NASCAR BLOG

One of the biggest issues in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 this weekend was the problem of melting tires. Several cars had major issues, particularly with Goodyear tires, and one racer even ended up with 5 flats over the course of the afternoon (he finished 37th). It is interesting that these tires just melted. Or, more precisely, the bead on the tire melted and then you had to pull it up and get the tire replaced. This is in part because the Martinsville Speedway is one of those racetracks where you will want to brake a lot. But some people rode the brakes a bit too much, it seems, causing the extra heat build-up on the tire rubber. You can bet that these racers will be watching carefully and being trained in more detail for this issue.

Kyle Busch raced at Bristol this weekend and he won again, making it three races in a row won by either him or his brother Kurt. How exciting it was too. On Saturday, there was a pit row miscue that brought Busch into 6th place. He was so angry, he just got out of his car in turn 3 and walked to his house. The crew had to fetch it themselves. But things were new again on Sunday when the crew did great work and Busch did great work. Everyone was in the right place at the right time and the team won. This year seems to be shaping up to be the Busch year, following 8 Bush years, I suppose. Anyway, it’s been an interesting Sprint Cup so far and will definitely keep improving.

Greg Biffle will be sitting out the race this weekend at the Bristol Motorway. The reason for this is that he hurt himself on a boat dock this week. He bruised his ribs and a few other scratches. Why does this stop him from racing his car? If you’re hurt, you might be stopped from driving around properly, stopping you from turning the wheel effectively and so on. He doesn’t want to be even a little bit off when driving, because it’s easy to lose control or hurt yourself when you are in such a race. Or you could hurt a bunch of other people and Biffle, even though he has a past at this track, would rather not have that problem.

Jeff Gordon leads the official Sprint Cup lineup right now, having garnered 634 points over the first few races of the season. Clint Bowyer, a little-known name, is presently in second, and then comes Kurt Busch with 588 points. His brother Kyle is down at #7 right now. However, keep in mind, this is still very early in the season. It’s doubtful that Jimmie Johnson was going to win the cup ultimately last year. But we will have to watch the Busch Bros. Kenseth, Gordon and a couple of other racers over the course of this year. It’s also possible that this works more like a long horse race where there are some horses that automatically start off well and then fall off towards the end and others that hit their stride on the back stretch. The season is only just beginning, but it looks like a good one!

Last weekend, at Charlotte a crew member from Ambrose’s team got himself into big trouble. During an otherwise routine pit stop, a tire got out of their stall and ran off into the infield. The crew member, a guy by the name of Watts, dashed after it and caught it. Watts is a firefighter and said that he automatically rushed after it. It was the wrong choice, he admits, and it threw a yellow caution that put several cars off the lead lap. This changed the race quite a bit. The crew member has been suspended for 4 races and will clearly never make that mistake again. Kurt Busch won the race anyhow but there were only 12 cars on the lead lap in the end.

Kurt and Kyle are just blowing away the field this NASCAR season! This week, Kurt Busch took the race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway yesterday and it was a great race for him. He led more laps yesterday than he had through all of last season. Is he going to keep winning? His younger brother Kyle is also a great driver and he’s a bigger star as well. But Kurt has really come to his own in the last month or so as well, winning a couple of races. This season is a really exciting one, not only for Busch and his Penske team, but for the whole sport. You never know who’s going to win each time!

There isn’t much going on in the NASCAR world right now. Not that there isn’t a lot to do, but there just isn’t much news. All the teams seem to be consolidating and repairing a bit. It’s not as drama as it is right before a big race or when there’s actual trash talking or anything like that going on. If you want to see the NASCAR in action, certainly there are some events coming up soon, and your favorite teams are on the way up. The Busch’s have been a bit of a surprise this year and some of the typical winners haven’t been in the running as much as last year. It’s going to be an interesting year, for sure! Keep up to date with all the newest information!

Kyle Busch won a NASCAR race yesterday at his home track, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway! He said that he was very nervous, because he knew he was “at home” and he would have to work a little bit harder to win it. His brother Kurt, whom we discussed last week, came in much later in the winning lineup and Kenseth, who had won many other races earlier, was sidelined due to quite a bit of engine trouble that he was having. It’s going to be a long season, with the Busch’s and Kenseth pushing forward. This wasn’t actually particularly expected, because these people weren’t doing all that well the last few years. Decently, but not real winning racing.