|
They were not jeering.
What the fans in Darlington were really
chanting was "BOOOO-SH", as in Kyle
Busch. The man many consider NASCAR's
biggest SOB at the moment is also its
hottest driver. The 23-year old started
off BAD, whining about the brakes he was
turning to cinders. A dropped lug nut in
the pits dropped him from 3rd to 23rd.
He didn't run over Junior on Saturday,
but he managed to turn Greg Biffle
sideways and almost out for the count
with a little love tap from behind.
With under a hundred laps to go, he was
back riding around on point. With the
crowd again chanting "BOOOO-SH", the
little jerk pulled away to win his third
of the season.
Make no mistake, Kyle Busch is NASCAR's
current BAD boy. If Junior ever sent him
flying to the fence, or whether it be
Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick, or even if
Morgan Shepherd did the honors, I
predict there would be a ton of high
fives performed. Still, I love watching
the little jerk and I don't blame those
who love cheering him on. He reminds me
of a guy some also thought of as jerk;
one I once cheered for and one I still
miss.
Dale Earnhardt Jr has not won in 73
races. Big deal! He has been GOOD enough
to challenge for some this season and is
riding near the top in the points. Wins
or not, this year Junior has been
relevant. Same goes for Jeff Gordon and
Jimmie Johnson, as the entire trio can
be found in the season's Top Dozen. If
this is what the Hendrick boys are like
when things are going BAD, Lord help the
rest of them when they start to run
GOOD.
Things were going GOOD for Tony Stewart.
Well, they were for a couple of laps,
which was all it took for Elliott Sadler
to run him into the fence. The rest of
his night at Darlington was spent
playing catch up. Smoke managed to wind
up 21st, the first car down a lap.
Jeff Burton settled for tenth. He has
been GOOD enough to be within 79 points
of Wild Thing in the standings. Oh, and
Burton remains the only driver to finish
on the lead lap in all 11 events this
season. Burton, along with Clint Bowyer
and Kevin Harvick, make Childress one of
four outfits that are holding down all
12 Chase positions. Hendrick is another,
while Busch, Stewart, Denny Hamlin are
the Joe Gibbs reps. Roush Racing; with
Carl Edwards, David Ragan, and Greg
Biffle; is the other. Just four.
Hendrick, Childress, Gibbs, and Roush.
Th-th-th-that's all folks!
Greg Biffle took the pole at Darlington
and had won two of the previous three
races at the venue. He looked pretty
GOOD last weekend, too. Unlike the Beach
Boys, though, he was picking up BAD
vibrations. Was it the transmission?
Biffle gave up the lead to Martin Truex
Jr, came in, and discovered it might
have been a loose wheel. So, back out he
went, again took over the lead, only to
hand it back to Truex once more. Truex
would wind up 14th, while Biffle was
baffled, finishing dead last due to
engine junk.
I'm told that engine gunk is a BAD
thing, too. Kevin Harvick apparently
hates the stuff. I'm guessing he also
dislikes hitting the wall. Do it hard
enough, and you can be snapped out of
your sixth place dreams in the time it
takes to snap your drive shaft in half.
He wound up 39th.
Getting into the pits can be tough. In
fact, it can turn down right UGLY. This
is especially true if Brian Vickers is
out there thinking that he is driving a
Ben Hur war galley and goes to ramming
speed just as you make your attempt.
Ryan Newman got sunk, going to the
garage to wind up 37th. Vickers returned
to the track to finish 25th.
Travis Kvapil went retro at Darlington
with an old time paint scheme and an old
time sponsor, and a GOOD time ninth
place finish. It was a pretty GOOD day
as well for Dave Blaney, who was tenth
in a car that had been outside the Top
35. Not anymore, as they managed to
take away the free pass to the Coca-Cola
600 that Sam Hornish Jr tossed away
after finishing 38th.
On Mother's Day, my aunt June celebrated
a birthday. This Saturday, her sister,
my mother, celebrates her own. Being a
GOOD son and nephew, and fearful of them
both, I'll just leave this paragraph
bereft of any numbers.
The number of cars slated for this
Saturday night's All-Star race at Lowe's
in Charlotte is 24, with 21 having
already been decided. Along with the
winners from last season and this, we
have the former champs and former
all-star race winners since 1998 who
have been active during the past fifteen
months. While Mark Martin and Dale
Jarrett are among those who are in, 12th
ranked David Regan, Kasey Kahne,
Vickers, and Kvapil are those in the Top
20 who are not. They'll need to be among
the best two or the fan favorite in the
40 lap Sprint Showdown. That race starts
at 5:30pm EDT Saturday night on SPEED,
with the 24th All-Star race to follow at
7pm. Enjoy the races!
You can
contact Ron at
thornton@speedwaymedia.com
The opinions expressed
on this site are not necessarily those of the publisher. All
comments other than website related problems need to be directed to
the author. Copyright 2000-2008 SpeedwayMedia.com.
More by
this author:
|
.gif)
