Kyle Busch thought he might lose his ride

Plenty of people speculated that Kyle Busch might end up losing his ride after his incident in the truck race last week at Texas, and it turns out the driver thought the same thing.

“Was there a point in which I thought, ‘Do I have a ride?’ Of course there was,” Busch said. “Yeah, I thought that.”

However, Busch said Gibbs never suggested to him that Busch might be fired even though his sponsor, M&M’s/Mars, chose to pull its sponsorship in the final two weeks of the season. Interstate Batteries will grace the hood of the #18 at Phoenix and Homestead.



Busch also said he wasn’t surprised by the penalties NASCAR threw at him in the wake of the incident where he intentionally drover truck series championship contender Ron Hornaday into the wall under caution.

For Busch to not be surprised by NASCAR’s ruling, that means the leadership at Gibbs must have gotten to him quickly after the incident because Busch certainly didn’t sound remorseful in his TV interview right after the wreck.

“If I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday that is not Kyle Busch's fashion.” Busch said. “I’m sorry it was Ron Hornaday and he is going after a championship, but you can’t blame this all on one person.”

Well, NASCAR did blame it on one person, and Busch quickly joined the rest of the world in understanding what he did was wrong.

Busch said there has always been a gray area within NASCAR rules that everybody tries to push both in how the cars are built and the extent of drivers’ actions on the track.

“With the crew chiefs, with car chiefs, with our body hangers back at the shop trying to figure out how far we can go, you go that far and you push the envelope,” he said. “Sometimes you get slapped, or maybe a little bit worse than that, and I think we saw that this past weekend.”

Jimmie Johnson said drivers have a feeling of what to expect when they are involved in an altercation and they generally try to steer clear of the other driver until he gets to pit road or the garage area, although Brian Vickers still drove by Jamie McMurray at Martinsville when McMurray was sitting on the track waiting to run into him.

Jeff Gordon was in a similar incident with Jeff Burton in last year’s fall race at Texas that led to a fight between the two on the backstretch but weren’t penalized. He said he disagrees with the idea that NASCAR doesn’t have a clear line established for on-track incidents.

“You just saw it. That was the clear line,” he said. “When you know that you didn’t do the right thing, then you know there are consequences.”

One of those consequences is the danger of losing a sponsor.

Gordon said crew chiefs and drivers are expendable to some extent, but sponsors are absolutely not because they have the money that keeps the sport rolling. He said he thinks Busch will lose his sponsor if a similar situation happens again.

Finally, Gordon said he believes this might finally be the incident that wakes Busch up to where he will make some real changes in his decision-making.

“If this doesn’t teach him the ultimate lesson, than nothing will,” Gordon said. “I would certainly have to believe that this would be an eye-opening experience.”

Reaction to Kyle Busch's penalty

NASCAR finally did it.

After nearly two years since NASCAR delivered the “Boys, have at it” edict, one of the boys has pushed the envelope too far.

Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday got into a dust-up early in the truck race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Hornaday got loose and squeezed Busch into the outside wall, but then Busch came back during the caution period and intentionally wrecked Hornaday and ending the night of both cars just 14 laps into the race.

NASCAR went ahead and told Busch he couldn’t go back out on the track for the remainder of the race, but it didn’t matter. The #18 truck was destroyed.

However, NASCAR came back Saturday morning and took a much more drastic step in the situation. They told Busch he could not race in either the Nationwide race on Saturday or the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.

Let’s try and sort out some of the issues involved in this situation, because there are plenty.

First, Busch intentionally wrecked a fellow driver. OK, that has happened before, and it has even happened under caution. Remember last year’s Chase race at Texas? Jeff Burton dumped Jeff Gordon under the yellow and the two drivers literally fought about it on the backstretch.

Another recent incident many people look back to for perspective on this situation is when Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski in the 2010 spring race at Atlanta.

Yet another factor that could be weighed into this decision is that Hornaday was in the thick of the truck series championship battle with just one race remaining after Texas. However, drivers in a championship battle have been wrecked before, even intentionally. Shoot, Brian Vickers took out Matt Kenseth on purpose just last week at Martinsville.

What’s the difference? The driver’s history.

Kyle Busch is the bad boy of NASCAR and has been since he joined the sport in 2004. Every year Busch either says something or does something that stirs everybody up and we have debates like the one this weekend.

So, was NASCAR right to park Busch for the rest of the weekend? That answer will be debated long after Sunday’s race and maybe even long after the season comes to a close.

Many people will say Edwards deserved a suspension after not only wrecking Keselowski at Atlanta, but then wrecking him coming to the white flag later in the year during a Nationwide race at Gateway.

After all of that, NASCAR still had to penalize Busch this weekend. Unfortunately life isn't fair, pal.

Contrary to public opinion, the sanctioning body has probably been a little soft in its punishments throughout the years. This was only the third time a driver has been parked during a weekend since 2002.

But, before we give NASCAR a hard time, and plenty of people still will regardless of its decision, the great part about this sport is how the competitors are able to police the sport among themselves.

The most telling sign that NASCAR made the right decision is the drivers and former drivers’ comments that Busch certainly deserved this penalty. Some, including Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett, think he might deserve a harsher penalty that spills into the coming weeks.

Should other drivers have received similar penalties in the past? Maybe, but past possible errors shouldn’t change what the correct answer is in this particular instance.

Rating the Good Sam Club 500: 5 Stars *****

After five relatively boring races to start the Chase, the excitement level jumped up a notch at Talladega. The final restrictor-plate race of the season gets the first 5 Star Rating of the Chase.

Clint Bowyer won yet another photo finish Sunday at Talladega, edging out his teammate Jeff Burton at the line. Bowyer made a great move coming into the tri-oval and just barely kept Burton from coming back to beat him.

This race was one of the best restrictor-plate races since the two-car bump draft has been used in full force. While NASCAR didn’t end the two-car draft with its rule changes heading into the race, it did keep the pack a little closer.

Sunday’s race kind of combined the two styles of drafting. Cars had to be touching to make any speed, but other than Bowyer and Burton at the end, nobody really jumped out from the pack.

Plus, the emotional ride of a restrictor-plate race is unlike any other.

Before the gentlemen start their engines, there is a nervous tension that surrounds the racetrack. Talladega one of the two most exciting tracks on the schedule, but that also means it is one of the two most dangerous, as well, along with Daytona.

The drivers’ eyes tell the story on a Sunday morning at Talladega. There is a little more trepidation than normal, and Dan Wheldon’s wreck last week only made that feeling worse.

Then the race starts and all of the focus turns to the track. The first several laps are usually pretty intense as the field sorts itself out, but then the race settles into a rhythm. That rhythm remains until the laps wind down. Then the tension really starts to pick up.

The little bit larger packs Sunday brought back a few larger wrecks. A.J. Allmendinger and Mark Martin both got turned into the middle of the racetrack. Those spins would’ve taken out 20 cars a couple of years ago, but they also would’ve taken out maybe just a car or two in recent restrictor-plate races.

However, these wrecks are extremely dangerous. The hit Regan Smith took in Turn 4 was unbelievably hard.

After the big wreck, it’s time to settle the race among the cars that are left, and then things get wild as drivers such as Jeff Gordon manage to find their way through a hole that hadn’t even developed yet.

Finally, the final laps turn into a final lunge toward the finish line. This time Burton and Bowyer jumped out after the late restart and were able to settle things before the four-wide pack barreled across the finish line.

There is no other type of race with an intensity level as high for nearly as long. Once a restrictor-plate race is finished, fans often feel more exhausted emotionally than their favorite driver looks after he climbs out of his car.

Overall, this Talladega race was another wild ride. Many people might not like the two-car drafts, but this was the best version of that style of racing so far.

Now it’s time to finish the run to the championship. Carl Edwards extended his lead, Kevin Harvick took a big hit in the points standings, and Jimmie Johnson is 50 points out of the lead. That’s more than a full race, and doubts that he can come back get larger with every passing week.

Stewart's championship chances still small

Tony Stewart made a statement in a lot of minds Monday that he is not only a championship contender, but could be a favorite to win the championship this season.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Stewart looked strong at Chicago and would’ve had a good finish even if the race hadn’t come down to fuel mileage, and the future looks promising as the Sprint Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where teammate Ryan Newman won and Stewart finished second.

Those are all positives for Stewart’s championship hopes, but there’s still that lingering factor: The Chase has eight more races after New Hampshire.

Stewart has won at every track in the Chase at some point in his career and 17 of his 40 career wins have come at current Chase tracks.

However, the measure of a driver’s performance is usually more accurate based on how they have performed throughout the season more than throughout their career. Shoot, Jeff Burton has won at New Hampshire four times, but he finished 16th in the July race and has just one top 10 all season.

Just three weeks ago, Stewart was having trouble hanging onto the final spot in the Chase and had just come off of a stretch where he finished outside the top 10 in three of four races, including a dreadful 28th-place performance at Bristol.

We’ve seen other drivers, particularly Clint Bowyer, barely squeak into the Chase and then reel off a win or two at the start that throws them up into the top five in the points standings. But, those teams typically don’t sustain their success enough to truly contend for the championship.

Even 2007, the first year Bowyer made the Chase, he won the first race at New Hampshire and finished second twice more in the first five races of the Chase, but he still finished third, 346 points behind champion Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart could very well have turned a corner Monday and will contend for the championship all the way to Homestead, but 10th-place teams don’t usually turn into championship teams in 10 races.

The first 26 races of the season are typically a good barometer for how strong a team is in a given year. Plus, it’s much easier to drop from first to 10th, as Kyle Busch did in 2008, than it is to climb from 10th to first.

With its win at Chicago, the #14 team might have hit on a setup that will keep them near the top of the standings for the remainder of the Chase, but a fuel-mileage win in the first-place shouldn’t make that team the favorite to win it all.

Rating the Tums Fast Relief 500: 4 Stars ****

The final short-track race of the season brought plenty of tight racing that led to a tight championship battle. Martinsville gets a 4 Star Rating.

Throughout the race, cars bounced off of each other left and right. Jimmie Johnson sent Marcos Ambrose’s day down the tubes when they collided early in the race, and once again, teammates got frustrated with each other. This time Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton traded bumps a few times throughout the race. Burton drove his car incredibly hard all day, but it may have cost him in the end, as he faded to ninth after leading the most laps.

However, it was nice to see the beating and banging at Martinsville. The first half of the Chase was incredibly clean, but the cautions started to fly last week at Charlotte and the flag man carried that momentum into Martinsville, throwing the yellow 15 times for 90 laps, or 18 percent of the race. Up to this race, only about 11 percent of the laps had been run under caution.

While the race was good, it also continued the championship intrigue. After Charlotte, the standings showed only three drivers to have a realistic shot at the title, and only two with a chance to beat Johnson. So what do Denny Hamlin and Harvick do? They come out with a win and a third-place finish, respectively.

So, maybe wins actually do matter enough in the current points system. Had Hamlin finished second, he would have been 21 points behind Johnson instead of six. That’s quite a difference for just one position and is equivalent to five positions back in the field. I think most people would agree there is a fairly large difference between finishing 15th and 20th. Well, in terms of points, that’s the same difference between first and second.

The six-point margin that separates Johnson and Hamlin is the smallest lead a driver has had at this point in the season in Chase history. The thing is, Johnson still had a top-five finish. Since his 25th-place finish at New Hampshire to start the Chase, Johnson has finished first, second, third, third and fifth in the following five races. Yet, he only has a six-point advantage. The competition this year may well be the toughest Johnson has faced in the past five seasons.

Now the intensity ratchets up even another notch as the series heads to Talladega Superspeedway, the largest track on the schedule. Everything in the Chase up to this point has been qualified with the “wait until after Talladega” disclaimer. Well, that time has come.

After a race in the spring that had a record 88 lead changes and the driver who now sits third in the standings as the winner, the excitement/intensity level for this race may be unmatched except for the Daytona 500. This race could decide the championship. NASCAR said they wanted “Game Seven” moments, and here it is. The championship trophy won’t be handed out Sunday, but the engraver will likely be able to start buying templates.

Rating the Southern 500: 3 Stars ***

The Sprint Cup Series headed back to its roots Saturday night for an evening with “The Lady in Black.” A great finish was beginning to take shape, but a late caution with 26 laps to go put a stop to that. Overall, the eminent stock car race of the South gets a 3 Star Rating.

Denny Hamlin continues to amaze after winning his third race of the season and second after having knee surgery less than a month ago. Also, the tracks he has won at are some of the toughest on the circuit: Martinsville, Texas and now Darlington. However, had Joey Logano not spun out near the end of the race, Jeff Burton may have been the one standing in Victory Lane.

Both Jeffs have had interesting starts to the season. Gordon and Burton are running very well week in and week out, but have yet to be able to bring home a trophy. When drivers get on a roll like this, it is almost guaranteed that something will jump up and bite them at the end of a race to prevent them from winning. Saturday it was Burton’s turn as he ran over the air hose on his final pit stop. After that, there was no competition left for Hamlin as he left the field in his dust during that final run.

Overall, this race had an old-school feel to it. No, the track did not eat up tires as it had in the past, but track position was important and about the only way to get around someone was to move them out of the way. There is always a lot of talk about how great it is that several of the tracks have several different grooves. While that certainly works for the big, wide tracks, one groove can make for exciting races at smaller tracks.

Although there were 11 cautions Saturday night, there were still a couple of long stretches of green-flag racing. That’s another reason why I prefer the 500-mile races. The marathon part of the 500-mile race is part of racing and something that should be appreciated. In a few weeks the Coca-Cola 600 will be upon us and that is always one of the best races of the season.

Also, with less new up-and-coming drivers jumping into Sprint Cup cars, I think over the next couple of seasons we will see cleaner and cleaner races. For much of the last decade it was not uncommon to have six legitimate contenders for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Lately, however, there are only a couple each season. As the drivers currently in the series continue to mature and improve, I think the number of cautions during the races will come down, and that is definitely not a bad thing.

So after visiting a track with some of the best nicknames in the sport, the series moves to another track with a great nickname in the “Monster Mile” at Dover. We are in a stretch right now of several physical tracks lined up one after the other, and it is nice to have a feel that the drivers can work to improve how they are running on their own without having to come to the pits before they can make up any ground.

Finally, this week marks a very important moment in NASCAR history as the new NASCAR Hall of Fame opens its doors for the first time. If the previews are any indication, this place is going to be like Christmas morning for a NASCAR fan. Hope everyone had a fantastic Mother’s Day weekend and has a couple of great weeks coming up, because the one of the greatest racing months ever is still just getting started.

Rating the Heath Calhoun 400: 2 Stars **

Following one of the best races in NASCAR history is always going to be difficult, but Richmond seemed like a track that could handle the pressure. However, Saturday night’s race was dominated by two cars and NASCAR once again pulled out the debris caution a few times to keep things together. Overall, the spring race at Richmond gets a 2 Star Rating.

Kyle Busch finally broke through into the win column at Richmond. He certainly had the dominant car throughout most of the night, leading 226 of 400 laps while Jeff Gordon led for another 144 without bringing home a trophy. Those two drivers left a whole 30 laps for someone else to lead, and Jeff Burton led 20 of those. Not quite the record-setting pace that was kept at Talladega.

The announcers were big proponents of the wave-around rule a year ago. I, however, can’t say I’ve warmed up to it yet. Plus, the way things played out Saturday evening was bogus. There will never again be a race with less than 10 cars left on the lead lap at the finish.

It was pretty darn convenient that just after everyone had completed green flag pit stops and Jimmie Johnson went a lap down, the debris caution waved. With only nine cars on the lead lap, nearly the entire field was brought back into contention as 18 cars took the wave around.

There are so many free passes given in NASCAR these days. I understand the safety issue with drivers racing back to the line for a caution, but back when it was allowed, the drivers themselves dealt with who would get a lap back or who would be kept a lap down by how hard the leader raced that car back to the line. Now the drivers have basically no say at all in who they will be competing against at the end of a race because most of the field will be on the lead lap regardless. Remember, this is racing, not just TV entertainment. Real competition happens on the track, no script is needed.

There was no incentive to fight to stay on the lead lap in the first half of the race Saturday night. As long as a car stayed only one lap behind, they were going to get their chance to be in contention at some point because twice NASCAR handed out a debris caution for cars to get back on the lead lap. Then, to make things worse, 10 laps later another debris caution was thrown so the wave around cars could pit and everyone would be on the same pit cycle.

We go through this every year, and this is one of the things that keep NASCAR from getting respect, not only from outsiders, but from its very own fans. Come on NASCAR, stop playing mini-games within the races.

One more quick point. The tire combination used at Richmond was the same that was run at Phoenix, which was also not one of the greatest races of the year until cautions created a close finish. Goodyear has done a great job for the most part this season, but those flat tracks may need to be looked at again. Hopefully there is a different combination for New Hampshire or that could be a long day.

So next week the series heads to “The Lady in Black” for the Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C. There is no reason this shouldn’t be a good race. The track still has grip and the spoiler may actually make a difference on this track. Cars already run loose to begin with at that track, and the spoiler should loosen things up all the more. Have a great week and Mother’s Day weekend.

Rating the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500: 5 Stars *****

Waiting until Monday did nothing to hurt the racing at Martinsville. Plenty of side-by-side racing, a duel between two Virginia natives, three-wide racing at times and a fantastic finish give the Martinsville spring race the first 5 Star Rating of the season.

What a finish. After a unique call by Denny Hamlin’s crew chief, Mike Ford, to come in and pit with only four laps left in the race put Hamlin in ninth place for the final restart in regulation, it looked like the #11 team had given the race away. However, from that point forward, Hamlin put the pedal to the metal and stormed back to the front. It takes an awfully good handling car to make those kinds of moves late in a race.

Ford’s call had a lot of things go perfectly because Hamlin could have just as easily suffered the same fate as his teammate Kyle Busch and have gotten kicked in the rear by Paul Menard. Everyone would be singing a much different tune had that happened to the #11.

Anyway, Hamlin’s charge was similar to what Jimmie Johnson does on a consistent basis. It always seems like Johnson has four tires for the last restart and often he comes away with the trophy. This time, Hamlin took that strategy to the extreme and circumstances combined with a great car helped him claw his way back to where he should have been at the end of the race: Victory Lane.

The good racing at Martinsville turned great during the green-white-checkered. Hamlin’s moves at the end of regulation were impressive, but they pale in comparison to what took place in the final two laps. Three lead changes in one lap at Martinsville? Three wide in the turns with no wrecks? All that and more took place on the penultimate lap Monday. With Hamlin sitting on the outside of row two for the restart, things looked bleak for the #11 car. But, on the restart, Hamlin bumped Ryan Newman going into Turn 1; Matt Kenseth bumped the leader, Jeff Gordon, at the same time; and Gordon came back to bump Kenseth out of the way going into Turn 3, giving Hamlin the opening he needed to complete his incredible comeback. That was a finish that could bring people to their feet.

This felt like a classic race in many respects. Monday races are always a bit more laid back than the big shows on Sundays, the weather turned out to be perfect and there were only a handful of cars left at the end of the race without any significant damage. The only thing missing was a bungee cord strapped across the hood of Hamlin’s car as he raced back to the lead. Otherwise we may have had to double check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t 1991 and Harry Gant was taking back the lead.

Jeff Burton should also get an honorable mention in all of this. He and Hamlin dominated most of the day and would have been the two fighting for the win had Burton not cut down a tire after bumping Hamlin too much. Even with a 20th-place finish, Burton still gained two spots in the points, moving up to fifth.

Monday’s race also had the second-most lead changes of any race at Martinsville, just one shy of the record of 25 set back in the fall of 1980. That is saying something, because they have been racing at Martinsville longer than any track on the circuit.

There will be no racing next week as the series takes a break for Easter, so the next time we will see the new spoilered car will be in two weeks at Phoenix International Raceway. That is another flat track that generally produces some pretty good racing. With the Hendrick cars not dominating Martinsville, there may be reason to hope for more of the same at another track where they usually have the field covered.