by Mike Maruska
3/10/2008
Through four races, Kyle Busch has had an excellent chance to win any of them, of course you could also argue that Carl Edwards could have won three of the four. That Busch finally did win at Atlanta was no surprise. He’s that good and has been outstanding so far in 2008. Shrub is getting great cars and backing that up with results. He has two fourths, an eleventh and a first. In fact, with the way his season has started [Mike’s inner monologue, “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”], it could be a championship-caliber season [careful]. I’m usually the last person to jump to conclusions early in a season, but check out some numbers. Compare his numbers to Jeff Gordon’s at the same age (20-22). Busch has an extra full season compared to Gordon, but there are a few similarities. They both had decent starts, winning a few races (2 for Gordon, 4 for Busch) and scoring top fives (Gordon finished in the top 5 23% of the time, while Busch has a 26% clip), but certainly not overpowering stats before their age 23 seasons. Gordon led 3.8% of his laps run in his first two seasons while Busch has a 5.2% in three seasons. Gordon’s age 23 season was a revelation, winning seven races and his first Cup trophy, beginning a dominating four year stretch. Busch turns 23 in May. It’s not simply coincidence either. Both drivers were obviously talented at a young age, but it takes a few years for the experience to catch up with the raw talent. Busch is now getting to that intersection in a similar way that Gordon did. I’m am not getting caught in the hype undercurrent by saying he has a great chance at matching Gordon’s Cup feat.
That doesn’t mean the whole season will be this charmed for Busch. I’m very curious to see what happens when Busch’s car handles poorly or he gets caught up in a wreck. He will probably say or do something this year that, in some people’s minds, will erase all the growth of this season. The Chase certainly complicates things too, but almost every NASCAR fan can see how talented Busch is and that with experience is quite the tandem.
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Tony Stewart, you just finished second to your teammate, tell us how you really feel about Goodyear.
“That was the most pathetic racing tire that I’ve ever been on in my professional career. They exited out of Formula One. They exited out of IRL. They exited out of CART. They exited out of World Outlaws, and there is a reason for that. Goodyear can’t build a tire that is worth a crap. If I were Goodyear, I would be really embarrassed about this weekend and what they brought here. It didn’t keep us from winning the race and how we got to second I don’t know. I am really proud of our guys on the team and I’m really proud of their pit stops. It was ridiculous to have to race on a tire like this today. Not at this form of racing. If they can’t do anything better than that they should just pull out of this sport and save us all a bunch of headaches. I guarantee you Hoosier or Firestone or somebody can come in and do a lot better job than what they are doing right now.”
He’s right, the racing was not very good, and he was apparently upset earlier in the weekend about tires too. I don’t know how to solve the problem, but the car is only as good as the tire. Striking the balance between safety and competition is vital for Goodyear.
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Why does Darrell Waltrip insist he loves watching Kyle Busch, but proceed to point out Busch’s flaws at every opportunity. Yes Busch can be impatient, but he was one of the two dominant cars and he won the race. Incessantly talking about how Busch is on the verge of a let down gets very old.
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Historic? Technically Kyle Busch winning a Cup race in a Toyota Camry is an historic win, but can’t we move on? The CoT means all the cars are basically the same with engines being he only real difference. Besides, Toyota manufactures cars in the US. Some might say, ‘But they’re a Japanese company!’ Right. Until last year Dodge was owner by Daimler, a German company. If I see another headline about the historic win, it should read, “Kyle Busch becomes first Cup driver to win with a Toyota decal on his car’s nose.”
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Only 2 drivers have led a lap in every race this year. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch, who has led at least 10 laps in each race and 329 total. Busch also leads the points and has a 125.9 driver rating.
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Wasn’t this supposed to be Dave Blaney’s breakthrough season? With four finishes 26th or worse, it is apparently not. Blaney is one race away from reverting to a Go Fast or Go Home car. That is not the progress most people(me included) had in mind.
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23 laps to go and Greg Biffle pulled up to Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart and I thought, Biffle is going to make this an exciting finish. Obviously that finish never came, but can you imagine a last lap duel between Kyle Busch and Biffle? I don’t think you could pick two better drivers to race side by side in loose racecars and heading for the checkered flag. Maybe Robby Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya on a road course, but I can’t think of too many other drivers I’d like to see from a pure excitement angle. Who would you want to see in a last lap duel?
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