- Despite Sunday’s race being one of the season’s less exciting episodes – with very few passes for the lead and only six cars finishing on the lead lap – it’s still worth watching to the end just to see if anyone can stop Kyle Busch.
After his transmission failed while leading truck race, then he was put into the wall by his Braun Racing teammate in Nationwide race, Busch wasn’t in much of a good mood on Sunday morning – expecting the worst.
“I was a bit of a ‘Denny Downer’ this morning,” said Busch.
- Was the race exciting? It was for Busch.
“Turning as much to the right as I did today, I’d say,‘Yes,’ ” Busch said.
- Elliott Sadler has finished 41st or worse four times this season.
- Did Tony Stewart actually take part of the blame for what happened in that early wreck? Well, yes. But it was kind of tongue-in-cheek.
“I take 100 percent responsibility,” Stewart said. “It’s my fault for being even anywhere close to Elliott (Sadler). If I’m within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen.”
Nice one, Smoke.
- Was Stewart smiling during his television interview after the early race wreck? I get the distinct feeling that Smoke is rehearsing for his new role as Mr. Nice Guy for the future sponsor of his new team. UPS, perhaps?
Stewart called it a day on Lap 315 when he reached the point where he couldn’t make up anymore ground on the field.
- While watching team owner Richard Childress work on Kevin Harvick’s wrecked race car after that early race melee, it made me wonder if we’d ever see Dallas Cowboys owner
Jerry Jones taping up quarterback Tony Romo’s ankle?
- Once Harvick’s nearly demolished Impala SS returned to the track, 74 laps down to the leaders, it look more like a modified racer than a Sprint Cup car. I thought it looked pretty cool, even though Harvick struggled to get up to speed and was pretty much a moving chicane for the remainder of the race.
- Although NASCAR has regulated the amount of adjustment to the rear axle housing to eliminate the “crab-walking” look to the new car, they still look sideways when coming at you down the front straight.
- For a good deal of the first half of the race, the Roush Fenway cars looked to be the cars to beat. Even race winner Busch told his crew chief Steve Addington over the team radio, “My Camry wasn’t anywhere near as good as the Roush cars.”
- While that may have been true, the real story may be that this new car makes it very difficult to get close enough to the car in front of you to make a pass, especially at Dover.
The aero package on the new car favors the driver out in front, which is why we’ve repeatedly seen all season long the driver leading the race jump out to such monster leads.
