Rumors of Kyle Busch’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Busch showed a new found resilience by taking the checkered flag at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The win for Busch is a much-needed win as he is one of a pack of drivers trying to fight their way into the chase. The win is even more huge as the winner of his fourth Sprint Cup race is trying to race in from the outside, not an easily achieved feat when you’re trying to race past wily veterans like Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin.
Even more challenging for Kyle is he didn’t by any means have the best car on this night. He was just “o.k.” in qualifying, starting 15th on the grid. Pole sitter Mark Martin- making his 1,000th NASCAR start (that total encompasses Cup, Nationwide and truck competition)- was simply strong out of the gate. Yes, a loose condition caused him to surrender the lead to Greg Biffle on the opening lap, but the 50-year-old winner of a combined 94 races was at the front all night long.
Speaking of Biffle, he was another racer needing a good night. While he would eventually yield to the “5″ and had his ups and downs in terms of track position, Biffle managed a finish of fourth- and believe it or not, he actually gained two spots in the points to 8th. Roush- Fenway has had much recent success here, but Biffle’s performance led the way for Jack Roush and company. Carl Edwards finish of 16th was no small feat considering his starting position. Matt Kenseth- like Biffle- had his shares of struggles. Crew chief Drew Blickensderfer went the wrong way on tire pressures on one stop. In spite of it all, Kenseth worked his way to a 10th place finish and he leads 13th place Kyle Busch by 34 points in the standings.
Jimmie Johnson had another one of his “Jimmie Johnson nights.” The
defending champ started deep in the field, but worked his way towards the front. He hung with Martin quite well through the middle portion of the race and actually took the lead from “The Kid” when he got held up by Kasey Kahne in traffic.
Johnson got bit by the bug of adversity on pit road. Apparently, the jack dropped too soon while the right rear tire was being changed and Johnson was called back in by crew chief Chad Knaus. He managed to salvage an 8th place finish and leap frogs past jeff Gordon in the points. Gordon’s weekend of frustration was capped off with a 23rd place finish.
Gordon wasn’t the only top driver off his game. Points leader Tony Stewart struggled with radio communication at the outset of the race and his fortunes went downhill from there. Guess he’s mortal after all. Smoke ended up 33rd on the night, easily his worst race of the season, but still maintains a healthy led over his challengers.
Kasey Kahne was also off. He struggled to a 28th place finish and drops to 11th in the in the standings. Juan Pablo Montoya started very well, but struggled to a 25th place night. JPM sits just ahead of Martin in 9th.
How about Marcos Ambrose- he’s not just racy on road courses. “Kangaroo Meat” takes a third place finish home in just his second Cup start on the track. Denny Hamlin overcame a bad starting spot to finish in the top five. Ryan Newman logged a solid top ten, his first since Chicago. It’s a night he needs with all the stiff competition. Newman presently sits in seventh for the year.
Kurt Busch had a great car and ran top five most of the night. He got caught in the mayhem that brought out the eighth caution of the night. The Blue Deuce hung tough to finish seventh. Dale Earnhardt Jr. got his second straight top ten. At one point, Junior looked to be a dark horse threat to win it should Busch or Martin falter.
While Shrub’s chase fortunes improve, Brian Vickers hangs on with a finish of 11th. He struggled most of the night, but managed to capitalize on the carnage in front of him. Clint Bowyer’s chase fortunes were dealt a hard hit with his 21st place finish and it will take a Herculian effort to make it now.
It was a very unusual post- race. Busch was almost apologetic for stealing the show on Martin’s special night. he was quick to credit the veteran for a clean, well-run race and admitted Martin had the better car. For his part, Martin seemed prepared to make use of the chrome horn if necessary, but he credited Busch for giving room and Martin conceded he just couldn’t catch the “18″- frustrated by all the re-starts at the end- knowing he had a better “long run” car.
Like those Washington Redskins teams old, the Joe Gibbs team piloted by Kyle Busch is pulling together. Could this night be a another step in the 24-year-old’s maturation process?
Stay tuned. It might be.
PHOTO CREDITS- Kyle Buch photos by Bristol Motor Speedway. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the link.
{ 2 comments }
is it just me or what, has Nascar finally made their racing so damm boring that Bristol is actually borilng too, I could hardly watch that mess last night and after all these years I have finally realized why Martin has never won a Title, he is to worried about what the other drivers or the media will think of him the next day, can you imagine little Buschie blocking the track like he did last night with Earnhardt or ever Stewart, no would not happen. To think if you spent hundreds of dollars to go there and sat there and watched that boring crap and the little idiot ends up winning, damm I would have said NO MORE last race, as I have done, will never attend another on until alot is changed in Nascar.
John-
I’m glad to see that you’ve come to the realization that NASCAR isn’t what you want to watch. Now, go back to your monster trucks and demo derbies and leave the racing to those who understand the subtleties of long-mile strategies, thank you.
Bristol has returned to the racing it had before concrete was installed when there was actual passing, not a single file parade that required knocking your opponent out of the way to advance positions. Johnboy has mistakenly called this racing for the last ten years. I repeat…it’s NOT ‘bump to pass’ in NASCAR.
Yes, Martin had a chance, there with two laps to go, but decided not to use the ‘chrome horn’. If it was Vickers, Kyle woulda had another opportunity to whine like a baby. But…some use the horn, some use the strategy.
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