Hotmail
Busch gets whacked, recovers and wins
Around the track
 |
Follow the action:
Watch:
Picture perfect:
Read all about it:
- Dale Jr. would consider racing Indy 500
- Eury Jr.: Split with Junior was needed
- Mayfield won't race at Chicagoland
Analysis:
I got to see a great fireworks show Friday night over on the river and then a great fireworks show on the track on Saturday. I went up on pit road for awhile. About halfway through the race things seemed to have settled down and I thought my prediction of either Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart going to win the race might be coming true.
They both had strong cars. I thought late in the race that Jeff definitely had the car to beat, but we saw what happened to him. I am not sure what happened to Tony. I texted him to see if he was alright. He texted me back and said he just didn't feel good and was going to the doctor. So I hope he is OK. You can drive a race car better when you are hurt than when you are sick. You just can't drive a race car when you are sick. Anyway, I hope he gets to feeling better.
Saturday night up to about halfway or so it looked like it was going to be the typical follow-the-leader race. The last 25 to 30 laps, though, that thing got wild. Guys were running over each other and banging into each other. That is one thing about this new car, she is like a battleship. You can slam into the wall, you can slam into each other, you can run her into the crash or down on the apron or whatever, and she keeps on going.
That's a good thing about the old girl, she is pretty tough. A great example of that is when Denny Hamlin sent Kyle Busch down on the apron. I don't know how in the world the kid held onto it, but he did. When he was complaining about the steering I figured he knocked the tow out and it won't drive right and Kyle was done for. But his crew chief Steve Addington kept him calm and got his composure back. They worked on the car and very methodically worked their way back up through the field. Then at the end of the race, Kyle was racing for the win.
You know, I thought we got rid of the Busch series? But all they did was move over to the Cup side. Baby brother Kyle has won six times so far and older brother Kurt has won once, so that's like 40 percent of the wins so far by a Busch. I don't see Kyle slowing down by any means. I have said it before, but he is showing me he has the total package this year be it on superspeedways, 1.5s, short tracks or road courses.
I've also always said it's not all him. You have to give Addington and that entire team equal credit. They are the ones that give him the type of car that he needs to go drive the way he does, which is as hard as it will go every lap. The thing hangs together and handles really well. That's what is putting them in Victory Circle, a total team effort.
I still say this car they are racing today has some issues. It is heavy on the right side. Because of its high roll center, you might say it's an SUV trying to act like a race car. That's kind of what I would compare it to. I guess we aren't going to get anything done to it this year, but it still needs to be tweaked. It has things I love about it — for example, did you see what happened to Ryan Newman the other night?
When the car gets sideways, like Ryan did, it straightens right up. There are things about the car that are cool. They don't offset the thing being heavy on the right side, which means Goodyear has to build a really tough, hard tire that won't give them any tire problems.
That's why we are getting some of these gas-mileage races. The tires are harder than they need to be because the car is heavier than it needs to be. So the tires are lasting longer. It used to be when you put four tires on, you could pass people. Now, if you put tires on, you lose track position and you are toast. The race car used to be an offensive-type car, but the way this new car is designed, it has become a defensive-type car.
It seems all you try to do now is get track position. Then once you get it, you simply hold onto it because the tires are so hard that again, they are lasting longer. Now if it's anywhere near the end of the race and if you are possibly in or close to your fuel window, you go for it. So it's a different strategy and it's all because of how this car is built. Don't get me wrong, I am not down on the car, but I still believe it needs some work done on it.
Pit problems
Safety has come so far since 2001. The cars, the tracks, the seats, the safety devices in the cars, the safety devices the drivers wear, and all these innovations have improved the conditions for the drivers. But the one thing that hasn't improved — and somebody has to put their foot down about it — is pit road. Week in and week out we are seeing pit roads that are inadequate. The pit boxes are too small. The pit roads are too narrow. People are running over each other and crew members are getting knocked down. I just think at some point in time, they have to look at making improvements to pit road. It seems like there is more racing on pit road than on the race track this year, so they need to improve the conditions of pit road. There are a number of tracks where the pit roads are just horrendous.
And while I am on the subject of safety, I would never call it a Green-White-Checker. I think it should be called Green-White-WRECKER. There are a few places where you can get away with a green-white-checker, but Talladega and Daytona aren't among them. How many times have we seen wrecks based on green-white-checkers?
I think it's something that is dangerous. It just sets these guys up to run over each other and wreck each other. It's because it's set up for an all-or-nothing finish. That's a tough way to have to race. We saw it again Saturday night.
Testing redux
I have mentioned it before and as recently as last week's column, but we HAVE to test at the track we race at. We have to test on the tires we are going to race on. These teams are going all over the country testing, spending countless amount of dollars but they are testing on other makes of tires than they race on. I think they are getting bad information from these tests.
Be There!
Visit SPEEDtv.com for the latest NASCAR show schedules.
Like I said last week, open the track a day earlier. Let the teams come in and test on the tires that are going to be used that weekend. Let the teams use telemetry during that day. You are at the right track with the right tires. Plus, the added benefit is you will have some kind of benchmark about how you compare to your competition. There is no reason why we couldn't open the tracks a day early and let these teams test on the track they are going to race on.
Well, the only reason I can think of that why there is resistance to this idea has nothing to do with the teams. It has to do with NASCAR. If you open the track a day earlier, that means the NASCAR officials have to be there a day earlier too. So guess who that is going to cost a little extra money?
The other thing is, if you want to save the teams money, work on the schedule. If you look at the way the schedule is, we criss-cross the country all summer long. With fuel as high as it is and the travel expense as high as it is, somebody has to have the nerve to sit down and take a hard look at building a more efficient race schedule.
They should look at regionalizing a number of races together where it makes more sense. They also need to look at the weather. They need to look at how far it is from one event to another. They need to group these races up so they make more sense than going from one side of the country to the other side and then back again. These teams don't need to be criss-crossing the country a dozen different times. I think the schedule needs a hard, hard look at it. Clean it up and make it more efficient for these teams. What good does it do to go to California when its 120 degrees, or going to California when they are in their rainy season? Some of these races need to be moved around based on their weather history. Think about poor Atlanta and their constant weather issues because of where they are on the schedule. In addition to the teams, think about the fans. Why force them to spend their hard-earned money, especially in today's economy, when you know you are going to a place that is historically blazing hot or a monsoon just because that's where it's forced to be slotted on the schedule.
The war on drugs
Something I applaud NASCAR about is that they are continuing to work on the drug-testing policy. Sometimes issues that blow hot for a short while tend to cool down and then you don't hear much about it ever again. But I am hearing that NASCAR is continuing to work on that and it's good they are because I believe that is also a very important issue for the good of our sport.
Bill France Jr. once told me that the biggest challenges this sport would face would not be on the race track but off of it. I didn't understand what he meant at the time, but now it's lawsuits, drug testing, the economy and issues like that. Bill Jr. was just like his dad. He had vision. He had the ability to see the big picture, anticipate what was going to happen and be ready for it.
OH BY THE WAY
Speaking of the schedule, one of the things I think that has hurt people watching our sport on TV is all the different times the races start. There needs to be more consistency in the start times of these races. Sunday morning as I was getting ready to leave Daytona, I was watching the folks in the infield packing up. They were taking their time because they were going to get home at a decent time on Sunday and still be able to be at work on Monday. If there was a Sunday night race, then those poor folks would have to try and rush out Sunday night to make work on Monday.
If you are going to race on Sunday, every race should start at 1 p.m. — and I don't mean the pre-race show, I mean the race. You can go to church, then go to lunch and get home and know that the race begins at 1 p.m. every Sunday. It's no different than the NFL. Everyone knows that NFL games start at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Sundays. You can set your watch by it. I think it would help our sport and our TV audience if we had that same kind of consistency.
OH BY THE WAY II
Thanks for all the great comments based on last week's column. I love that you use the site and I am glad you make comments and include me in them. Keep up the good work and I will do the same!
Add a comment
advertisement
