Rain Cuts Loudon Short; Ganassi Woes

Rain brought the Lenox 301 to an end with 15 laps to go with the Busch name on top of the pile. However, it was older brother Kurt who took the spoils.

The #2 Miller Lite Dodge didn’t have a car capable of winning on the day, but that didn’t matter. He chose to pit early and attempt to make it to the end without another stop. The rain, which threatened all day, finally arrived in the final stages. Nascar, after a period of waiting called the race, bringing Kurt his first win of the season.

It has been a difficult season for the former champion. After finishing second at Daytona, it has been all downhill. The chances of making the Chase are bleak, but not impossible. Kurt needs to put in a run of performances to match his brother if he wants in. He did so last year, but whether he can pull it off again remains to be seen.

Busch wasn’t the only one to benefit from the rain. Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley, Truex Junior, Sadler and Sorenson all benefitted from the rain stoppage to pick up valuable points. Before the rain arrived, it looked like it would be Tony Stewart’s day. But the need for a final stop, coupled with the decision to take tires while the rest went with fuel only, left him rueing what might have been in thirteenth.

Championship leader Kyle Busch, who was on the same strategy as his brother had to stop with the leaders. I didn’t pick up the reason for this over the broadcast. It ended up been an eventful finish for the #18. Running along with Montoya in the final stages, the pair rubbed sides, a norm in Nascar. The Columbian took exception and purposefully spun Busch around on the front straight. What goes around comes around for Montoya however. The spinning car of Busch came around and clipped Montoya.

A quick whine about having to touch sides to the press, the former F1 star admitted that he had done it on purpose. Nascar docked him two laps. It could have been worse for him. As the commentator’s put it, Juan has had a season of frustration, that probably finally boiled over.

It was a weekend that started with much promise for the Ganassi team. Yesterday it was announced that they were closing shop on Franchitti’s team. The #40 has struggled for sponsorship all year, despite having a name driver in the team. Franchitti, for all his effort, has failed to impress. He had the luxury of been able to start the first five races but has failed to keep the car in it. Whilst other open-wheel converts Carpentier and Hornish have made strides and showed consistent speed, Franchitti has done little.

Where he goes from now will be interesting to see. He remains committed to stock cars, but whether he is up for spending a year or two in the Nationwide at his age remains uncertain. I’m sure there may be a temptation to return to the IRL given its current strength.

Third Time Lucky

Kyle Busch tamed the Monster Mile to pick up his fourth win of the season. He finally took the chequered flag first after problems in the Truck and Nationwide race denied him from taking a hat-trick of victories.

‘Wild Thing’, who has won pretty much in anything he has driven this year, took the victory after a number of lightning quick green flag pits that allowed him to overhaul Carl Edwards. For much of the day it looked a given that a Roush driver would win. Greg Biffle led from the outset but his #16 Ford Fusion once more ran into mechanical difficulties. However, unlike the last number of races, the problems were manageable and he came up in third. A victory for Biffle is surely around the corner. Along with Busch, the pair have looked nigh unbeatable when out front.

An opportunity to win didn’t seem to be on the cards for Busch, but his pit crew dragged the #18 into contention. His efforts were aided by Busch, who as ever pushed the limit when it came to pit entry. Despite leading the championship and the majority of the top-12 having issues, it was refreshing to see Busch maintain that ‘always on it’ mentality. Although you get the feeling it may come back to bite him down the line.

A wreck inside the first twenty laps put a number of contenders out of contention. These Chase runners Earnhardt Junior, Stewart, Harvick, Bowyer, Kahne and Hamlin were all involved in the shunt. All except Hamlin returned to the track at some stage with their cars in various sorts of condition. It’s the fantastic thing about the COT platform; it takes a whole lot of wrecking to knock the car out of contention. The results of this have been seen when you look at the race results. There is very few retirements this season. Of course, the flip side to that is if a front runner has a bad day, in all likelihood they will finish in around the 40^th position as opposed to previous years where they could gain a number of spots.
It’s what fans like to see though! The more cars on track, the more action we get to see.

The big winner of the wreck was Matt Kenseth. The former champion is in a race against time to make it for the Chase. The wreck involving a number of the Chase contenders has allowed him to drag himself back up into a position to challenge to make it. Only six cars finished on the lead lap, with Jeff Gordon in 5^th and last year’s winner Truex Junior in 6^th.

PC’s Driver of the Day: Kyle Busch. He didn’t have the best car, but some awesome pit work saw him in the position to win. His fourth victory of the year, a season high, has already bagged the Las Vegas native 40 points in the Chase.