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Young driver likes old track
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When you saw someone driving aggressively and hustling a race car, you just knew they probably wouldn't last. They would usually end up beating themselves. Saturday night you heard Greg Biffle's crew chief tell his driver not worry about letting Kyle Busch by because he wouldn't be there at the end of the race with the way he was driving. That's a perfect example of what I am talking about.
That's the old Darlington and that's how I kind of thought Saturday night would go. Remember this, when we looked at that track, with these new cars and that smooth, fast surface, well, you can see where we were coming from. There were an incredible amount of unknowns. There were so many things leading into Saturday night's race that you might think it was going to be a disaster.
So they throw the green flag and in the first couple laps you had Elliot Sadler wrecking and taking Tony Stewart with him. I have passed a million cars going down on the apron, but that's where the cross-over move came into play. Let the guy on the inside go and enter that corner real hard. He then would slide up the hill and you cut under him, pass him and go on. That's what we anticipated happening there because that's always what has happened in the past.
Well, guess what? With this new surface, this new car plus the tires they had, they were able to do things at Darlington Saturday night that I had never seen before. I have never seen so many cars running so fast and bouncing off the wall — but they just kept going!
I have to tell you something. There is not another wall in racing that has been used like the ones in Darlington. If you just look at all the cars that got into the wall over the three days the Nationwide and Cup teams were in Darlington, there simply isn't another wall in racing that gets used and abused like the Lady In Black does. It doesn't matter if it's concrete, guardrail or the SAFER Barrier, the Darlington Stripe lives and lives large at that place.
The beautiful thing about this new car is that you can literally lie against the wall and rub the side of that car on the SAFER Barrier and get away with it. I think it is all that foam protectant in the right side of the car. I think the way the car is built and the SAFER Barrier just complement each other. I have never seen a car hit the wall and continue racing the way I saw Kyle Busch's hit the wall Saturday night. Sparks flew, dust flew and the car jumped up in the air and he should have been out of the race, but he never lost the lead.
That's a tribute to him and his driving ability. It's also a tribute to the car and how tough that thing is. This car will definitely take a licking and keep on ticking. From the start of the race we got the early caution, but then it basically settled down and it became casual contact. You can actually get away with casual contact at Darlington now.
Around the field
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Final thought
Overall I thought it was great. The car complemented the track. The new surface is extraordinary. I got to drive the track Friday in my FOX Drive and Ride car and I loved the track. They have a great new tunnel and the expansion plans for the track are exciting. Track president Chris Browning and his crew down there have done a phenomenal job. I just hope ISC, which owns the track, will let them continue to improve what I think is our shrine. Darlington is a part of our history and heritage and the old girl deserves to be well taken care of.
Oh, by the way
So you would think that an old track and a young driver wouldn't go well together. But the new Darlington is so much faster and with Kyle's driving style, well folks, I respect his driving. I have seen him do things with race cars that I haven't seen anyone do in years. We met with Coach Gibbs and his son, J.D. and I know for a fact they are working on his interview skills. They are trying to help him with that but he is a 23-year-old kid and he is having the time of his life. He is loving life large right now.
The only thing that made me feel bad was Saturday night during Driver Introductions. Yes I know folks were still upset about Richmond, but golly, cut him some slack, he was introduced with his brother and his mother. I hated that for his mom. She didn't need to hear all that, especially on Mother's Day weekend. The young man will mature and who knows he might one day be voted NASCAR's Most Popular Driver. Take it from me, you just never know!
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