William Byron

Kyle Busch wins at ISM Raceway in Can-Am 500 as the Championship 4 is set for the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series. It was his eighth of the season, and the 51st of his Cup career.

We are down to a game of musical chairs. Four spots, with eight drivers who very much want one of them. Let me just say that musical chairs sucks. When you are a reserved fat kid, the more athletic aggressive lads are going to go after those seats hard. Also, you will never be a hero dropping a young lady on her ass. Fortunately for the gents at Martinsville on Sunday, not a young lady to be found. No fat kids, either, come to think of it.

If only I could time travel. Going back a few days, I could have been able to pin-point exactly what one needed to do to win at Talladega on Sunday.

The Charlotte Roval promised to be chaotic, a fantasy design straight out of the old video games that was going to tear cars up and dash hopes. Well, that narrative did not pan out, at least in the early going on Sunday. As for the ending, well, that was another story.

Domination and elimination was the story from Michigan on Sunday afternoon. Kevin Harvick dominated and eliminated everyone else from view. He dominated the opening stage. He overcame another pit road miscue that cost him five spots between stages, but he eliminated the danger to come back to claim that, too.

William Byron is an under the radar rookie that has grabbed some attention within the last few weeks. His development and growth since he joined Hendrick Motorsports in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series have been starting to show with the last two results.

If we determine who is an actual contender, versus being just a pretender race in and race out, based on an average 20th place result, our field would be reduced to 22. Add William Byron and Jamie McMurray to the bottom of our list, and that is all you need to be concerned about.

Kentucky. Lord, please not Kentucky. It is a track I have no affinity for, but I will be watching on Saturday night. It is all due to NBC. If you watch the broadcast, and still can not stand NASCAR, it is just not for you. If you do watch it and have any love of the sport, you will stick around. The boys and girls make it damn hard to skip forward, no matter how much you try.

Daytona delivered. The action and the broadcast were both superb. If you missed it, you really missed something.

Last week it was Sonoma, a road course set in a beautiful background with curves and hills and places one could speed up and those where one had to slow down. This week it is Chicago. It is round.