What excitement Kentucky brought us last Saturday night. Let me see if I have it right. Kurt led, then Kyle, Brad for a while, before Kyle did it in style as few can do for career Cup win #22. Oh, Jamie blew up, Junior came in for two when he needed at least three, and after a pair of late cautions, Reutimann, Johnson, Newman and Edwards came out of no where for Top Fives. That pretty much sums it up. Did I mention that the televised version was boring as hell?
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[/media-credit]Okay, so Bruton Smith, who owns pretty much everything the France family hasn’t already tied down, promises that Kentucky will soon become THE place to go to watch a NASCAR race. Maybe he is right. I heard him talk about how they needed to fix the terrible interstate feeding into the facility, how he planned another 150 acres for parking. Maybe somewhere in there he promised to bulldoze the place and start anew and I just missed it.
That isn’t to say that the 107,000 fans who took up the challenge to fight their way to the facility did not get their money’s worth. The televised version is nothing like the real deal. You might see some things better or closer up from the couch, but you not only hear the roar of the engines, you feel them when you are there, and there is nothing better than to watch it all under the lights. However, the best way to watch this from home was with the PVR, with all those commercials a lot easier on the conscience to flip by than the so-called action. Kentucky provided a race, not a broadcast spectacular. Heck, due to rain, it didn’t even give us a Waltrip as Michael’s qualifying run in that car saluting his Hall of Fame brother got washed out.
Daytona and Infineon gave us something to watch, If Loudon doesn’t do the same this weekend, I’m sure Indianapolis will in a couple of weeks. What Kentucky did was it moved Kyle Busch into a first place tie with Kevin Harvick, with 3 wins apiece, with Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon each with a pair. Thanks to his win at Daytona, David Ragan has one wild card spot, with Tony Stewart currently holding down the last one. Brad Keselowski has a win but remains three points shy of the 20th place spot that would give him that final place in the Chase. Once again you have proof that you don’t need exciting racing to provide interesting statistics.
I just would rather have both. Enjoy your week.
