As if I need to mention it, the race winner was Kyle Busch. Fans of “Rowdy” tune in; I’m not giving him any more space here for one reason, he’ll do it again later this season, multiple times. Heck, he’s probably the odds on favorite to repeat at Darlington next week. And we all know what happened in the Kentucky Derby yesterday, so longshots aren’t out of the question here either.
Busch became the second driver to win on his birthday, joining NASCAR legend Cale Yarborough as the only two NASCAR drivers to win races on their birthdays. Cale did it twice. What were some of the other things that caught my eye as I waited for the next yellow flag to fly yesterday evening? I’ve highlighted the main stories—in my mind—from yesterday’s running of the Crown Royal presents the Russ Friedman 400.
1. Wrecks and cautions dominated the night
A. Numerous drivers recovered from their spins to post great finishes.
Jeff Burton was running second to Kyle Busch with thirty laps left, but it was lap 213 when Burton drove into turn three above Dale Earnhardt Jr., got tapped and sent into the outside fence. The purple people eating Prilosec car motored back through the field, and Burton raced hard with Tony Stewart to the checkers. Burton succumbed the runner up spot, but came home third. Not bad for a guy who dented his rear bumper sliding up into the wall earlier in the race.
Jeff Burton got touched by Dale Jr and sent up the track. He recovered and finished third
Mark Martin had been running in the top five all day, but various pit strategies on one caution left him restarting eleventh on lap 312, and had me worried. After all, I did pick him to win this weekend. Going into turn one there was a chain reaction of cars checking up. Mark bumped Tony Stewart slightly, and behind him Ryan Newman locked his tires up and ended up moving the Cheeze-It car to the side.
Martin and Martin started on the front row together at Daytona, and ended up together last night
Mark stopped and got touched by Martin Truex Jr. on the big #5 on the driver’s side door. Both drivers moved on without too much harm done. Truex came home 22nd, but the other Martin made his car into a missile after the wreck. At one point there was only one car faster than Martin’s on the track, and he motored from 23rd on one restart to a fifth place finish. Not bad for an old man.
B. Roush Fenway Racing had issues keeping it straight as well
Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray got tangled up after Edwards had contact with David Stremme on the front straight on lap 168. They ended up spinning through the finely manicured grass in the infield. McMurray was able to come home with a top ten finish as well—seventh.
Edwards and McMurray slide through the lawn.
Joey Logano bumped Greg Biffle and sent him around on lap 285. Matt Kenseth didn’t get hit during the race, but had to battle from a lap down, and on one caution was able to obtain the free pass. I’m almost positive that the only RFR car that didn’t have an eventful night—and he might have, it just wasn’t shown on TV—was David Ragan in the #6 car.
C. FOX’s camera work was awful
I’m not a guy who runs a camera that often (sarcasm implied), but seriously folks, who else was angry last night when you heard any of the three commentators say, ‘Trouble,’ or ‘There’s a car in the wall.’? I was. And while I didn’t time it, I’m sure it took anywhere from three to five seconds for a camera to be on the cars spinning and crashing.
And it’s not just FOX. I’m an equal opportunity hater here. ESPN missed Kenny Wallace’s spin in the Busch Series race Friday evening by about five seconds as well. I saw the smoke from one shot that they had and I guess someone fell asleep in the production truck and didn’t switch it over until after Kenny had mangled up the rear end of his car.
I know someone out there works for a TV station that does broadcasts and will give me the cliched, “Have you ever seen a production truck?” line or the, “Do you know how hectic it is in there?” or, “If you think it’s so easy, why don’t you do it?” phrases. Go ahead, lay them on me. All I do is film football practices and games at the highest level in college football.
So no, I don’t know how to run a camera, I don’t know what it’s like in a production truck (although if you ever get a chance to check one out you just have to. The Thursday Night ESPN college football truck is amazing with all the screens and stuff in there) nor do I know how easy it is to produce one of those things, but I figure that the guys there have been doing it long enough that they could get it right. And that’s all I want as a fan.
2. Tony Stewart finished runner-up….Again
Tony Stewart has been the subject of many of my post race recaps, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s the main topic. Twice in three races he’s come home runner-up, and he’ll visit victory lane before we know it. The driver/owner’s other car finished fourth—by far the best team effort this year from Stewart-Haas Racing.
Stewart battled Jeff Burton late for second place
Both SHR cars are in the Chase, as of right now, and Stewart sits third in the standings. I’ve never been one to predict things, although I normally make a Brickyard winner prediction after the Daytona 500 (which I didn’t do this year, yet), and I did make a pick this weekend, but I said after the race last night, “Tony Stewart will win another championship if he keeps driving like this.” If he keeps it up I think we’ll see Smoke in victory lane before the month of May is up.
3. Is DW getting paid to talk up David Reutimann?
I know it’s his job to mention great drivers, and don’t get me wrong, “Reutimann” has had one heck of a season so far, but I felt that every time David Reutimann’s car came into the picture last night it was DW talking him up. Forget Joey Logano as “Sliced Bread,” because in DW’s mind I think David Reutimann might have that moniker.
As a journalist I like to keep my objectivity, and DW can share his opinion, but sometimes I think he takes it a bit too far. We’ll find out when NASCAR stops racing on FOX and moves to TNT and ESPN if Reutimann gets talked up as much as he has in the last few weeks.
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Well, it was an early morning for me, and that’s why there was a delay in the race recap being put up. I hope you enjoyed it, and this week I will most likely stop by with some NASCAR related thoughts (including another tire test at Indy—surprise, surprise anybody?) throughout the week. Friday will be the Southern 500 preview if I get nothing else up this week. Thanks for reading and I look forward to having you back later this week.
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