From the first short track of the season with the grandfather clock as the trophy, here is what was surprising and not surprising from Martinsville Speedway’s STP 500.
Kurt Busch. Much has been said about the 2004 champion in this early season but after being back from his suspension Busch has been all business. His first week back in his car Busch finished fifth at Phoenix. Although behind teammate Kevin Harvick, who won the race, Busch was pretty happy.
With bad boy Kurt Busch apparently heading to victory, how fortuitous that a caution was called to open up an opportunity to alter the outcome of the race at Fontana. That should be easily enough addressed, one would think. Show us the debris, and it better be something more substantial than a hot dog wrapper.
Harvick finished second in the Auto Club 400, extending his amazing streak with his eighth consecutive top-2 finish. He continues to lead the Sprint Cup points standings, and holds a 28-point cushion over Joey Logano.
Imagine watching the final confrontation of Lord of the Rings. We have Sam somewhere out on the mountain, as Frodo and Smeagol battle for the ring on the edge of the volcano. Then, out of nowhere, Barliman Butterbur, the owner of the Prancing Pony bar, jumps in to steal the ring from them both, leaps onto the back of Bill the horse, and disappears into the sunset. You are left wondering just what in hell just happened. Fontana was just like that.
Last weekend, after a dominating win at the Phoenix International Raceway, Kevin Harvick’s crew chief Rodney Childers got up in front of the assembled media and said, “I know it didn’t seem this way, but we actually struggled a little bit.”
So if you haven’t heard, Kevin Harvick is on a pretty decent run. The defending Champion has finished first or second the last seven straight races. The only drivers able to keep up with him this season have been Jimmie Johnson and Joey Logano, and even then both have had problems, with Johnson having a miserable Las Vegas and Logano seemingly hitting a metaphoric wall and fading back in the last quarter of most races.
It has a week of discovery. We know that Kevin Harvick is off to a great start. We know that Tony Stewart is not. We now know that NASCAR funds an organization run by Al Sharpton. We know that Kurt Busch’s ex is not happy that Kurt is back racing, and I discovered I just do not care.
Harvick started on the pole at Phoenix and won as expected, rolling to his fourth consecutive win at Phoenix International Raceway. He sits high atop the Sprint Cup points standings, 22 ahead of Joey Logano.
