26 year old Kyle Busch won his 100th race Saturday at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Along with winning his 100th race in a Nascar event he also tied Mark Martin for the all time wins leader in the Nationwide series. The all time wins title is now tied at 49 wins in the lesser series and it is just a matter of time before Kyle passes Mark Martin and becomes the new leader. Once Kyle gets past Mark I would bet that he will pull away and never look back, love him or hate him, Kyle Busch can drive a race car well. I’d bet on him if he was driving in a lawn mower race; there just seems to be this drive in the young man that makes him want to succeed and break records. Some people in the Nascar community are critical of his drive to race in anything that he can get into on any given weekend saying that in the scheme of the big picture he might be taking something away from his Cup ride by being spread too thin. I doubt that anyone over at Joe Gibbs racing are thinking about that this weekend. JGR has cut him back some and Kyle is not racing everything he can get his hands on anymore, dedicating more time to his primary ride in the cup series. Hell he is sitting in first place in Sprint Cup series points so I would assume that the Nay Sayers are quiet at the moment but let him slip up and they could raise their ugly heads again.
Lap 197 brought out the final caution as a pile up of cars sent the race into green white checker land. Kyle was up front with Kevin Harvick beside him. Fuel was a worry for everybody as the race was now going to be six laps past the scheduled distance due to late race cautions and extended yellow flag laps. The restart had Busch pulling away from Kevin Harvick who later complained that he felt that his hands were tied due to warnings he received from Nascar about touching the 18 car. I think Harvick used the term “Handcuffed”, I like Kevin Harvick but for me to listen to him complain that he couldn’t win the race because he was afraid to touch the 18 car is a bit much. If you couldn’t pass him clean to win the race then you didn’t have a faster car than Kyle therefore Kyle wins and you come in second. I don’t see the problem here. Build a faster car and go out and beat him without sending him into the wall.
I think that Kevin Harvick was ticked off about the pass Kyle Busch made on lap 152 when he threaded the needle and passed Harvick and Keselowski by getting between the two of them to advance to second place. It is those kinds of moves that some fans see as reckless or brash and others see as just the kind of moves that you need to get the job done. Kyle reacts in a split second due to his drive to succeed in this sport and that get the ire of some of the fans and his fellow competitors. Ricky Stenhouse was in the lead and Kyle was doing everything that he could to get past him and had there not been for a restart after a late race caution Kyle might not have gotten by Stenhouse. The talent that this driver has in the lighter Nascar vehicles for coming through traffic to win races is an amazing thing to watch. That is unless you can’t stand Kyle Busch then you tend to miss the whole spectacle of it because you are blinded by hate and discontent. People were the same way about Darrel Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, not to mention Jeff Gordon when he was winning all those races and championships.
For some reason I am different than a lot of Nascar fans, I have a favorite driver or two but I don’t get so emotionally involved that I can’t stand a rival driver or a different brand of automobile. I started out as a Rusty Wallace fan due to the fact that I grew up 50 miles from St. Louis where the Wallace clan raced. When he retired I moved on to Mark Martin due to the fact that I liked his style. A calmer kind of dude who was very consistent on and off the track; meaning that I never saw him say anything ugly in a post race interview. Mark Martin never has a bad thing to say about anyone that I ever saw. When he retired I had to move on to someone else, I was searching for a new driver when we lost Dale Sr. and for some reason I gravitated to Dale Jr. But I don’t bleed Chevy and don’t wear Wrangler jeans nor do I have Nationwide insurance. I guess I am not brand loyal because I don’t care if he drives a Ford, I am a fan of the man. So I don’t get all bent out of shape when I see Kyle Busch win a race and set new records, I have better things to do. There will be callers to all the Sirius Nascar Radio shows Monday and beyond that want to complain about Harvick being handcuffed and such but you know what? I won’t hear them because I’m on vacation all of next week and my Sirius is in a bag in a corner somewhere. I’m taking a vacation from all the complaining as well. I have some advise for you this week, this pertains to all of those fans out there that are frothing at the mouth to complain Monday, Take a vacation form you angst this week and let “Rowdy Nation” enjoy their success. As a fan and member of the “Junior Nation” I get really tired of the rest of the Nascar world dumping on us for our guys lack of wins during this winless streak, so put the shoe on the other foot Nascar Nation and let them enjoy this success. Hate him next week ok?
Stay safe out there and Go Junior
TW
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