Turns out the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t look too kindly on people doing 128MPH in a 45MPH zone. Well, they’ll let you drive away, but they will issue you one heck of a citation. What’s three times the legal limit, right?
If you live in the Charlotte area this has been THE story for the last couple of days. It made the front page of the state and local section of the Charlotte Observer yesterday morning, and at least one local TV station led with it at 5pm. Apparently there isn’t much going on.
From local coverage to national sports radio, the oddity of this story has been much talked about all over. And while not too many of us have done 128MPH in our personal vehicles, this is hardly the first time we’ve had drivers behaving badly out on public roads. In the last two seasons there has been two separate drivers popped for DUIs – Michael Annett and AJ Allmendinger. Both were put on probation by NASCAR.
The issue of off-track indiscretions raises a lot of questions about the limits of the sanctioning body. Other sports punish their athletes for off-field issues, but other sports also have codes of conduct athletes agree to adhere to. NASCAR doesn’t have one.
In situations like this, that lack of a policy leaves them without much leverage. Sure they’ve got the all encompassing “actions detrimental” at their disposal, but without laying out to the drivers just where they stand, severe penalties are very likely out of the question.
It’s interesting when these issues pop up (and yearly they pop up) to see what the reaction is from the fans and media. I recall being surprised from a post on the Allmendinger incident and from comment sections on websites throughout the internet how strong the feelings were about the probation handed down from NASCAR – actually in Allmendinger’s favor.
It’s always hard to gauge though just where people stand until they are forced to take a stance. But if we want to start early, from precedent we can suspect NASCAR may hand down probation to Busch – I’d assume a continuation of the probation he’s already on – but there won’t be any suspension.
Is it time for a personal conduct policy in NASCAR? I kind of think so.
Feel free to use this as your “Kyle Busch Speeding Ticket” sound off post. Talk amongst yourselves.
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This season NASCAR forced drivers to select one series in which to compete for a championship. The general idea being it would limit the number of Cup regulars competing in and winning in lower series.
What’s the result been? Truck and Nationwide Series regulars lead the points in their respective series, but there have only been three non-Cup winners in 30 races across all three series. And guess what? Neither of our two points leaders is one of those winners.
Obviously, NASCAR’s efforts have, thus far, not been very successful. This weekend though, we saw the potential of the Nationwide Series.
To start off, Iowa is such a great facility with a great fan base. Did you see that crowd? Fantastic. Then came the racing.
Rain washed out qualifying, so starting on the front row were Drew Herring, a 23-year-old with just four Nationwide starts under his belt, and Michael McDowell. Young Austin Dillon started 3rd.
Through the early portion of the race it was McDowell and Herring putting on the show. We saw four different race leaders, including Reed Sorenson who led the most (and is great on short tracks). And in his 500th start Kenny Wallace finished sixth. While we did see Cup regulars and Nationwide Series champions Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski as competitors throughout, it was Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. who fought down the stretch with Stenhouse as our eventual winner.
Stenhouse has really taken full advantage of this season. If you’ll remember just a year ago, he got yanked from his ride after a disastrous beginning pushed him outside the top-30 in owners points and he DNQed at Nashville. Now he’s a race winner and sits just 8 points out of the points lead. What a difference a year makes.
It was refreshing to sit and watch a Nationwide race where most of the competitors were series regulars. It was great to see some young talent showcased and some series veterans have a real chance. The fact is, Cup drivers are Cup drivers for a reason. And though the occasional start is certainly acceptable, having just 10% of your winners come from outside the Cup ranks is ridiculous. It totally defeats the nature of the lower series.
NASCAR is in a pretty good place at this moment, but this is definitely an area that still needs some work. That said, Sunday was great and truly an example of how things ought to be. Congratulations to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – it was a well earned and deserved win.
Burnouts, victory laps, doughnuts. Boring, seen it, yawn.
But have no fear race fans! There are a few select drivers that have the cure for the common victory celebration.
Think back to your early days as a race fan. What’s the first unique celebration you remember? For me it was Alan Kulwicki’s Polish Victory Lap. After a win (and his 1992 championship), Kulwicki would turn his car around and drive around the track backwards so he could salute the crowd. Since then, quite a few drivers have borrowed Kulwicki’s invention and it’s become common place.
Moving ahead to modern times, a couple of drivers have moved to the head of the class with their original celebrations.
Love him or hate him, Kyle Busch can flat drive a race car. He currently has 93 wins across the Truck, Nationwide, and Cup Series. And when you win that many times, you have plenty of opportunities to perfect your celebration technique. For KB, usually after a preliminary burnout, he’ll stand on the door and give the booing crowd a bow. Or sometimes two. A perfect way to salute (or patronize) the fans who love to hate him.
One of Busch’s biggest rivals, and a driver who he’s had a recent dustup with, is none other than Carl Edwards. Being the serious athlete that he is, Edwards is known for a unique victory celebration that not too many drivers would even attempt. I’m referring of course to the flip. After winning his first ever Truck Series race in 2003, Edwards did a backflip off the side of his truck on a whim. And it’s stuck ever since. But Edwards has added a twist to his celebrating of recent wins. Now, after the flip, he grabs the checkered flag and heads into the stands to greet the fans. Pretty cool if you ask me.
The last celebration I want to point out involves Smoke. Yep, I’m talking about Tony Stewart’s famous fence climbs. Nothing like jumping out of your car after a win and scaling a 20 foot tall chain link fence. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Stewart do this though, so lets hope a future big win will inspire him to do it again.
What’s your favorite victory celebration? If you were a driver and won a race, what crazy thing would you do?
When it came time this year during the annual media tour for NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France to address the gathered crowd at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, he made a very unfortunate flub – he called the Camping World Truck Series the “Craftsman World Truck Series”. This slip was, in hindsight, foreshadowing for a season that’s been a little forgettable so far.
It took four weeks for a series regular to win a race – which meant, for three weeks we had a points leader who had no wins. Between the top four drivers in the points, there are only four top-fives to go around. 357 of 647 total laps (about 55%) have been led by guys who can’t win the championship. And half the wins this season have come from Kyle Busch owned trucks (don’t worry, he’s only taken one of the wins).
The trouble this season hasn’t been fields dominated by Cup regulars, but a few good Cup regulars in great equipment. And they’ve all been good for the most part.
To their credit, the Thorsport trucks have been regular contenders (in fact Johnny Sauter became just the second non-Cup winner of the season along with Trevor Bayne – he’s the only one in the Nationwide and Truck Series). And we’ve seen some young talent show up out of nowhere – does the name Cole Whitt ring a bell?
Ron Hornaday Jr. has been back in old form, three top-tens in four races, and immediate past champion Todd Bodine is looking ok. Austin Dillon’s been competitive too.
The Randy Moss Motorsports trucks, or I’m sorry, truck, has been terrible with a new engine builder – a real disappointment with series vet and past champion Travis Kvapil. And the Turner Motorsports teams have been hit or miss. I still can’t believe James Buescher missed a race.
This series is always the most enjoyable to be around and watch. It’s been good to see some lesser funded teams actually competing this year. But lately it’s been lacking that tough trucks, tough racing mentality that always produces solid events.
All the above said, I’m optimistic the season will rebound. Hopefully that starts this weekend at Nashville.
I’ve been a big advocate through the years of removing California’s (or should I say Auto Club’s) second date. I’m just not a fan of the track. So I of course thought it was nothing short of a brilliant move last season when ISC took that second date and gave it to Kansas. As we’ve all seen through the years, the racing at California has been, well, sub-par. I was pleasantly surprised though on Sunday to find a race that wasn’t as spread out as usual and didn’t have a run away winner.
Through the first 75 laps of the race, the chatter on twitter was noticeably in favor of a caution, somewhere. And finally on lap 76 debris (somewhere) brought out the first caution of the race. From there, there were three more cautions through the remaining 121 laps. That meant closer fields and tougher racing situations.
Through the shortened 200 lap race (last season it was a 250 laps, though the fall race was the same) we saw 18 lead changes and 10 different leaders. Oh and did you see that finish?
With just nine laps to go, Kevin Harvick, who hasn’t had a spectacular season thus far, managed to make up four spots on four teams that had been running very well all day. Out of the last turn on the last lap it was Harvick who came up victorious – as they say, if you’re only going to lead one lap, that was the lap to lead.
He silenced all the RCR doubters, and showed he’s still here this season. Welcome back Kevin. And who would have thought we would see that at California? I certainly didn’t.
Harvick’s win made him the fifth different winner in five races – that’s a pretty solid start to the season if you ask me. California hasn’t produced solid races of late, but like everything this season, the race left me more than satisfied.
What did you think about the race? Did you like what you saw? Are you sad there’s just one race at California this season? Feel free to use this as your California open post!
An Owner’s Points Update
We’re five races in, so you know that means – our top-35 finally resets for this year. With competitive and full fields, that guaranteed spot is as important as ever.
Updating TC’s post from the other day, here are the five above and below that ever important top-35 mark.
30 Teresa Earnhardt 1 +30 31 Joe Gibbs 20 +26 32 Barney Visser 78 +25 33 Frank Stoddard Jr. 32 +10 34 Robby Gordon 7 +2 35 Bob Germain 13 0 36 Richard Petty 71 -6 37 Tommy Baldwin 36 -9 38 Brad Jenkins 37 -9 39 Bob Jenkins 38 -12 40 Roger Penske 77 -13
Kyle Busch Pit Stop - Photo Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR
Trevor Bayne with the pledge of allegiance, Billy Ray Cyrus with the National anthem. A good way to start short track racing at Bristol Tennessee.
Carl Edwards started off the race and pulled away from the field on the first lap like his car was a rocket. We have 499 more laps to go so it is a little early to say he has this race wrapped up.
Our first caution comes out as Jeff Burton slows down and causes a chain reaction crash that involved David Reutiman, Trevor Bayne and a few others. No serious damage just some tore up fenders.
Paul Menard in the lead as Carl Edwards car started to back up after his tire pressure built up. Jeff Gordon needed that caution to work on his car as he was not happy with any of it.
Restart on lap 36, Paul Menard is challenged by Jimmie Johnson but Menard pulls away. Michael McDowell drove his car to the garage with a blown engine. Kyle Busch up to 3rd place. He knows being in the front can keep you out of trouble.
Competition Caution coming out on lap 50. Some drivers took only two tires as they had changed some tires on the last caution. Lap 61 David Gilliand is in the lead but Ryan Newman has newer tires and takes the lead.
Jeff Burton had to pit under green for a loose wheel and is down two laps. Jeff is just having a horrible day, he can’t be a happy guy in the car.
Martin Truex takes the lead on lap 93 from Kyle Busch who basically let him have it. Plenty of race to go and there is no need to race hard at this point. Jeff Gordon is up to fifth but he still isn’t happy with his car.
Caution out as Robby Gordon had a tire go down and he hit the wall pretty bad. He ran a lot of laps on those tires and it looks like staying out wasn’t the right thing to do. Restart on lap 136 Martin Truex still in the lead. Brad Kesolowski spins and brings out another caution. He says over the radio that the car was out of control.
Kevin Harvick takes the lead from Martin Truex on lap 155. Kurt Busch has also moved up into the second spot. We have 39 cars running only cars off track are Joe Nemecheck, Landon Cassil and JJ Yelley. 24 cars are on the lead lap Jamie McMurray first car a lap down.
Jimmie Johnson takes the lead on lap 193, his car has been steady all day. Looks like we are into a long green run which is rare for Bristol. Guys on lap 213 complaining about handling. Not a surprise as tires are wearing down.
Another caution is out as Bobby Labonte is spun by Paul Menard who had been banging back and forth for a few laps. Tony Stewart has front end damage as he ran into his teammate Ryan Newman with limited visibility cause of smoke from the spin.
Lap 252 brought Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch on the restart and Johnson wins that battle. Kurt Busch is up to third. Juan Pablo Montoya had a loose wheel and had to pit under green at around lap 268. This will put Juan two laps down. Kyle Busch takes the lead.Trevor Bayne hits the wall on lap 272 but has no damage.
Pretty quiet until a wreck where it appeared Kevin Harvick had to slow and got hit from behind by Mark Martin. There was a spin behind that wreck that got Juan Pablo Montoya and Trevor Bayne.
Kyle Busch continued to show everyone that he owns Bristol. Kyle passed Carl Edwards with three laps to go. Kyle wins Carl Edwards is second and Jimmie Johnson is third. Kyle Busch sweeps at Bristol this weekend.
Kyle Busch Wins at Bristol is a post from: Awesome Race Fans
Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Sprint Cup, NASCAR
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Filed under: Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Sprint Cup, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR
Filed under: Kyle Busch, Chase for the Sprint Cup, Sprint Cup, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR
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