Busch dominate, but still has strong competition
I would have to sum up what I saw last
weekend at Darlington Raceway as bizarre. Guys who I thought would be
considered contenders weren't — at least not to the degree I expected
them to be.
I watched a young man challenge "The Track Too Tough to Tame"
like I haven't seen in a long time, if ever, for that matter. Kyle
Busch went out there and bounced that car off the wall I don't know how
many times, and I swear he even got faster instead of slower. No matter
what was thrown at him, he was not going to be denied that race
victory.
You heard a number of times on our broadcast from us,
crew chiefs and even spotters saying he wouldn't survive the way he was
driving. That's what makes it so bizarre: He was not supposed to, he
should not have been able to. We watched guys like Kevin Harvick, who
was not doing anything crazy, have his car come out from underneath him
and fall completely out of the race. Yet Kyle seemed to hit the wall as
many times as rookie Sam Hornish Jr. did, but he never had that final
blow that put him out of contention for the win.
It truly was
phenomenal to go back days after the Darlington race and reflect back
on what we witnessed. It simply wasn't supposed to happen. You are not
supposed to challenge "The Lady in Black" with that kind of aggression
and get by with it, let alone win the race like Kyle did.
I
watched a guy like Jeff Gordon go the whole night without a mark on his
car. When you do that, we consider that a perfect race — yet he was not
a factor in the finale like you would have expected. You are simply not
supposed to have a car looking like Kyle's did at the end of the race
and that car be in Victory Lane. For whatever reason, Kyle, his crew
chief Steve Addington and the entire No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team
pulled it off.
You can lay it on Lady Luck, the Racing Gods or
that he is one of the most unbelievable wheel-men we have ever seen in
recent years. Maybe we are going through in NASCAR what golf went
through with Tiger Woods. All these other teams are going to have to
raise the bar if they want to beat Kyle at his game.
But wait, there's more
But
that doesn't mean that Busch is unbeatable. I believe there are guys
out there that can and are ready to challenge the No. 18.
Carl Edwards is the kind of race car driver that can go toe-to-toe with
Kyle Busch. Carl may be the guy you're looking for if you want the Ali
vs. Frazier scenario. This could be a good one between these two.
I also don't think you want to leave Dale Earnhardt Jr. too far out of
the mix. I think Dale is doing what he thinks is right to get himself
into the championship-deciding Chase for the Sprint Cup. In my mind,
the No. 88 team has just about racked up enough points to where Junior
can start taking a few more chances and laying it out on the line a
little bit more. I think as we go along here, if he feels he needs to
throw a little bit more "caution to the wind" here or there to win a
race, he can do it. He's in position and he definitely has the talent
to run with Kyle Busch. Goodness knows Dale Jr. has the motivation.
I also think that Busch's two teammates at JGR, Denny Hamlin and Tony
Stewart, could boost their games and go on top. Stewart hasn't won this
season, but he can definitely respond to the pressure of his teammates
winning. Tony has never had a lot of success at Darlington, but if he
hadn't gotten caught up in the Elliott Sadler wreck, I think he had a
car that could have ended the night in the top five. Tony has always
been known as a "second half of the season" racer. That No. 20 team
historically has been known to get stronger as the season goes on. I am
not for one minute going to believe that Tony Stewart is any less a
driver than Kyle Busch.
Another guy who isn't going
to roll over and play dead is Jimmie Johnson. He and crew chief Chad
Knaus don't like not being talked about. They've had it their way the
last couple of years. They don't like not being considered a factor. I
think this group will turn it around and make it happen.
Final Darlington thoughts
I also think you have to give driver David Ragan a big pat on the back because it was a great run by him...
Bobby
Labonte had a solid run all night long. It's just that time of year
when we are starting to see who wants to be a challenger for that Top
12. For the next month and a half, I think we are going to have a real
dogfight from about eighth in the points back to 15th position. It is
going to be important that these guys stay focused and stay on track ...
We
don't have a lot more breaks coming up anytime soon as we head into the
summer months and then into Labor Day. I think some of these guys, like
Dale Earnhardt Jr., are trying to put points on the board. It will
serve two purposes. It will allow them to take some chances when they
want to plus it will give them a little pad in case they have a couple
bad races and protect themselves from falling out of the Top 12 for the
Chase.
Pit Crew School
At PIT Instruction and Training in Mooresville, N.C., we teach young men and women how to work on pit road. They learn the basic elements of how to change a tire, jack a car, put a tire on a race car if you are a tire carrier, gas the car and how to properly set up pits. We provide an understanding of pit road rules by which NASCAR lives and dies. We hope that everybody graduates, but just because you pay your money, you don't automatically get a certificate become a pit crew member. You have to earn that right by passing all of our requirements. If you get through our eight week program, we work with you to get opportunities with Craftsman Truck teams, Hooters All-Pro teams and ARCA teams. Race teams call us regularly, and every week, we send out crew members to go over the wall and gain that valuable race track experience. We've had a very high success rate in placing a number of our students in the Busch Series as well as the NEXTEL Cup Series. If you have an interest in learning what it takes to be a pit crew member, the all you have to do is log on to www.5off5on.com or www.pitcrewu.com and we can hook you up.
HOLY SMOKES!! Go to the scrap book and look at pics from my MONSTER TRUCK debut.
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Thanks for stopping by,
Jeff
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