NASCAR on TV this week

Bryan Davis Keith

Enough of the Petulant Kurt Busch

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So here’s a question. If Furniture Row Racing asks nicely, can they get Regan Smith back for a few more weeks? After all, the rumor mill is swirling that one Kurt Busch may be facing his second suspension of the 2012 season after the weekend’s race at Talladega. Busch, who got dumped in traffic after running out of fuel in the draft, ended up driving his wrecked car away from first responders, who not only had their equipment stashed on the roof of the wrecked machine, but were also visibly working and communicating inside the race car.

The Chase Favorite After Dover…Is Still Jimmie Johnson

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The way things are being written, one would think Brad Keselowski was Miles the Monster himself after this weekend at Dover, a giant who smashed all before him in a decisive victory that left nothing in its wake. For those living under a rock on Sunday (and Monday), here’s a quick reminder; Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 was not the best car this race day. Brad did indeed blow by Jimmie Johnson for the lead…when the No. 48 was running at 80% throttle and the dominant JGR Toyotas of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin fell victim to TRD’s awful fuel mileage. And yes, Brad did score his second win of the Chase, and in doing so built a mammoth five-point lead over Jimmie Johnson. Give that man the trophy.

Pace Laps: Last Hurrahs for NASCAR Independents, Hoosiers, and Sam Hornish?

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*Sprint Cup: Talladega One Last Chance For Phoenix To Fly?* For more than 20 years, James Finch has fought the good fight as a single-car, independent NASCAR team owner–with middling, often frustrating results. So this season, despite limited sponsorship, he made one special push to break out from the back end of NASCAR’s Cup Series garage, moving from respectable some of the time to potential Chase participant this September. A “lucky break” left the No. 51 car partnered with its biggest heavyweight yet behind the wheel; landing former Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch, a driver hungry to prove himself after an unceremonious release from Roger Penske made it seem the sky was the limit.

Nationwide Series Breakdown: OneMain Financial 200

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Just like the spring, Joey Logano emerged victorious in Nationwide competition at Dover. The only difference was this race was devoid of the close battle to the finish between he and teammate Ryan Truex. This one was never in doubt, with the No. 18 team leading 184 of the 200 laps run en route to his seventh victory of the 2012 season. Paul Menard, Michael Annett, Elliott Sadler, and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 5.

Title Fight Better the Second Time Between Stenhouse, Sadler

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Last year’s battle between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Elliott Sadler was about as much entertainment as Nationwide Series fans had gotten in a decade. After five consecutive years of having the trophy bestowed upon a double dipping all-star with premier equipment, Cup pit crews and talent that had long proven ready to graduate to the Sprint Cup Series, finally the points battle had some suspense…and some fresh blood to boot.

This year, it’s only gotten better. With Cup involvement down, leading title contenders Stenhouse and Sadler have combined for nine race wins and proven among the class of the field for the vast majority of the season’s 27 events thus far. Not only is the battle for top of the charts close, it’s among drivers that are viable threats to win every weekend.

Five Points to Ponder: Debris, Double Duty and Detonations

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*ONE: The Joke That is the Debris Caution*

It’s to the point that the TV cameras don’t even bother acting like they’re trying to find debris on the track. It’s no longer a surprise, but an expectation; a Sprint Cup race will be stopped on multiple occasions for debris on the track, whether or not anything is actually out there. Frankly, I’m amazed there hasn’t been more fan outrage and expressed frustration from the teams that their competitions are being interrupted whenever the sanctioning body gets the impression that the field is too strung out or ESPN needs a commercial break (yes, that’s me speculating, feel free to write in if you think of any other motivation.)

Pace Laps: Inside A Hot Streak, Crowd Concerns And Dancing An Offseason Away

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*Sprint Cup: What’s The Key To Hamlin Getting Hot?* Denny Hamlin has been dominant in recent weeks, the most recent driver on a hot streak. Earlier in the season, Greg Biffle had one. So did Jimmie Johnson. Things change fast in NASCAR, and Hamlin’s hot streak, as well as some of the runs before, shows that even in an era where there isn’t much freedom to work on the racecars, the team who can adapt to the current rules the quickest has a distinct advantage. Back in August, Brad Keselowski mentioned that Johnson’s car, and the other Hendrick Motorsports entries had rear end geometry that looked funny. The Hendrick cars, as well as those from a few other teams, looked a bit sideways on the straightaways, the product of a rear end designed to turn more easily in the corners. NASCAR said that the numerous teams who had figured out how to make the rear end travel better by having a trailing arm that traveled with the car were all within the rules. And then the sanctioning body changed the rule that the teams were working within.

Nationwide Series Breakdown: Kentucky 300

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Austin Dillon must wish the Nationwide Series tackled the Kentucky Speedway 30 times a season after Saturday. Cruising unmolested in the latter parts of the race, Dillon had no trouble scoring his second win of the 2012 season and sweeping the 2012 campaign’s races in Sparta, KY. Sam Hornish Jr., Brendan Gaughan, Drew Herring and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top 5.

The championship chase took a dramatic turn in this one after a red-hot start by incoming points leader Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Having led the first 32 laps, a trip down pit road turned treacherous for the No. 6, which had its right front fender caved in after contact with Eric McClure’s car exiting his stall. Ensuing work to repair the damage mired Stenhouse in traffic, and led to handling woes that saw the defending champ pound the turn 4 wall on lap 48. Cutting down a tire, the No. 6 team was forced down pit road under green and limped around the rest of the afternoon, eventually coming home 17th, three laps down.

The End of the Eury Era at JR Motorsports

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For a team that is the de facto Hendrick Motorsports entrant in the Nationwide Series, JR Motorsports’ results of late can’t be described as anything other than underwhelming. No wins since 2010, with only two poles in that same span. In 59 starts for the operation in 2012, only 20 top 10 finishes have been scored. And with the team’s leading full-timer Cole Whitt a distant seventh in points, JRM is poised to have its worst finish in team history in terms of fielding a regular driver.

Considering this is one of the rare teams in the Nationwide garage with full sponsorship on its race cars, that their driver stable includes the most hyped open-wheel convert since Juan Pablo Montoya and the hottest prospect the Truck Series had at the end of the 2011 campaign, that they carry the name Earnhardt, the status quo does not meet any expectations. The status quo is not acceptable.

Five Points to Ponder: The Chase is Here…and In Like a Lamb

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*ONE: They Lied…Neither Keselowski, Johnson “Showing their Hands” After Round 1*

OK, it’s taking the statement a bit out of context. When Brad Keselowski was asked immediately after winning at Chicago whether or not he and Johnson were showing their hands, the question was posed as to whether either of them were sandbagging during the race’s final green-flag run. But in a larger sense, despite Keselowski’s insistence that both he and Johnson were giving it all they had (Johnson’s own post-race comments were in concurrence, as he noted the No. 2 simply outran them to the checkers) both drivers weren’t telling the whole story. They were both rather… subdued.