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I walk away from today’s race in Kansas with the same reaction I frequently had with a former co-worker who just tended to babble on in unrelated cliches: Huh?
I should have known something was up when the answering machine at home featured a cryptic message from my brother-in-law Brad. He with an evil Beavis-n-Butthead laugh and a “watch what happens around lap 30″ remark. I’ll let you in on a little secret: we frequently have to TiVo the races because we’re usually in church when a race starts 10 am PST. Given the fact he returns home earlier than we do, we often get such messages when something good, interesting or downright bizarre happens. In today’s case, the latter occurred on cue.
In my mind, it ranks up there with the Busch race in Montreal as the weirdest race we’ve had all year. Everything started out the way you’d expect with all the usual suspects (Kenseth, the Busch boys) running up front and all the usual suspects (Michael Waltrip, Scott Riggs) fading back after qualifying well. Then, as promised, Junior inexplicably whacks Kyle Busch on lap 28 for no apparent reason. Now I am no real fan of the #5 Kellogg’s Chevy, but it looks fishy. Junior apologized later and took responsibility, but you really have to wonder if the guy who had nothing to lose felt like messing with the guy he replaces at HMS next year. It makes me wonder.
Then there was the 2nd red flag of the day, and the ensuing drama of Tony Stewart’s fuel supply. In my mind, you could have made an argument for finishing the race here. I knew that a resumption of the race would result in circus following it, but since Tony’s no favorite of mine, I didn’t fuss much about it. I got to watch my beloved Broncos get pummeled by the Colts and would get to see the finish in real time. Like I said, it was shaping up to be a weird day.
I can’t forget the Jeff Burton “I wasn’t messin’ with my car” flap. He got sent to the back because he was working on his car during a red flag- a NASCAR no-no. I like J.B., but he’s gotta be the worst actor in NASCAR. I’m not a big fan of Rusty Wallace as a commentator, but I got a laugh as Wallace shared about having one of his crew on sentry duty when he would do the same. Seriously Jeff, with all those cameras around, you need to plan your skullduggery better than that.
Sure enough, though the race would be shortened, we weren’t shortchanged on drama. Throughout the race we watched the lead get tossed around like the old baseball game of “Flip.” We had Matt Kenseth running hard and running well, Dave Blaney making some noise, Kurt Busch representing Penske and Dodge well in this race, Jimmie Johnson charging hard from the back, and Kansas’ favorite son Clint Bowyer looking like he could be a man of destiny. Let us also not forget that Tony Stewart was looking pretty good for a while there too.
The Tony and a whole gaggle of other participants set off a chain of events that greatly altered the outcome. Chasers Kyle Busch and Jeff Burton were already having a bad day. Smoke already had a bent up fender and there were questions about how the fender on the Home Depot Chevy would “travel.” Crew Chief turned commentator Andy Petree questioned the move by the #20 team to stay out, and by golly, Greg Zipandelli and Tony Stewart made the former Earnhardt pit boss look like a prophet. Sure enough, Tony seemed to slow down a bit, got hit by his old buddy (NOT) Kurt Busch and got taken out of the game, while collecting Carl Edwards in the process. Unlike yesterday, Tony wisely took a look around and declined comment. The picture of him throwing his steering wheel said quite enough.
Oh, but only if the drama ended there! You remember how things got nasty between Denny Hamlin and Paul Menard yesterday. It was followed with more drama between the 26-year-olds. On one of the restarts, we had 3-wide action between Menard, Hamlin and Jamie Mc Murray. Mc Murray on the inside, brushed Menard in the middle, who in turn, rammed Hamlin. Of course Hamlin’s people blamed Menard. It was his fault right? Sure (cough,cough- Nextel’s next nasty rivalry).
So, as the race nears the finish we have Kevin Harvick gutting out a tough day and yet running towards the front with company from fellow chasers Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. As the laps click away, it sure looks like Bowyer may have a shot at catching Mr. Hard Luck himself- Greg Biffle. Just as it looks like we’re gonna have a Dayonta style dogfight at the end, Juan Pablo Montoya brushes the wall. Caution comes out, darkness prevails, and Greg Biffle finishes under yellow. Or did he?
Of course there has to be more drama. For reasons unclear to me and a lot of other people, the #16 Aflac Ford cruises onto the infield grass. Some say Biffle was running out of gas and couldn’t finish under his own power. Others would say that the “frozen field” rule was in effect and this whole flap is immaterial. I’m not sure myself (after all, I am a fan and not an expert), but it gives those unhappy with the NASCAR governing body one more reason to complain about how such matters are handled.
Me? I was just glad to have it over, glad to see a face in Victory Lane we had not seen in a while, and glad to see the leaderboard shuffled just a little bit more.
Man, I need a nap.

When one thinks of exotic or unusual destinations, one tends NOT to think of Kansas. I’ve never been there, I have no burning desire to be there in the land of endless fields, bitter winters and fierce tornadoes. It’s kind of like Iowa, but with less respect. Yet in spite of its averageness, there’s no place like Kansas on the NASCAR tour.

Unlike many other NASCAR stops, Kansas City only sees the endless trail of haulers once a year. Think of how this differs from New Hampshire and Dover where all the teams have notes and information from earlier in the year. Further setting Kansas apart is the fact that drivers revert to driving the old style cars after a couple of weeks of Car of Tomorrow driving. This will certainly bring a sigh of relief to teams struggling with their COT programs. Kansas also provides one of the the flattest tracks on the circuit. Think of how differently driving goes for you in a car when you go into banked or unbanked turns. There’s definitely a difference in handling. According to a comment by Rusty Wallace, who’s raced five times at Kansas, the 1.5 mile tri-oval provides great passing opportunities, especially in Turn 2.

Kansas is also a home track of sorts to several drivers that haven’t seen the midwest in a while. Chasers Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards hail from this neck of the woods, as do Jamie Mc Murray and Kenny Wallace. For the chasers, every little edge matters. That feeling of being in your own house provides a definite plus.

Today in qualifying, we didn’t see the spinning and weaving we saw in Dover. Nobody hit the wall, the worst complaints concerned themselves with tightness of the car and the condition of the track for the earlier qualifiers who had problems with a slick track and a slower second lap. Jimmie Johnson claimed the pole once again, with solid performances from Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., and Jeff Gordon. It was also good to see go-or-go-home team Michael Waltrip Racing get all three of its drivers in, led by Ol’ Mikey himself.

Of course, regardless of where they qualified- you can be sure of two things: 1) Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart will make a run towards the front before the end, and 2) Sadly, Evernham racers Elliott Sadler and Kasey Kahne, who always seem to qualify so well, will fall back.

I won’t venture to predict a winner in Sunday’s venture into the heartland, but I will go this far. The winner will come from one of the Chasers. Jimmie looks very strong, Jeff is running well and all the other guys have too much to lose to not run well. In addition to the aforementioned racers, I expect something from Penske Dodger Kurt Busch and the ever consistent Matt Kenseth.

You may think of Kansas as Nebraska (but with a better basketall team), but we should see something a little different than what we’ve seen lately- the exception being who we see towards the front. The question, however, still lingers: who will that be?

Turn on, tune in, and let’s all find out.