NASCAR on TV this week

Kurt Busch

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2014 Duck Commander 500 at Texas

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On a weekend when, once again, rain changed the game, in the end, the real game changer was Kurt Busch’s blown tire just before the white flag. At first, many questioned the caution as it appeared that Busch had gotten his slowing car onto the apron, but television replays showed that the left rear tire on the No. 41 came apart, shredding the car’s quarterpanel. Debris quickly spewed all over the asphalt, and some made its way onto the racing surface. The caution was a good call, and it set up a green-white-checkered run that a year or two ago would have been much different.

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2014 STP 500 at Martinsville

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During a week when the sport was mourning a loss in its Royal Family, the family race team shone through. Richard Petty Motorsports honored their boss’s wife Lynda, who passed away last week, in the best way a racer can: by putting together a great performance on track. Marcos Ambrose led 22 laps en route to a top-five run Sunday, his best result ever at Martinsville. Meanwhile, driving an STP-sponsored car that harkened back to the days of Richard Petty behind the wheel, Aric Almirola drove from a 20th-place start to finish eighth. Somewhere, the Queen, “Mrs. Lynda,” is smiling.

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2012 TUMS Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville

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There were a few typical Martinsville skirmishes on Sunday. Kurt Busch called Kevin Harvick “half-assed” when Harvick refused to cut him some slack as Busch wanted to move into the bottom groove and Harvick got into him instead spinning him around. Johnson was upset with Mears after Mears got into his right front, wrenching the steering wheel from his hands, though no damage was done. Montoya was upset with Johnson, who shoved his way underneath the No. 42 in the closing laps, sending him up the track.

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2012 Bank of America 500 at Charlotte

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It wasn’t the win he has been searching for for more than a year and a half, but for Carl Edwards, a seventh-place finish was a welcome ending. For Edwards, who has just three top-five performances in 2012, this week’s result was only the second to fall inside the top 10 in the last eight weeks, just his 13th top-10 finish in 31 races. That’s half the number he had a year ago, when Edwards lost the Sprint Cup title to Tony Stewart in a tiebreaker. The top-five stat is even more dismal. Edwards finished in that group 19 times in 2011, more than six times as often as 2012. No matter where his points finish is, it will be the worst of his career because he didn’t make the Chase cut and can finish no better than 13th.

The Big 6: Questions Answered After the 2012 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega

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Although qualifying doesn’t matter much at Talladega, you might think that winning the pole would make for a less stressful day. Not so for Kasey Kahne, who ran out of gas under green-flag conditions and got shuffled all over the place during the event. Then, things only went from bad to worse; he got a windshield full of Stewart’s undercarriage in the last-lap mayhem as Stewart landed on top of his car. Just like that, Kahne was relegated to a 13th-place finish.