"Birthday Boy Sweeps Action Track"

The rains stayed away and the fans who made it to Richmond saw a rootin' tootin' short track special that saw Kyle Busch reverse an early season victory slide with his third win of 2009. It came on his 24th birthday. Busch joins Cale Yarborough as the only two NASCAR drivers to win in the top division on their birthday.

Multiple stories this evening: Jeff Burton looked early like a pinball getting knocked around. He finished 3rd, behind Tony Stewart and Busch. Ryan Newman took a strong 4th, which pleased Stewart--his boss and teammate. Jeff Gordon also showed strength, leading laps and notching an 8th place finish, which put him back into the Sprint Cup point lead over Kurt Busch who dropped to second--10 behind Gordon. Stewart-Haas Racing has been a pleasant surprise with their steady progress toward the top ranks of Sprint Cup teams--pundits predicted the progress but not as quickly.

Denny Hamlin led the most laps, and was on pace for a hometown win. The rule change with lug nuts for this night anyway, flummoxed Hamlin's crew. Hamlin ended the race 14th.

The snapshot with crew chief Steve Addington, Busch and Coach Joe Gibbs came during their post race news conference.

We'll do this again next Saturday night at Darlington Raceway--the "track too tough to tame"--for the Southern 500.

Yet More Random Musings

The entertainment division (oops) of NASCAR cannot be happy that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. , the Nextel Cup Series' most bankable, popular and fast becoming its most marketable driver, will not make the 2007 version of the Chase for the Championship. Other scribes who observe NASCAR racing opine that the change from 10 to 12 chasers has diminished the competition, and make the case that adding the two drivers is analagous to the NCAA adding eight more teams to the Div. 1 Basketball Playoffs, a/k/a a registered term--March Madness. The Chase is interesting, but as artificial as the Car of Tomorrow.

The Indy Racing League has a three point battle between the reportedly disaffected Dario Franchitti and 2003 IndyCar champ Scott Dixon for that championship, which will be decided in Joliet, IL this Sunday. Franchitti, whilst a talented driver, forgot the axiom that blood (Marco Andretti, who shares DNA with the team owner Michael Andretti) is so much thicker than water.

As for Joe Gibbs Racing switching to Toyota for the 2008 season: Follow the money. Toyota has much more of it to spend, because it's making much more. GM, Ford and Dodge will spend money on Nextel Cup racing simply because of the number of eyeballs it attracts--they are under the most stockholder pressure to perform where it really counts--in the showrooms across America--than in an arena where, for all intents and purposes, the only differentiation in the "competition" is an engine, hood, fenders and decals. Will Toyota win the Sprint Cup in 2008? Look at the company's racing history in series like IMSA, CART and IRL. Look at the sales of the Camry vs the Impala, Fusion and Challenger. They may not win in 2008...but I submit they will come close.