My old Kentucky home: DW breaks down the big weekend in the Bluegrass State
Congratulations to Kyle Busch on winning his second race in only his seventh start of the season. I was very impressed with his run at Sonoma but Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway was equally impressive. He chased down Joey Logano, took the lead and never looked back.
While I never thought winning a race even coming back from his Daytona injuries was ever a question for Kyle and the team, making the Chase was a completely different story in my book. It's clear he and crew chief Adam Stevens, who had great chemistry together in the Xfinity series, have been able to carry that over to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
After the problems at Dover and then finishing dead last at Michigan, there was no way the No. 18 was going to make the Chase. Well now I say, "Yes, way." I mentioned a week or so ago, Junior Johnson always used to tell me "Boy, quit worrying about the points. Just go out there and win and the points will take care of themselves." Well that's exactly what we're seeing happen with Kyle.
After Saturday night's win he's moved up two more spots in the points. He stands at 35th in the points and only needs to get to 30th to be Chase-eligible. He's only 87 points out of the top 30 and all he has to do is have an average finish of 17th or better over the next eight races. I think he can do it. Now I know there of those of you who don't think it's fair since he hasn't run the whole season, but his team has and if he can meet the criteria set forth by NASCAR, then why shouldn't he be allowed? At least one win and be 30th or better in the points following the September Richmond race applies to all possible Chase drivers, so where's the issue?
I hope he makes it. The young man has been through a lot this season. He and Samantha welcomed their first child into the world. He had the devastating crash at Daytona injuring both legs. He's rehabbed hard, come back stronger than ever and has now won two races. Yes, back in February things couldn't have been worse. Now, things couldn't be better for Kyle.
I also want to give a tip of the hat to everyone at Kentucky Speedway. They've overcome a lot of obstacles over the past few years and especially this past week. Getting in and out of Kentucky Speedway is a piece of cake. The parking is extraordinary. Millions of dollars have been spent to make the roads better and it's paying off.
Also, just think about what that bunch went through starting on Wednesday, which was to be an open test day for this new rules package for the Cup cars. Mother Nature reared her head again. The track has had a history of the weepers, so they had cut grooves in the track to get the water to run down onto the apron. That works really well as it gives the water a place to go.
Even before this week they had worked on repairing some of the areas of major concern. There were several areas of concern, especially going into Turn 3 and the start/finish line, that were addressed. Now I know a lot of drivers don't want to see the joint repaved because, as they say, they like "a track with character," but in my mind the time has finally come for a repave. Obviously owner Bruton Smith and track president Mark Simendinger will make that call, but I think from a maintenance standpoint of simply trying to put on events there that the time has come.
I also want to give a big thank you to the fans for giving Kentucky Speedway a second chance. I know that first Cup race there was nothing short of a major headache for the fans with all the rain, mud and a road system not built to handle that many people. Track owner Bruton Smith promised the fans he would fix things and once again he's kept his word. Saturday night had a great crowd that saw an exciting race. So again, thank you to the fans for hanging in there and coming back to Kentucky Speedway.
Also, I have to say congratulations to NASCAR. I was a real skeptic when they announced they were going to reduce the downforce and the horsepower on these cars. As a driver I always wanted all the downforce and horsepower I could get. Reducing downforce and horsepower just goes against what I've always learned about a race car.
I think I overlooked the body of this new Generation 6 car and the downforce it creates on its own. It has a lot of natural downforce built into it. This car was built by engineers and with input from all three manufacturers. Granted, Saturday night was just one race with this new rules package with very limited testing but I do like what I saw.
I also applaud them for trying this new rules package in a race. Sure, you can take a bunch of cars and go test at every track until you are blue in the face, but you never really know what you have until you put all 43 cars out there in race conditions. That's when you see what you really have.
I also have noted there are the naysayers out there that say these new rule changes were intended to favor the Fords and the Toyotas while hurting the Chevrolets. Don't read anything into that. Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing have pretty much dominated since the NASCAR Sprint Cup series has been there. So what happened Saturday night? Well a JGR Toyota driver passed a Team Penske driver for the win. I just don't think it's a far assumption at this point in time to say the rules favor one or the others. Let's get a few more races under our belt first before we make any judgments on that.
Congratulations to Matt Crafton on winning the Camping World Truck Series race Thursday night at Kentucky Speedway. I hated the fact that race had to be called early due to Ben Kennedy's scary ride up into the catchfence. The catchfence did its job and thankfully Ben was unhurt. The Kentucky Speedway crew was once again at its best as they got the catchfence and SAFER Barriers repaired in time for the XFINITY and Sprint Cup races.
Friday night saw Brad Keselowki win the XFINITY race. A daring move in the tri-oval gave Brad the lead and he won the race by only a quarter of a second. That was Brad's third win at Kentucky. He had said earlier in the week he thought the trophy, a Crosley jukebox, was pretty cool and he really wanted to win the race to get it. Well, mission accomplished. It was also really special to see Brad's new baby girl, Scarlett, with mom Paige being able to celebrate with Brad for the first time in Victory Lane. By the way, that was Brad's 32nd career XFINITY win and it gives him sole possession of fifth place on the all-time win list just ahead of NASCAR Hall of Famer Jack Ingram.
I also think we need to tip our hats to the NBC folks. I know all those guys and gals over there. As you all know, some of them have worked on our FOX NASCAR team in the past. I'm enjoying their coverage. It's only their second race together but you can see the chemistry starting to jell.
The sands in the ol'Chase hourglass are really starting to get thinner. We only have eight races left. We know that 10 drivers are locked in. Kyle would be No. 11 if he can get to 30th or better in the points. I still maintain we'll have some guys in the Chase field based on points. I know eight races really seem like a lot, but trust me they aren't. So it's going to be really interesting to see who is able to make it in and who is going to be looking in from the outside.
It all starts this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. This will be a very important weekend for all the teams, especially those already locked into the Chase. Remember that we come back to this track as stop No. 2 of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase. So those already in this year's Chase will be taking volumes of notes. The Penske Fords won both races there in 2014, so let's see if they are equally as strong this weekend.
