Double Clutchin’-The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly From Chi-Town
Written by Rocky Kitts · July 13, 2008
LifeLock’s not doing its job, because on Saturday night, NASCAR’s identity got stolen.
Kyle Busch continued his one-man campaign to make himself the face of NASCAR with another victory Saturday night; this time winning the Lifelock 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Whether you’re a Busch fan or you hate him like the flu, allow me to steal a quote from one of the greatest performers of all time, “whether you like it or whether you don’t, learn to love it, because it’s the best thing going today”.
Thanks Ric, now on to the G, B, and U:
The Good:
There are lucky performances by drivers (see Kurt Busch) and then there are dominating performances by drivers. This week at Chicago, Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance, leading 165 laps and holding off Jimmie Johnson the last two laps of the race to win his seventh race. Kyle just looks like he’s running a different car from what everyone else is driving, and his sweep of the Nationwide Race and the Lifelock 400 just adds to what would already go down as one of the most dominant seasons ever, with a little less than half the season to go. Memo to everyone else; Kyle Busch has the Cup Race on layaway right now, and unless somebody’s got something for him, he’s going to make the final payment somewhere around November 16.
Also, what a good finish. Busch loses the lead, gets it back, and then checks Johnson up to hold out for the win. Good driving, good finish. NASCAR has been killed in the press the last couple of races for the green/white/checkered finishes, and it’s funny, although this was essentially the same kind of finish, I don’t see anyone complaining. Much of that has to do with the fact that the winning driver actually crossed the finish line this week. That’s a neat trick, and NASCAR should see that it happens more often.
Strong finish for Tony Stewart. Stewart had a car that contended for the lead the entire race and he did a great job, especially considering the media frenzy that’s been around him all week. Smoke put on his helmet and did what he does best and that’s drive hard, aggressive, and finish in the top five.
Oh, and have I mentioned, I absolutely love night racing, and I agree with Ray, more Saturday night races would be great during football season.
The Bad
More bad luck for a contending driver. There were really only four drivers that had cars that could challenge Busch Saturday night, and Carl Edwards was one of them. But a combination of tire issues and a broke splitter pushed Edwards down to a 32 place finish.
Tony Stewart may not have mailed it in, but I’m not sure that the same can be said for Casey Mears, who finished 33rd and I’m not sure that I heard his name mentioned all night. Mears should really be pushing his team to show that Hendrick’s lack of faith in his driving is a mistake, instead of driving like it’s just for a paycheck.
Competition cautions. I’m not a fan of competition cautions, because while I understand their purpose, they do little more than penalize the drivers who are running a good race by bringing them back to the pack.
The Ugly
I didn’t find anything about the race that really stood out as being ugly, so I’m going to take a shot at TNT.
Did they really need to hoke it up with the “let’s saw someone in half” trick? I like TNT as a whole and I’ve been complimentary of Kyle Petty’s commentary, and of TNT’s not spending the entire race focusing on Junior, but this whole segment was tacky, juvenile, and I have a hard time believing that there was a single person out there who thought that it was a good use of time. If I counted right, about four laps went by during this awkward segment and it added nothing to the broadcast. Just because Fox does some cartoony stuff during their broadcast doesn’t meant that everyone has to try it.
Until next time that’s the G, B, and U.
Rocky Kitts is the Good, in the G, B, and U, and he can be reached at wwwthreestrikesandout@yahoo.com; and yes, although he’s a huge star, he does read all of his emails. He’s just above responding to them. Unless you’re female, cute, and sent pictures. Then, you might get lucky.
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Ugh, yeah, that silly little magic trick was the most out-of-place thing I have ever seen during a race. I bet Larry Mac felt like he needed a shower after that. I’m still scratching my head on that one.
Just wanted to speak my mind about how qualifing went at chicagoland on Thurs. evening. I could’nt believe that the speedway was selling tickets knowing full well that a storm was approaching and would pretty much cancel qualifing. Thank god and a good freind for calling me to let me know that the rain was coming so I would’nt be duped into buying a ticket. Pure greed!!