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Busch Bashed By Backflipper at Bristol

Ok, that’s really a very misleading headline, but Rocky beat me to the punch in his post, and I wouldn’t be able to sum it up any better than that.  So it’s back to the fallback “random thoughts” format for me.  By the way, this column was missing last week, and I apologize for that.  My computer got zapped due to some ill-placed JGR magnets near my hard drive.

All right, that was a little low, but hey, I have to blame someone for my lack of inspiration after Michigan last week!

• Ok, let’s just get this out of the way up front: Kyle got what was coming to him.  One can’t drive as, um, ahem, let’s say ‘aggressively’, as he has during his NASCAR career and not expect to have the favor returned.  I think that Edwards said it best when interviewed by ESPN following the race:

“It’s one of those deals where I couldn’t get by him, I couldn’t get by him, and I just had to ask myself, ‘Would he do that to me?’  And he has before, so that’s the way it goes”

• Now back to the start of that race - what the hell was Junior thinking in passing all those cars on the start?  He had to know that it is illegal to do so, one cannot start that many NASCAR races and not know that.  That stupid little mishap cost Junior a good solid finish, and worse, they never had a chance to even show their cards.  Instead, the team had to struggle to just be the lucky dog.  Getting the lucky dog award is a tough thing to do on the Bristol bullring, never mind the fact that there were very few cautions in the race as a whole.  I think it might be easier to be struck by lightning.  If I were the #88 Amp crew, I’d be pretty thrilled with the 18th place finish that I brought home.  But I’d also be disappointed in my driver for having what his daddy would have called “Brain Fade”.  One cannot win championships with Brain Fade.
• The #31 team continued to show that sometimes, even when you light the world on fire in the first half of a season, things can change very quickly when luck isn’t on your side.  I hate to say it, but my prediction about Burton seems to be coming true.  This team really just needs some luck to fall their way.
• Speaking of luck, Clint Bowyer had lots and Kasey Kahne had very little (once again).  When Casey Mears’ spotter caused the biggest wreck of the night, Bowyer somehow made it through the calamity, while Kahne’s car was destroyed.  Bowyer went on to have the kind of night he needs to limp into the chase with a finish of 7th, and Kahne loaded up the car to the hauler and went home with a 40th.  The #9 Budweiser team seems to be doing everything they can to fall out of the chase as of late, and didn’t disappoint again this week, dropping another 3 spots to 11th.  Better look in your rearview, Kasey.  Those aren’t the Allstate cougars you see back there.
• I’m still a little miffed at the whole Casey Mears/Michael Waltrip wreck.  The spotter for Casey called “clear clear clear”, when it was very “clear” that he wasn’t.  After taking out a bunch of cars with potential Chase implications, I have some questions for said #5 spotter:

1. How can you not see all the way around the little half mile track?  I’ve been to the August race there, and I think that the seats are so good, it would be possible to go old-school and spot from the stands.  That being said, the spotters have a perch high above the track, so that they can see all the action.  So how could you make the wrong call?  Maybe Kellog’s or HMS could chip in and get you a pair of better binocs?
2. Since I was not there to see your vantage point, I will give you the benefit of the doubt.  Let’s say that you didn’t have a good angle to see the car coming down the straightaway, and there was that split second where you couldn’t see.  Wouldn’t the safe bet be to say “Still there” instead of “clear”?
3. Is this a ruse?  Was Casey just too embarrassed to say that he effed up?  Are you the fall guy?  C’mon, you can tell me, it’s just you and I, and I won’t tell anyone…besides, Casey’s outta here anyways as of November.

• There is going to be quite a shakeup over at the RCR camp in the offseason.  About the only person who doesn’t have to worry about changing teams, sponsors, or car numbers is Kevin Harvick.  I think we all knew that Casey Mears was the favorite to be in the 4th team, but I was pretty shocked to see Clint Bowyer out of the Jack Daniels ride.  To those of you not following this at home, it goes something like this: Bowyer moving to the #33, Cheerios as a sponsor, Mears taking over the #07 ride, Burton staying with the #31, but changing sponsors to Caterpillar, and Harvick staying put with the #29 and Shell.  Whew!  Everyone in the garage knows that Bowyer likes to party it up, and it appears on the outside that Mears is a pretty low-key guy who likes to hang out with his parents over tossing a few back with friends, so I’m not sure how well the driver matches the sponsor here.  To me, this was as silly a deal as getting “aw, shucks” Kasey Kahne matched up with Budweiser.  If it doesn’t fit, it ain’t legit.
• Back to actual comments about the race and broadcast, I really liked that “mic’ed up” segment they did with Reutimann’s Jack Man.  Helmet cams?  Cool.  Helmet cams with the crewman narrating a 13 second pit stop?  Awesome.
• Next week, it is on to California for another night race, except this one is on a Sunday.  I’m with the masses in saying thank jeebus that NASCAR finally got it right as far as scheduling Labor Day weekend’s race goes.  Labor Day should always be spent with the Lady in Black, not with fake hollywood idiots trying to pimp their latest works.  I’m going to throw a crazy prediction out there: Kyle Petty will be in victory lane at the end of the night.
• Ok, that one was a lie.  I was just making sure you were still paying attention.  But if you get the chance to meet him, can someone please ask him what he is still doing driving his car?  I love the stuff you give us in the booth, Kyle, but the stuff you give us on the track sucks.  Turn the car over to someone else, build your team to the heights it used to be at, and every now and then give us the inside scoop as a color commentator.

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