A Month Under The Lights

It’s been a while since I pulled up a Nascar round-up. The main reason for the delay is the late night races that are on the schedule over the last while.

The last three weeks have been night races with the fourth, the Coke 600 at Charlotte this coming weekend. Adjusting to this schedule has been a pain in the arse. I tried to stay up for Richmond in vain. Midnight to 4am races are pretty taxing. The race was dominated by Denny Hamlin. Lady Luck decided against letting the youngster record his second win of the year with a tire blow out near the end.

The race will be remembered for the contact between Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Junior. The former has endured the wrath of Earnhardt Nation since. Clint Bowyer snuck through to take his second career victory.

Kyle Busch was dominant force at Darlington. The tight confines of the track didn’t stop ‘Wild Thing’ from overtaking anywhere on the track. Even a penalty for a loose nut, which put him to the back of the pack couldn’t stop Busch. The youngster, who was promoting the new Indiana Jones flick, provided a swashbuckling performance to win the race. Common sense was to the front for me to watch Darlington with taping it. While I hate the idea of watching races re-live like this, it’s better than nothing.

The third consecutive night race was the All Stars race on Saturday night. A non-points race which Kasey Kahne, who only made the race after been voted in by the fans, walked away with the one million dollar cash prize. Dale Jarrett stepped back into the car one last time and even drove big brown truck before the race got off.

The common thread through all these races was the force that is Kyle Busch and Toyota. The Gibbs team were beset with mechanical issues at the All Stars race. But, better to get them out of the way now than have them this coming weekend.

Busch is also in the spotlight over his tangle with Earnhardt Junior. As I said before, he is now incurring the wrath of Earnhardt Nation. His former Hendricks team-mates Gordon and Johnson can give him tips on that. I noticed that the pair of them, Busch and the open-wheelers received a less than appreciative applause from the fans at the All Stars.

I love the way the Kyle is handling it though. He admitted after the race it wasn’t intentional and that he wasn’t thrilled that it occurred. In most cases, that should be enough and everyone gets on with it. But now when the other driver is Earnhardt.
It’s just the way things are over there. I read plenty of times about the Nascar.com journalists having their inbox’s filled with such comments that are really... well.. narrow minded.
But Kyle just feeds on the crowd, the hate. It’s like a pantomime where he is the villain, one which in public he is happy to play. The team bow at the All Stars driver intro’s – I loved it. It’s just a shame that in all likelihood most pre-race interviews are going to see that this issue cropped up. Earlier on the season I enjoyed his comments and playful attitude over things.

Whether Earnhardt Nation likes it or not, Wild Thing is here and he isn’t going away.