This writer is having trouble pulling his thoughts together to preview this week’s action because Kyle Busch’s idiotic antics in Nashville Saturday night just won’t go away. What a freakin’ jerk! A trophy is something of honor, a work of art, but as if any race trophy is more important than another (well, surely there’s not a driver around who wouldn’t love the Harley Earle trophy from Daytona), to be presented a beautiful Gibson Les Paul guitar custom painted by NASCAR artist, Sam Bass, confirms what a total PUNK younger Busch is. Sure, NASCAR lore is full of bad boys most of whom we remember as the drivers they grew up to be not what was though of them when they started, but Kyle Busch has some special qualities, contempt for fans, contempt for the sport, and contempt for tradition that are difficult to stomach.
So in attempting to write a somewhat objective review of the upcoming event in Michigan, it’s hard not want to see some other driver accomplish in whacking the #18 Toyota what Busch couldn’t pull off with the revered Gibson guitar.
So what of the NASCAR bad boys? There was a time, this writer clearly felt Anybody but Gordon. That feeling mellowed with age. These days, it never feels good to see Jimmie Johnson win a race no matter how cool and sharp his crew chief Chad Knauss is. Hopefully with all the rationalizing and excuses, Jeremy Mayfield will never start another NASCAR race. Why can’t he just go away.
The big story going into Michigan is the auto industry itself. With General Motors and Chrysler in government hands and Richard Petty Racing having to lay off employees and cut salaries for not getting reimbursed by Dodge, race fans have to wonder to what extent will this impact the sport? Dodge could disappear tomorrow and have little impact on the sport assuming Penske and Petty could get new equipment, but Chevrolet has been the backbone of the sport for decades. Aside from two Pontiac championships from the Joe Gibbs garage and three Ford championships, one Yates, two Roush, it’s been all Chevy since Alan Kulwicki raced two other Ford teams for the 1992 championship.
Part two of this story is the state of Michigan itself. Will there be a smaller audience to enjoy the race? What impact will there be on track vendors and concessions? A few stops on the Sprint Cup schedule have special symbolism for the sport tied to the history of the sport and the automotive industry, like Charlotte, Darlington, and Daytona, Michigan is such a place.
Stewart-Haas racing has to be the big story of the 2009 season so far. Aside from some hard luck race track incidents for Ryan Newman early in the year, the dynamic duo of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman keep getting stronger with each week’s competition, then came the big break, the powerful win in the Sprint Cup All-Star race, but since that race doesn’t tally up points, it took a points race to make it official as was proven last week at Pocono. Both drivers are almost sure locks to be in the Chase after the field is determined in September after the second Richmond race. Tony Stewart is known as strong second half driver. Ryan Newman is one of the best qualifiers.
Jimmie Johnson is locked in position to push for his fourth championship, and like Stewart, is a strong second half driver. Jeff Gordon has been strong most of the year, and surely could compete for title number five if his back problems don’t drive him crazy. Beyond all those Hendricks powered cars, could Carl Edwards or another Roush driver slide into the picture? Probably. Yes, that pain-in-the-butt punk, Kyle Busch could be a factor too. A little bit of consistency and suddenly his season is in championship caliber shape but if there’s any driver who will get ZERO cooperation from the rest of the field, L’Enfant Terrible is the guy. Naturally, many race fans would love to see Mark Martin make the trip. While he might win some more races, his week-to-week consistency hasan’t added up so far.
Dale Earnhardt Junior remains a big story for the total futility of Team 88 so far. Of course the same could be said of Kevin Harvick, but he isn’t the son of a seven time champion and the sports’ most popular driver. Media types are blaming the decline in NASCAR attendance and viewership in part on Junior’s struggles. That’s quite a burden to put on just another fellow. If there’s a silver lining to Earnhardt’s misery tour, he was the winner of this event last year.
Since 2002, the first Michigan event has not been kind to Chevrolet, Earnhardt’s victory is the only one since Jeff Gordon’s 2001 victory. Four races belong to the Jack Roush gang, two victories were Dodge teams, Kasey Kahne, the most recent in 2006. The Roush gang needs a real boost to feel like their top three drivers: Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth haven’t come close to sealing the deal yet. Meanwhile, Jamie McMurray lags behind, and after a promising year last year, David Regan has struggled miserably this year.
In the Dodge camp, Kurt Busch has fallen off recently, but is the strongest Mopar driver. His teammate, Sam Hornish Jr. is becoming a legitimate competitor showing grow as the season goes on. Things are tougher for the Petty-Gillette-Evernham operation only beginning to roll out the new Dodge engine with Kasey Kahne as the only driver in line to use it on an intermittent basis. It was the middle part of the season last year when Kahne enjoyed his greatest success.
Last week’s Pocono race brought more attention to the “Start and Park” non-competitors, teams that qualify for the race but head for the garage before the first pit-stop avoiding the expense of a set of tires. One has to wonder, would NASCAR be better off reducing the number of starting positions to make sure that whatever number of drivers take the green flag, they’re all in it to win it. Under the present system it would be difficult to enforce any kind of sanctions against such teams. They seem to leave for mysterious ailments like vibrations.
Meanwhile, can somebody please create a new version of “Whack a Mole” where the player gets to smack Kyle Busch over the head with a nice guitar? When there are blog responses out there that start with, “I defend Kyle’s right under the Constitution to do what he did to the Sam Bass guitar….” So let’s get this straight, freedom of speech, press, religion? Right to assembly? What about the guitar’s constitutional rights to be secure?
So in attempting to write a somewhat objective review of the upcoming event in Michigan, it’s hard not want to see some other driver accomplish in whacking the #18 Toyota what Busch couldn’t pull off with the revered Gibson guitar.
So what of the NASCAR bad boys? There was a time, this writer clearly felt Anybody but Gordon. That feeling mellowed with age. These days, it never feels good to see Jimmie Johnson win a race no matter how cool and sharp his crew chief Chad Knauss is. Hopefully with all the rationalizing and excuses, Jeremy Mayfield will never start another NASCAR race. Why can’t he just go away.
The big story going into Michigan is the auto industry itself. With General Motors and Chrysler in government hands and Richard Petty Racing having to lay off employees and cut salaries for not getting reimbursed by Dodge, race fans have to wonder to what extent will this impact the sport? Dodge could disappear tomorrow and have little impact on the sport assuming Penske and Petty could get new equipment, but Chevrolet has been the backbone of the sport for decades. Aside from two Pontiac championships from the Joe Gibbs garage and three Ford championships, one Yates, two Roush, it’s been all Chevy since Alan Kulwicki raced two other Ford teams for the 1992 championship.
Part two of this story is the state of Michigan itself. Will there be a smaller audience to enjoy the race? What impact will there be on track vendors and concessions? A few stops on the Sprint Cup schedule have special symbolism for the sport tied to the history of the sport and the automotive industry, like Charlotte, Darlington, and Daytona, Michigan is such a place.
Stewart-Haas racing has to be the big story of the 2009 season so far. Aside from some hard luck race track incidents for Ryan Newman early in the year, the dynamic duo of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman keep getting stronger with each week’s competition, then came the big break, the powerful win in the Sprint Cup All-Star race, but since that race doesn’t tally up points, it took a points race to make it official as was proven last week at Pocono. Both drivers are almost sure locks to be in the Chase after the field is determined in September after the second Richmond race. Tony Stewart is known as strong second half driver. Ryan Newman is one of the best qualifiers.
Jimmie Johnson is locked in position to push for his fourth championship, and like Stewart, is a strong second half driver. Jeff Gordon has been strong most of the year, and surely could compete for title number five if his back problems don’t drive him crazy. Beyond all those Hendricks powered cars, could Carl Edwards or another Roush driver slide into the picture? Probably. Yes, that pain-in-the-butt punk, Kyle Busch could be a factor too. A little bit of consistency and suddenly his season is in championship caliber shape but if there’s any driver who will get ZERO cooperation from the rest of the field, L’Enfant Terrible is the guy. Naturally, many race fans would love to see Mark Martin make the trip. While he might win some more races, his week-to-week consistency hasan’t added up so far.
Dale Earnhardt Junior remains a big story for the total futility of Team 88 so far. Of course the same could be said of Kevin Harvick, but he isn’t the son of a seven time champion and the sports’ most popular driver. Media types are blaming the decline in NASCAR attendance and viewership in part on Junior’s struggles. That’s quite a burden to put on just another fellow. If there’s a silver lining to Earnhardt’s misery tour, he was the winner of this event last year.
Since 2002, the first Michigan event has not been kind to Chevrolet, Earnhardt’s victory is the only one since Jeff Gordon’s 2001 victory. Four races belong to the Jack Roush gang, two victories were Dodge teams, Kasey Kahne, the most recent in 2006. The Roush gang needs a real boost to feel like their top three drivers: Edwards, Greg Biffle, and Matt Kenseth haven’t come close to sealing the deal yet. Meanwhile, Jamie McMurray lags behind, and after a promising year last year, David Regan has struggled miserably this year.
In the Dodge camp, Kurt Busch has fallen off recently, but is the strongest Mopar driver. His teammate, Sam Hornish Jr. is becoming a legitimate competitor showing grow as the season goes on. Things are tougher for the Petty-Gillette-Evernham operation only beginning to roll out the new Dodge engine with Kasey Kahne as the only driver in line to use it on an intermittent basis. It was the middle part of the season last year when Kahne enjoyed his greatest success.
Last week’s Pocono race brought more attention to the “Start and Park” non-competitors, teams that qualify for the race but head for the garage before the first pit-stop avoiding the expense of a set of tires. One has to wonder, would NASCAR be better off reducing the number of starting positions to make sure that whatever number of drivers take the green flag, they’re all in it to win it. Under the present system it would be difficult to enforce any kind of sanctions against such teams. They seem to leave for mysterious ailments like vibrations.
Meanwhile, can somebody please create a new version of “Whack a Mole” where the player gets to smack Kyle Busch over the head with a nice guitar? When there are blog responses out there that start with, “I defend Kyle’s right under the Constitution to do what he did to the Sam Bass guitar….” So let’s get this straight, freedom of speech, press, religion? Right to assembly? What about the guitar’s constitutional rights to be secure?
We can only hope the the punk never wins at Martinsville. Imagine what this immature rube might be tempted to do to a beautiful grandfather clock. At least he'd fit right in on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Anybody but Kyle Busch, baby!!!!
Anybody but Kyle Busch, baby!!!!
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