FACT: It’s Time to Suck It Up
For some reason, this past weekend at Bristol has brought along two drivers that need to “suck it up.”
Driver number one: Danica Patrick. Driver number two: Jennifer Jo Cobb.
After getting wrecked in the Bristol Nationwide Series race, Patrick complained that she was wrecked intentionally by Ryan Truex – saying he runs very hard during a post-incident interview with ESPN.
Multiple angles on television replays clearly indicated that Truex simply got loose while trying to keep his car from turning into the outside wall. In the process, he clipped Patrick’s No. 7 Chevrolet.
Just because two drivers are involved in a wreck doesn’t mean either of them meant to cause the wreck intentionally. Patrick is still new to the sport, but it’s time someone pull her aside and teach her what the phrase “that’s racin’” means.
Cobb’s “incident” was off track. She claims that she wasn’t told the team would start-and-park at Bristol until 10 minutes before the start of the Scotts EZ Seed 300. Frustrated, she decided to “park” a little too early, as in, she pulled the car down on pit road and left before the green flag even waved. For those keeping score at home, a start-and-park has to complete laps before earning points.
“I already had my entry in for Bristol and California, and we killed our car in Vegas in a wreck,” Rick Russell, team owner of 2nd Chance Motorsports, said. “So only having one car, I got the thing rebuilt and we brought it up here with the intentions of staying out of trouble and running a few laps and going home with the car in one piece, so could race next week in California.”
Cobb claims that she and the rest of the crew mistook the message of Russell and had the understanding the team would be racing the entire race, but instead race conservatively. Cobb says she had already purchased tires for the race. From the financial point of view, Cobb has every right to be irritated for paying the full tire bill. But at the same time, with the current situation of the sport, finding a ride isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do.
The number one rule in life is, “Life is not fair.” Sometimes it’s best to bite the dust, run three or four laps, park it and head to California. In order to get where we want to be, sometimes we have to clean toilets for a few years before we get a promotion.
Cobb claims that she was approached by a team owner before she was even able to get her firesuit off, but those deals don’t always go as planned. Nonetheless, her time at 2nd Chance is done, a bridge left smoldering in the process. You never know when burning bridges will come back to haunt you.
FICTION: Kyle Busch’s Track Record Shouldn’t be Respected
Love him or hate him – and most of the people reading this prefer the latter – one can’t deny the impressive performance of Kyle Busch. In winning the Jeff Byrd 500 at Bristol Sunday (March 20), Busch notched his second straight Cup Series win at the track and fifth straight across all three national touring series. The victory was his 20th in the Cup Series, moving him into a tie with Speedy Thompson at 33rd on the all-time Cup Series victories list. Busch has also finished in the top two in five of the past six Cup Series races at Bristol.
Still don’t respect him?
Well, since he also won this weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Bristol, he performed the weekend sweep at the track for the second straight time – after he became the first driver even in NASCAR history to win a race in all three national touring series at the same track in the same weekend.
You can say he has a poor attitude, needs to respect fans more, or can even refuse to buy M&Ms, but face it: Kyle Busch is one of the best drivers… ever. So hate the guy and his personality as much as you want, but just make sure you realize that he is a shoo-in Hall of Fame driver in the making and is causing history book publishers to do a lot of changing to the NASCAR record books.
FACT: I’m Leaving Frontstretch
It saddens me to say that this will be my final piece (for now) that I write for Frontstretch. I received a great opportunity that will allow me to start another chapter in my young journalism career (I have received a promotion to the sports editor position at a paper I have been working as a correspondent for). However, every time a chapter is started, the previous chapter must be finished. I want to say thanks to all of my loyal readers over the years. Even if you thought I was an idiot, if you read my work over the years, thanks.
The Frontstretch Staff is made up of a group of talented men and women spread out all over the United States and Canada. Residing in 15 states throughout the country, plus Ontario, and widely ranging in age, the staff showcases a wide variety of diverse opinions that will keep you coming back for more week in and week out.
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