Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, provided fans with an exciting green-white-checker finish. Then again dramatic finishes is practically a trademark at this speedway. We saw the unexpected domination of the race by the older Busch brother, we watched NASCAR’s most popular driver endure more pit road problems, we were stunned to watch a crew member get perilously close to the high speed action while chasing a tire, and we were treated to more classic tirades from the speedway’s owner. With that thought in mind let’s begin with:
HOORAH for Kurt Busch and the blue deuce. The race winning performance of the older Busch brother and his Miller Lite-Roger Penske Dodge was simply amazing. Not even smacking the wall two times could stop this team from winning this race. There seems to be a major resurgence with this driver and this team. Last year Kurt Busch was clearly unhappy with the team’s level of performance and pulled no punches regarding his opinion of the situation. This was especially true from some of his in car radio transmissions heard during the course of many of last year’s races. However this year Busch is more confident, more calm and seems to be enjoying his Penske Racing team more than ever. One of the catalysts for the change certainly has to be the arrival of new crew chief Pat Tryson. Busch will be the first to tell you that’s true. He also said “good things come to those who wait.” He was referring to the last year and a half the Penske team has spent on the car of tomorrow program and how it’s finally gelling together.
We all know that young brother Kyle Busch earned the nickname “wild thing” and there were some members of the motorsports media last year that were calling Kurt Busch “mild thing.” Busch led 235 laps of this race which is quite a feat considering he led 164 laps during 36 races in 2008. After watching him Sunday I don’t think anyone is calling him “mild” anymore.
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Another HOORAH goes out to Kurt Busch for the most unique, and possibly the longest, victory lap ever seen. He slowly circled the Atlanta Motor Speedway backwards.
HOORAH for tough guy Martin Truex Jr. He spent all day Saturday at the upper level of pain due to the presence of a kidney stone. Because he had qualifying and practice obligations with his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team he was not able to take any medication for the pain. After the final practice he was sent to a nearby hospital where the painful stone was passed around 10 pm that night. On Sunday a physically improved Truex climbed inside of his car to start the Kobalt Tools 500 and scored a tenth place finish.
WAZZUP with gasman Jimmy Watts? This of course would be the now very famous crew member from the Marcus Ambrose team who decided it would be a great idea to chase after an errant tire that rolled out of pit road and onto the infield grass perilously close to the edge of the speedway. It was quite possibly one of the dumbest moves that we’ve seen during a NASCAR race in quite some time.Due to the presence of the tire alone, NASCAR had no choice but to throw a yellow flag.Unfortunately a significant portion of the field were on pit road making green flag stops and got trapped by the yellow flag and lost a lap because of it. When the race restarted there were only ten cars on the lead laps with a lot of high profile drivers and teams a lap down. Watts, a Charlotte-North Carolina based firefighter, was suspended from participating in the remainder of the race. He later admitted that he just wasn’t thinking when he ran out after the tire. He was summoned for a consultation to NASCAR’s “Oval Office” and hopes that he will be allowed to rejoin the team at the Bristol race on March 22nd. Right now, he waiting on word from NASCAR to see if any further punishment will be coming his way.
WAZZUP with Dale Earnhardt Jr’s pit problems. This latest round of frustration involved a seemingly loose rear wheel. The broadcasters noted that NASCAR this year mandated a slightly longer wheel stud and felt that some of the teams were having trouble getting used to the longer length. I can’t help but wonder if that was noise from the Fox boys. These teams practice pit stops all week long at the race shops, Sunday was the fourth race of the season so the crews should be used to the new studs by now and I don’t recall hearing about any of the other teams losing pit road rhythm because of them. But the problems surfaced a second time in the race. With 27 laps to go Earnhardt radioed in and said “it feels like the left rear is ready to fall off.”
But from that comes a HOORAH for Junior for one of the best one liners, via a radio transmission, from this race when he said “if my wheel comes off and I hit the fence I’m going to whack every damn one of you with a hammer.”
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