs, Gordon, Hamlin, Harvick, Johnson, Kenseth, Letarte, Logano, Martin, McMurray, Montoya, NASCAR, Penske, Roush, Sub-Feature, Truex Jr., Tryson

Childress Did What Had To Be Done and So Did NASCAR

06/08/2011 By 6 Comments

Kyle Busch is one of those drivers you either love or you hate.

It’s no secret he has more than a few enemies in the garage thanks in large part to his infinity for using his bumper to get around a competitor. Also not helping matters both with fans and drivers alike is the brash manner in which he carries himself both on and off the track. Fair or not, the popular belief of the immensely talented 26-year-old driver is that of a cocky, snot-nose punk who someone needs to teach a lesson to.

Enter Professor Richard Childress. The owner of six Sprint Cup championships who had grown sick of fixing wrecked cars and trucks bearing his name courtesy of Mr. Busch.

When a prior direct warning from Childress to Busch went unheeded and in last Saturday’s Truck Series race at Kansas, Busch drove into the side of the Richard Childress Racing truck driven by Joey Coulter, the former owner-driver who built his vast empire from nothing, had reached his boiling point.

Childress deliberately and calculatingly sought Busch out and meted out a punishment he deemed worthy of the crime(s). No different than the Old West vigilante justice that used to be commonplace in NASCAR. Except this time around there were no tire irons or pistols involved. Just fists, nothing more.

The problem is no matter how much Busch may or may not have deserved the beating he got, and make no mistake in my opinion he got his comeuppance, Childress wasn’t the one who should have delved out the penalty.

It’s taken us a long time to get here, but NASCAR has evolved to the point where you can’t have car owners fighting drivers, no matter how in the right they may be.

Outside of WWE, where Vince McMahon regularly put the boots to “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, there is no sport where this type of behavior would be permitted.

Which is why despite public sentiment firmly in his corner, NASCAR had no choice but to dole out a $150,000 fine to the legendary car owner.

Though there are those who disagree on both sides, this was a perfectly acceptable penalty the sanctioning body handed down yesterday. The monetary sum is steep enough where it will discourage this kind of behavior from continuing. $150,000 is nothing to sneeze at, as it is easily one of the largest fines in NASCAR’s history non-performance related.

More importantly, NASCAR didn’t come across as heavy-handed when they decided not to suspend Childress for any length of time. The powers that be understood the circumstances leading to Saturday’s confrontation, as well as the fact that the offender in question doesn’t have a reputation as a troublemaker.

Also, in the “boy’s have at it” era where raw emotion is supposed to be celebrated and not condemned, a suspension would be perceived as hypocritical. You and I both know that if this incident would have been caught on tape, NASCAR and its television partners would have replayed the skirmish ad nauseum in an effort to promote the no-holds barred attitude they want NASCAR to be conveyed as having.

If anything is to come out of this, it’s that Busch has learned that eventually you’re going to have to pay the piper for your actions. And sometimes the piper may be disguised as a 65-year-old man who tells his grandson to hold his watch before administrating a beating worthy of the UFC octagon.

For Childress it sends a loud and clear message to not only Busch but the whole garage that his Richard Childress Racing organization isn’t to be messed with. I guarantee you drivers will have second thoughts next time they decide to rough up a Childress owned car.

If all it took was cutting a check for $150k to get that message across, it will be a check Childress will write with a broad smile. After all, there’s a reason the statement he released yesterday didn’t include the words “sorry” or “apologize.”

Childress knew what he was doing, is accepting his punishment without appeal, and is ready to move on and we should do the same.

 

 

 

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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Childress, Gibbs, Harvick, NASCAR, Sub-Feature

Monday’s Thoughts: Edwards Wins Ho-Hum All-Star Race

05/23/2011 By Leave a Comment

It was as memorable a moment as we have seen in quite some time in NASCAR’s annual non-points affair featuring the sports best. A moment that through the years will certainly live on via countless replays and discussion.

The only problem is it didn’t occur in the 100 laps that constituted the 27th running of the All-Star Race. A race that is supposed to be defined by its no holds barred, anything goes, there’s nothing a driver won’t do in an effort to walk away with the million dollar prize awarded to the victor mentality.

Instead, it happened after the race had already been decided and many fans had lost interest in the proceedings when it become all but inevitable that Carl Edwards was going to be the one holding the gaudy oversized check in the winner’s circle.

The moment in question was when Edwards in the usual celebratory fashion, decided to drive through the infield sideways to celebrate his dominating win. A move many drivers before him have performed to commemorate a victory. The only difference this time, due to a dip in the grass, Edwards race-winning Ford Fusion sustained heavy damage to its frontend, and nearly flipped in the process. A car that had been so dominant all night long was suddenly mortal. Steam emanating from its engine and having to be towed to victory lane.

To the victor go the spoils. And after a night where he clearly had the superior car pretty much throughout the 150-mile event, and out restarted Kyle Busch, regarded as the best restarter in the business, for the final 10 lap sprint to the finish, a wrecked racecar is slightly easier to swallow.

“You never know what comes from misfortunes, Edwards rationed, when he spoke with reporters afterwards. “It was definitely unfortunate that I tore up that racecar. Like Bob (crew chief Bob Osborne) said, we got another one at the shop. It might be the difference in winning the race at the Coke 600.

“I’m going to have confidence that something good will come out of it.”

The winning crew chief wasn’t quite as optimistic.

“The only positive I can see here,” said Bob Osborne, “is that Jack [Roush] allows us to build a new car.”

Either way, it’s only fitting that in a race stacked with winners from the last year, along with former series champions and a host of other more than capable drivers, that the guy who’s been the points leader for seven of 11 weeks and has more top-10 finishes than anyone else, was standing the tallest when everything was said and done.

After all, this race is supposed to showcase the best NASCAR has to offer, and there’s little doubt that Edwards, who has one victory this season, and could easily have five others, right now is the best.

The relationship between Edwards and Osborne is one of the best in the garage. Further exemplified when the two put their collective heads together before the fourth and final segment to determine what adjustments needed to be made to withstand the forthcoming onslaught that typically is associated with a 10 lap dash to the checkers.

Being the best is going to pay big dividends for Edwards. And soon.

You see, following the season his contract is up with Roush Fenway Racing. Although, Edwards has stated all along he wants to remain with the only organization he’s ever driven for, he is open to leaving Roush Fenway if another team comes along and offers him a better opportunity to win races more consistently.

His car owner knows there are few, if any, drivers who bring to the table what the 19-time Sprint Cup winner does.

“Carl is a rockstar,” Roush said. “He’s the only back-flipper in the field. He’s the first one to crawl up into the stands. Some of the drivers wouldn’t go up in the stands like that after a race, and for good reason. But Carl, he’s well thought of and he’s out there doing things that other people wish they thought of first, and he drives the hell out of our racecars.

“He’s a draw for sponsors and a rallying point for his team.”

Although on the surface it appears as if Edwards is the one holding all the cards in the negotiations, that’s not necessarily true. The owner dubbed “The Cat In The Hat” actually might be the one sitting in the catbird seat.

As I went in-depth about a few weeks back, Edwards’ options aren’t very intriguing. Barring an unforeseen scenario where a ride unexpectedly opens up at Hendrick, Gibbs, or Childress, there isn’t a team that can offer the All-Star Race winner the caliber of equipment as the team for which he’s currently driving.

Just look what transpired this weekend where the overall strength of Roush Fenway Racing was on full display.

Saturday night, we saw Edwards’ teammate, David Ragan, earn his way into the All-Star Race with a win in the Sprint Showdown qualifier. Later, in the first segment of the four-segment main event, it was Greg Biffle speeding away with the victory, with Edwards taking top honors in the next three segments.

And yesterday, in the Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway, Edwards finished second to Roush developmental driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who posted his first career series victory.

What Edwards needs to ask himself is why would he want to leave an organization which through the first third of the season has clearly established itself as the number one team in NASCAR. Going anywhere else would be considered a downgrade from his current situation, which is the exact opposite of his stated goal of wanting to be aligned with a team that can best help him win races and championships.

For the time being, let’s put the contract stuff on the backburner and acknowledge the almost flawless performance Edwards displayed Saturday night. With one notable exception: An ill-advised trip through the infield.

Perhaps Jack Roush will write that into Edwards’ next contract that he has to stick to celebrating victories with back flips and going into the grandstands to shake hands with the fans?

###

Besides Carl Edwards’ off-road excursion, the one storyline to take away from this year’s All-Star Race, was the lack of action stemming from Saturday night’s festivities.

The All-Star Race is always heavily promoted as the one race each year where drivers let it all hangout, and only care about one thing – winning.

But instead of hard racing with the usual array of drivers vowing revenge in the garage post-race, this year’s race was as bland as a Jimmie Johnson championship speech.

It has nothing to do with the fact that there weren’t any multi-car wrecks or a driver intentionally wrecking another. As I’m not some rube, who only watches racing just for the spectacular wrecks and the fireworks that often follow.

I watch because I want to see the best stockcar drivers in the world go at it with a ferocity that we don’t usual see in the 36 races throughout the year where points are awarded.

That means plenty of hard, clean, side-by-side racing, where no quarter is asked and none is given.

Except there’s no way you could watch all 100 laps Saturday night and think this was somehow different than what we see throughout the season.

But that’s not necessarily the fault of the drivers.

The culprit is how big of a factor being in clear air plays on a track the size of the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Due to aero dynamics and the fact that the tires Goodyear brings to the track are lasting longer, to the point speeds are now the same between a driver with two fresh tires underneath him compared to one with four, cars are more apt to get strung-out. Thusly, we see more single file racing. As you hear all the time, track position is now everything. Even if a driver has a fast car with fresh rubber, it doesn’t mean a thing if they’re running in dirty air.

Nowadays, the quickest way to turn a potentially winning car into average one is put it back in traffic.

However, sometimes there are races where one team hits on a setup and is simply head and shoulders above everyone else. Much like the 99 team was on Saturday.

“The most frustrating part is when you have a shot to win or when you feel like you have a shot to win and something happens to you,” said second-place finisher Kyle Busch. “Those are really frustrating because you never know how it would turn out.

“Tonight we flat out got beat. There’s nothing to hang our heads about; there’s nothing to be frustrated about tonight. We just didn’t quite have enough when we needed it.”

This happens. But that doesn’t excuse what we saw throughout the rest of the field, where things were rather mundane. Especially in light of this being a race where being conservative is the antithesis of what the evening is all about.

“From my vantage point, it was kind of a tame race today. Sorry, we didn’t give you any scoop or drama,” said a smiling Busch.”

I can accept that not every All-Star Race is going to be a gem. But when the drivers start apologizing for the lack of action, it should be cause for concern for everyone involved.

###

Odds & Ends

●To the surprise of no one, Dale Earnhardt won the fans vote and as such, nabbed the final spot in the All-Star Race. Unfortunately, the fans who voted for the 2000 winner of this race weren’t able to help him find the handle on his Chevrolet and he finished a rather pedestrian 14th.

●You don’t often see Chad Knaus make the wrong decision, hence why he’s called “The Mastermind.” But for the second week in a row, he misjudged how many tires to take during a pit stop and it cost his driver a potential victory. Consequently, the indecision by the head wrench for the five-time defending champion may be grating on the nerves of his driver. Usually, Jimmie Johnson is the definition of calm, except on Saturday he and Knaus had quite a few terse exchanges on the radio about the handling of their Chevrolet, as well as track position which the No. 48 team found itself on the wrong end of.

Is this a chink in the armor everyone has been looking for these last five years? No. To me, this is nothing to be concerned about long-term. Saturday was an atypical race all around for a team where anything less than perfection is deemed unacceptable.

●He’s often the butt of my stupid, and let’s be honest, often sophomoric jokes, but let’s give some love to David Ragan who showed fine form in winning the Sprint Showdown. Although the results haven’t always been there in 2011 (remember Daytona?) for the much maligned driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford, the fact is, he has run this season far better than the results showed. Almost to the point it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see Ragan win sometime before the year is out.

 

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Filed Under: Busch, Charlotte, Earnhardt Jr., Edwards, Johnson, Knaus, NASCAR, Ragan, Roush, Thoughts

A Kevin/Kyle Rivalry Is Good For The Sport

05/12/2011 By Leave a Comment

There’s a lot that already has been said, can be said and will continue to be said about what went down between Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch last Saturday night at Darlington Raceway.

As is often the case when it involves drivers all but declaring open warfare on one another, there is a wide spectrum of opinions. Everything from Kyle Busch is a punk who should be suspended for spinning out another car on pit road, to Kevin Harvick should have expected some sort retaliation after the brazen way he went about intentionally dumping Busch last November in the season-finale at Homestead.

However, the following are facts everyone can agree upon:

►Harvick and Busch have open disdain for each other both professionally and personally.

►Each driver is a regular visitor to victory lane – Harvick’s won 16 Sprint Cup races in his career, while Busch has been to the winner’s circle 21 times.

►Along with Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson, both Harvick and Busch are regarded as favorites to win this year’s championship.

►The teams they respectively drive for, Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing, are two of the sports superpowers who continually turnout fast, race-winning machines. Meaning both Harvick and Busch are fixtures up front almost weekly.

►Neither is shy about speaking their mind and sharing their opinion publically. Harvick more so than Busch as Busch is trying to distance himself from the immaturity label that he’s so often been tagged with. To go along with this, neither is shy about using their bumper to pass another car if needed. In fact, both seem to relish the opportunity whenever the situation presents itself.

►Each is sponsored by a recognizable company who adamantly stands behind their respective driver and embraces their individuality, and shall we say, unique personality.

So when you look at the above facts, it was almost a foregone conclusion that over the course of time, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch would have a run-in or two somewhere along the way.

When it inevitably occurred, it would be the equivalent of throwing an open match into a room full of gasoline due to the personalities and circumstances involved.

As was the case at Darlington, when the two beat on each other for a couple of laps, which ultimately collected Harvick’s RCR teammate Clint Bowyer in its wake, and saw Busch intentionally hooking the rear of the No. 29 car and sending him into the wall.

From there, in the video SportsCenter has aired countless times, Harvick tried to corner Busch on pit road while the two were still strapped in their cars. When that proved unsuccessful, Harvick finally got out of his car only to see Busch drive away. But not before the 18 tapped the 29 and turned the unmanned car into the pit wall just as Harvick took a swipe at Busch.

Also not surprising about this whole ordeal is the reaction from NASCAR.

Yesterday, they announced that both drivers would be hit with a $25,000 fine and put on probation for the next four weeks. While on the surface that may seem like a big deal, and an effort to curb any retaliation that may result, in actuality it’s NASCAR’s way of shrugging their shoulders and saying, “Boys, will be boys.”

To the point, the sanctions handed down had nothing to with Busch intentionally spinning out Harvick heading into Turn 1. No, both drivers would have gotten away scot free if they hadn’t made contact on pit road. Understandably, a big no-no for obvious safety reasons because of the number of people in the pits post-race.

You know what? In this era of “Boys, have at it” I’m more than okay with the penalties and the message that was handed down. What happened on the track was fine, but carrying over the skirmish to pit road where an innocent bystander could easily be harmed is unacceptable.

What happened between Harvick and Busch is exactly what NASCAR had in mind when they laid out their new philosophy 15 months ago concerning driver conduct on the track.

While I often decry the premiere motorsports sanctioning body in North America for their inconsistent and often conflicting rulings, they have been remarkably consistent in letting drivers police themselves. Sometimes to the determent of the sport and the safety of its participants; i.e. what transpired last year between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski.

NASCAR was built on the backbone of great rivalries on the track, which frequently extended to fisticuffs and other dirty deeds off of the track.

Despite an era of unprecedented competitiveness, where more cars are contending for wins on a weekly basis than ever before, there has been one common complaint among fans both old and new. The great rivalries that once defined this sport – Pearson vs. Petty, Petty vs. Allison, The Allison’s vs. Yarborough, Yarborough vs. Waltrip, Waltrip vs. Petty, Waltrip vs. Everyone, Earnhardt vs. The Field – have all fallen by the wayside.

The perception among many fans is drivers are too buddy-buddy with one another. When flares of animosity do popup, they’re quickly extinguished due to overzealous sponsors putting pressure on car owners due to concerns that warring drivers might hurt their corporate image.

Longtime fans fondly recall the days when their favorite driver didn’t have to mind their P’s and Q’s and could openly vent their contempt for their counterparts.

Yes, I know drivers still occasionally express hatred towards a fellow competitor, which will occasionally extend to physical contact. Just as we saw last Friday when Ryan Newman popped Juan Pablo Montoya in the NASCAR hauler after the former Indy 500 champion intentionally wrecked Newman the week before at Richmond. Or as the “fight” between Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton last fall at Texas illustrates when Gordon charged Burton after the former thought the latter deliberately wrecked him.

But when was the last time two drivers, each considered one of the favorites to win the title, went at the way Harvick and Busch did Saturday? It’s been a while and certainly not to the level that we witnessed last weekend or even last November at Homestead.

Which in a way is why what happened between Harvick and Busch was so refreshing.

As good as things as things are right now in Sprint Cup with two young upstart drivers pulling off mega-upsets in the two biggest races, Jeff Gordon winning again, Dale Earnhardt Jr. contending again, a great rivalry extending into open bitterness has been the one thing missing.

Not anymore, as we have two championship-caliber drivers not afraid to lay the smack down on and off the track. Be it with their front bumper or barrage of words to each other in the garage. It’s been far too long since we’ve had drivers contending for the title who have such contempt for one another and make no bones about the fact that they will gladly wreck their rival if given the chance.

This is a great thing for the sport. If you don’t believe me, just look at how much publicity the Saturday’s altercation received by the mainstream media.

Although there is some concern that one may step over the line and a situation may arise like what happened last year when Carl Edwards turned Brad Keselowski into a human kite, for now let’s rejoice in what should be pure theatre and high drama as the season rolls into the summer months.

If either does step over the invisible line in what constitutes acceptable behavior on the track, let’s hope NASCAR has the cojones to lay a fitting punishment down on the offending party.

Until then, grab your favorite adult beverage, pull up a chair and enjoy the fireworks show which is surely just getting started.

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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Darlington, Harvick, NASCAR, Sub-Feature

Monday’s Thoughts: Amid Chaos, Regan Smith Emerges

05/09/2011 By Leave a Comment

Let’s make this clear, the Kyle Busch – Kevin Harvick fracas was certainly the A1 story Saturday night. At the very least, this will be the first thing brought up by anyone who follows the sport, casually or otherwise when discussing the Showtime Southern 500.

While there is plenty to say about what happened between the two combatants. Busch and Harvick happen to be NASCAR’s better drivers, and both have a real chance to win the championship. Dare I say there was a far more important occurrence on Saturday evening?

Coming into this weekend Regan Smith had posted just one top-10 finish in 104 career starts — a seventh in the Daytona 500 this past February. For a variety of justifiable reasons, despite being full of promise and potential, he was not looked as a favorite to win.

Namely, he drives for a team, Furniture Row Motorsports, which in seven years of existence and 136 prior races had never come close to winning. They don’t even have their own pit crew. They have to lease one from Stewart-Haas Racing.

All that aide, there was Smith and his lowly single-car team, on a night when cars from the stables of Jack Roush, Joe Gibbs and Team Red Bull dominated for almost the entire evening, holding the winner’s trophy in victory lane.

This isn’t supposed to happen in the granddaddy of them all, the Southern 500.

Historically this is a race dominated by the greats of the sports. Drivers who have the last name Pearson, Petty, Earnhardt or Gordon.

“This is so special,” beamed Smith. “We were looking at the names and faces on the trophy. You think about it; my face is going to be right there next to these guys and it’s going to be there forever. You can’t change that. It certainly means a lot to me.”

One of NASCAR’s four crown jewel races, and on the tricky and treacherous track dubbed “Too Tough to Tame,” this has never been a race where a little known driver with the last name of Smith finds a way to topple the current points leader. Who in this case was Carl Edwards, and with four fresh Goodyear tires underneath him, appeared destine to drive away with the victory.

Yet, thanks to a never give-up attitude, an unwavering belief in himself and his team, as well as a gutty gamble to forsake new tires with 10 laps to go, there was Smith trying furiously to hold off Edwards’ as the two charged towards the checkered flag.

To the point Smith was driving so hard off of Turn 2 on the white flag lap, his black Chevrolet jumped sideways on him and he slapped the outside retaining wall.

Like a veteran, Smith kept his cool and poise. Most importantly, he kept his foot firmly planted on the gas, was able to gather his car back up and still maintain his lead over Edwards’ No. 99 Aflac Ford.

Ultimately crossing the start/finish line ahead of Edwards and in the process picking up his first career victory of what has been a star-crossed career. A career which includes a overruled win at Talladega three years ago being taken away when it was deemed Smith went below the yellow out-of-bounds line to pass race-leader Tony Stewart.

A controversial decision which still rankles many in the garage, who feel Smith was robbed.

“I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t know if I was ever going to get it back,” Smith said referring to his near-miss at Talladega. “To get it back at Darlington, absolutely it’s vindication. Winning here to me means more to me than that win could have ever meant.

“I don’t think I’ll go to bed tonight thinking about Talladega, that’s for sure.”

On this night, David slayed Goliath. Doing so with old tires, an engine and chassis from another team, and with a pit crew he really can’t call his own. It’s not quite a slingshot, but it’s as close as it gets in NASCAR.

Even amid the jubilation of his accomplishment, Smith was able to recognize the improbability of the feat he just pulled off.

“You have the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, the Coke 600, and the Brickyard 400,” Smith said. Those are the four. “And to come here and beat a guy like Carl Edwards, it’s incredible.

“Cinderella story. Whatever is written about it, I’m perfectly fine with it. I don’t care, because we still get a trophy.”

If it felt like you were watching something from yesteryear, you weren’t the only one. Saturday night was like taking a trip back 30 years. To an era when it wasn’t considered implausible that a small single-car team could scrap together the resources to go racing with the hope that through the combination of hard work and a little luck, mixed with some talent they could achieve their dream.

The plight of the small team in today’s big money world of Sprint Cup racing isn’t new. It’s a common gripe among fans and competitors that only a few select organizations get to ascend to the top of the NASCAR Mountain. But twice this season, and in the irony of all ironies, in the two biggest races, it was a small team driving into victory lane.

All the while those larger, better funded operations stood there with their mouths agape wondering how team with a fraction of their budget had just taken it to them.

That’s why if you take away anything from this past weekend, it’s not what’s going to happen next in the Busch – Harvick soap opera. No matter how compelling it may be.

What deserves the spotlight is this: a driver looking for redemption paired with a small team based in Colorado of all places, and not North Carolina, the hub of NASCAR. Who together prevailed in the unlikeliest of fashions in a race they weren’t supposed to win.

Busch and Harvick have had their days in the sun, and they will continue to have many more. This moment belongs to Regan Smith and no one else. So I say let him enjoy it while it lasts.

 

 

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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Darlington, Harvick, NASCAR, Regan Smith, Thoughts

Monday’s Thoughts: Maturity and Teamwork Propel Busch

05/02/2011 By Leave a Comment

Through the early parts of the season, a popular conversation has been whether marriage has mellowed and matured Kyle Busch to the point where he’s ready to seriously contend for his first Sprint Cup championship.

There have never been questions surrounding Busch’s ability to win, something which he’s done all seven seasons he’s run a full Cup schedule. However the question is, can the temperamental and talented driver harness that talent and withstand the rigors of a championship battle?

That won’t be completely answered until the year is up and Busch shows he can put it all together on and off the track during the 10 most pressurized weeks of the NASCAR season, the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

What’s also not open for debate is just how talented a racer the 26-year-old Busch is. This was further exemplified Saturday with a convincing win under the lights in the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Speedway. One that saw him lead 235 out of a possible 400 laps and easily cruise to his second victory of 2011.

“It was a really good evening for us,” said Busch, who now has won the spring Richmond race three years running. “We love coming to Richmond for some reason. It seems to run well for us – we like coming to this place.

“We always tend to have good racecars here.”

While being married will certainly help ground a man (I’ve heard), as will growing old (this I know), another step in the evolution of the “new and mature Kyle Busch” is the closer relationship he has with crew chief Dave Rogers. A partnership that’s had its share of ups and downs, with the most notably down occurring last fall at Texas. That was when Busch melted down on a NASCAR official resulting in him being penalized multiple laps and ended with a plea from Rogers to Busch to stop putting the 18 in a hole they couldn’t climb out of.

Now though, the duo is one of the stronger pairings in the garage.

“I think Kyle and I are definitely a lot closer than we were last year,” said winning the crew chief. “I texted him this week. We didn’t race last weekend and I found myself actually missing him.

“I just enjoy hanging out with Kyle, enjoy spending time with him. Monday is his birthday and I’m excited to have an early happy birthday present.”

Also helping the maturity process is the strong teamwork among the three Joe Gibbs Racing cars. To the point it was Busch’s teammate, Denny Hamlin, who shared some key information with Busch that aided him in securing his 21st-career win. Information neither wanted to disclose post-race and a piece of advice that came back to bite Hamlin as he finished a distant second.

But it speaks volumes about the relationship Busch and Hamlin have, where both go out of their way to help one another. Even if sometimes it can be to the determent of their own gain, much was the case for Hamlin this past weekend.

“They all realize that if I help Denny, Denny in turn is going to help me, and then we can help Joey (Logano),” explained team owner J.D. Gibbs. “It’s kind of one of those things when you give and buy into the concept that, ‘Hey, we are a team, we do help each other out.’ I think ideally you want to race each other for every win, with three of our guys up front at the end of the race. We can live with that outcome, racing each other for the victory. What you don’t want to do is have other guys beating you, you in-house not getting along or communicating.

“I think our guys do a good job. Selfishly they know if they help their teammate out in the long run it’s going to help them out. I think our guys do a good job of that communication, which isn’t easy.”

As he should, considering it’s only to his advantage, it’s a philosophy Busch buys into fully. Who’s to say that this “all for one” mantra combined with his newfound maturity doesn’t payoff for him in an even bigger way and lead him to his first championship six months from now?

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Even though Denny Hamlin was expected to run well this weekend, the fact that he still went out and finished second is a big step towards getting back to the level he was at for almost all of last year.

While a win would be nice for a driver and team that have struggled to find their way this season, rumors surfaced last week (that would later prove to be untrue) of a potential crew chief swap among two of the struggling Joe Gibbs cars. A second-place finish sure is a big boost of confidence for a team that had seemingly been in a funk through the early part of the season.

Although it’s easy to say Hamlin was predicted to run well this weekend, the truth is there already have been a few races this season where they were expected to do well but failed to produce the projected result. First at Phoenix, then at Martinsville followed by Texas, all tracks the No. 11 Toyota dominated at a year ago, but failed to perform well at in 2011.

So to think Hamlin, who coming in had just one top-10 finish in eight races, would be a factor Saturday was not a given.

But there he was running in the top-10 from the drop of the green flag and in position to capitalize if his teammate faltered in the closing laps.

Hamlin certainly hopes this past weekend represents some kind of turning point.

“I hope so,” Hamlin said. “Usually it’s about five, six races before we kind of get going. Maybe it’s just this year, I don’t know what race this is, about eight or so, maybe it’s taken us a few extra races.

“It’s my best finish of the year. I’m ecstatic, to be honest with you. You can’t be mad at second place. Yeah, I want to win, trust me. It burns that you didn’t win. But how we didn’t win I can live with.”

However one race doesn’t erase the previous eight. If Hamlin comes out and resumes his inconsistent ways at Darlington in the Southern 500, a race where he is the defending champion, doubt is again going to creep up. People will wonder if he still hasn’t put how 2010 ended behind him. And finishing second on a track where he generally runs well is quite a bit different from winning regularly like he did a year ago. Something Hamlin knows all too well.

“We know when we come to these racetracks we’re going to be contenders for a win,” said Hamlin. “I never even thought about one struggle that we had earlier in the year when we come here to Richmond. It’s like, Okay, we should win, regardless of what’s happened, how bad we ran up until this point. You forget about all that when you go to a racetrack that you have a lot of success. Hopefully this is the point in which we turn it around.”

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Typically Richmond is a good track for both Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, where combined, the two have six victories. Though both left Richmond with top-10 finishes, it didn’t appear from the outset that either was going to have a productive night.

Johnson struggled with the handle of his Lowes Chevrolet so much so he found himself a lap down at one point.

But as they’ve been known to do, the 48 team continued to fight and eventually hit on a setup that worked well enough for them to get back on the lead lap courtesy of the Lucky Dog, and eventually leave the D-shaped track with an eighth-place finish.

The night Johnson had was almost a mirror image of the one experienced by Stewart. Who like Johnson at one point was a lap down, but persevered, got his lap back via the Lucky Dog and posted his first top-10 since finishing second at Las Vegas six races ago.

Not that the owner-driver was pleased with the result which netted him a ninth-place finish, offering a pretty direct assessment of where he thought his team was at nine races into the season.

“We suck right now. I am embarrassed about how bad our stuff is.”

Okay than, so much for thinking he would credit his crew for their hard-fought effort. Perhaps next time?

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Odds & Ends

►David Ragan’s fourth-place run was his first top-five finish in over two full years since finishing third at Talladega in the fall of 2008.

►Carl Edwards had a relatively quiet fifth-place finish, yet still was able to post his fifth top-five of 2011 and retained his points lead over Jimmie Johnson.

►Thanks to a late-race pit stop, which forced him to forfeit his running position inside the top-10, Dale Earnhardt Jr. saw his streak of seven consecutive races of finishing 12th or better come to an end as he came home 19th. Afterwards, a presumably frustrated Earnhardt didn’t meet with reporters, a move atypical of the sports most popular driver.

►A sixth-place finish by Clint Bowyer was his fifth straight of ninth or better and moved him up to seventh overall in the championship order.

►It was a great weekend all-around for Dave Blaney. First, midweek he and team owner Tommy Baldwin announced Golden Corral would sponsor the team for 19 of the 28 remaining races. This deal will allow the underfunded single-car team to race, and not have to resort to starting-and-parking. Secondly, Saturday night Blaney finished a surprising 13th which marked his best result since a 12th-place at Dover September of 2008, a span of 76 races.

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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media/Getty Images

Filed Under: Busch, Gibbs, Hamlin, Johnson, NASCAR, Richmond, Rogers, Stewart, Thoughts
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