There were a number of things that stood out to me this past weekend.
First was the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in Kentucky. That place never fails to put on a good show. It was a pretty exciting race. It got even more exciting when Kyle Busch appeared to pass Todd Bodine so fast that it sucked Todd’s truck right around and it spun him out. Looked to be no harm, no foul, but Todd didn’t see it that way.
I was shocked when Todd got out of his truck and was complaining about Kyle. This is the guy standing in Victory Lane. He was lucky he didn’t back his truck into the fence and was even luckier with it being a single-truck incident that NASCAR went ahead and threw the caution. Todd was able to pit, get four tires and fuel and come back to win the race.
Now I can definitely understand if someone was in the garage with a wrecked vehicle complaining. But I have never been too fond of someone standing in Victory Lane complaining.
You’ve also heard me say many times before that I am tired of hearing about “racing too hard.” Now sure, on long races you have to pace yourself and there is give and take. Folks, Truck races aren’t very long. You have to get it while you can. In a Truck race, you will only get a couple shots in the pits to make your truck better. At the same time, you will only get a couple shots on the track to get by folks, so you have to be ready to take advantage of that. You have to be very aggressive. Kyle is very aggressive and it usually pays off for him.
I am not real sure why Todd was trying to throw Kyle under the bus after the race. Go look at the tape. It wasn’t aggressive driving nor was it dirty driving.
So that was the action at Kentucky.
Then we had the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races in Atlanta. I think the folks in Atlanta did one heck of a great job putting on a good show for both events. I truly believe Atlanta Motor Speedway will do just fine with one race on the schedule starting next year. I think they will be able to put all their energy and focus into the Labor Day weekend races, which will build it into something really special.
I liken it to what Darlington Raceway has done with the Mother's Day weekend. I just think races at Atlanta over Labor Day will get bigger and better every time we go back.
Did you see the crowd for Saturday’s Nationwide race? It was huge. It was probably one of the best Nationwide crowds we’ve seen this year. They just seemed to do everything right. Now I know there are folks that are disappointed and frustrated Atlanta lost a race date next year. Just give them a chance. I really think after watching everything they did this past weekend, that the future is very bright for Atlanta and the Labor Day weekend.
But anyway, back to the racing. You have to tip your hat to Jamie McMurray. He did a phenomenal job driving Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car. Every time Jamie works with Tony Eury Sr. and that team, they just seem to click. It was interesting to hear and see through the in-car cameras how much longer Jamie was in the throttle than the others. He wasn’t running it wide open all the time but he sure wasn’t missing it by far. There at the end of the race, you saw Jamie just drive off and leave everybody.
Jamie McMurray is the feel-good story of the year.
I don’t care whether he makes the Chase for the Sprint Cup or not. He won the Daytona 500. He won the Brickyard 400. He’s had success in the Nationwide Series. Folks, that’s pretty darn impressive from a guy that didn’t even know if he was going to have a job a year ago at this time. I’ve been thrilled for Jamie this year. He is such a good guy and I am glad to see him doing well.
Sunday night we had the Cup race. Now a lot of folks think that when you race at night, it makes for an easy day, but it doesn’t. You get up at the same time and you are really lost all day. You wander around anticipating the race and waiting for it to be time to race. It can be agonizing to be hanging out all day long waiting for an evening race.
Atlanta had a good crowd Sunday night in the stands. It, too, was probably one of the best crowds they have had there in a long time. The drivers were really putting on a show Sunday night. You saw three-wide racing on both ends of the track for a long time. Then you saw Kasey Kahne kinda get knocked out of the way.
I really am not sure what was going on with Ryan Newman. He struggled all weekend with Turn 2. He had an incident in the Nationwide race off Turn 2. Then you saw him have a couple episodes in the Cup race off the same turn. You know tensions are running high when you have Kasey, who is one of the mildest, low-key guys you will ever meet, unhappy and wanting payback.
He went into the pits, got his car fixed and then went back out looking for Ryan. I have to say though, that turned into a polite “have at it boys.” In the spring race there you saw Carl Edwards get Brad Keselowski upside down. Kasey, on the other hand, just got Ryan sideways but he didn’t wreck him. He messed with him and harassed Ryan, but he didn’t put him in the fence. It only caused Ryan to lose a few spots.
Tony Stewart had an amazing car. It clearly was the best car he has had all year. He led a lot of laps and got his first win of the year. In addition to Tony, there were a number of guys who did themselves a lot of good Sunday night.
Carl Edwards has to feel like he finally has some positive momentum going as we are one race away from the start of the Chase. It seems like the Roush Fenway camp has finally gotten their cars figured out and now all four cars are competitive. Jeff Burton needed a good run and he got a much-needed top-five finish. Kevin Harvick was going to be the car to beat until he had his problems.
The Busch brothers had an okay race. Kyle had a decent night but not great. His brother Kurt salvaged a decent finish despite not running well. I really was expecting that No. 2 car to run stronger at Atlanta, of all places, but it didn’t happen.
You have to wonder what is going on at Hendrick Motorsports. The No. 48 team of Jimmie Johnson ran really well at Atlanta. This was only like their second top 10 in eight or 10 races, so they needed a good finish. Unfortunately Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were junk. There’s just something missing over there.
I think the Chase field is set. With only the Richmond race this weekend, I don’t see Ryan making up the point difference between him and 12th-place Clint Bowyer.
OH BY THE WAY
I got tickled watching the U.S. National drag race and they showed Tony Stewart there. I swear the first thing that came to my mind was Tony was there to get some tips because of his struggles Sunday night with restarts. Now I know that’s not why he was there, but after Sunday night, it really was the first thing that came to mind when I saw him there.
OH BY THE WAY II
Congratulations to Bill Elliott’s son, Chase, who won at North Wilkesboro. It sure is great to see that place up and running. With the Fairgrounds track here in Nashville on what seems to be its last legs, maybe one old track like North Wilkesboro will come back and be around.
