Tony Stewart
The past couple of weeks have been very hectic for myself and my family. We just moved into a new house, so the move, along with my day job has prevented me from devoting the time needed to post new articles to the site. Thankfully, I am now some what set up in my new office space and can get back to racing. After a whale of a race in California, the Sprint Cup Series heads home to the hub of the NASCAR world in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Bank of America 500 is the first night race of the 2010 Chase and is set to be a wild one. Before we jump into this weekend’s action, let’s take a look back at some of the action from the past two weekends.
Kyle Busch Snags Twelfth Nationwide Win; Danica Wrecks But Runs Strong
In his usual style and in spite of a pit road speeding penalty, Kyle Busch powered his way to his twelfth race win in the CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Busch, who started from the pole position, brought his No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota to the checkered flag, taking his traditional victory bow to the delight and omnipresent booing of the Cali race crowd.
Busch put it simply in Victory Lane. “To get No. 12,” Busch said. “It’s awesome.”
With the early part of the race being relatively caution-free, several late race cautions and restarts challenged Busch and the rest of the field. One of the biggest wrecks involved Danica Patrick, fresh off her good IndyCar run and now focused fully on her NASCAR career in her No. 7 Tissot/Go Daddy.com Chevrolet.
Patrick was running well and was on the cusp of achieving her goal of a top-15 finish when James Buescher got into her from behind, spinning her and sending her car almost airborne before collecting Ricky Carmichael, who just seems to keep ending up on the short end of the luck stick.
Because of the accident, Patrick ended the race in the 30th position. But she was most upbeat even after the wreck, talking with the media and explaining her run just like a NASCAR pro.
“I think we’re getting closer. I really do,” Patrick said after the race. “We’re going to have a lot of confidence going into Charlotte, I think.” [More at Speedwaymedia.com]
CUP: Stewart Revives Chase Hopes With Victory
Tony Stewart held off Clint Bowyer in a two-lap shootout and won Sunday’s Pepsi MAX 400 atAuto Club Speedway, returning his name to the Chase conversation.
Stewart’s win, coupled with numerous problems experienced by other Chasers, boosted him five positions in the standings to fifth.
Standings leader Jimmie Johnson stayed in front with a third-place run, boosting his point lead over second-place Denny Hamlin to 36 with six races remaining. Kevin Harvick stayed in third place with a seventh-place finish.
Jeff Gordon rallied from a late-race pit-road speeding penalty to finish ninth and jumped a position in points to fourth, 85 points behind Johnson. [More at SpeedTV.com]
Why NASCAR Fans Like Harvick
If lots of NASCAR fans have their way, Kevin Harvick will be the man who kicks Jimmie Johnson off the Sprint Cup pedestal.
Harvick, who is currently third in points, trails Johnson by just 54 ticks – mere peanuts.
And while the current Sprint Cup champ has been dubbed “vanilla,” there’s little chance that Harvick would garner such a moniker.
Rocky road? Maybe. Vanilla? Never.
Harvick can be a punch-throwing good ol’ boy one minute and a strategic-thinking team owner the next. He has been known to cuss out the media on a bad day, but he has a rep for being always gracious with fans.
He’s a winning driver and a successful businessman. And, thanks in large part to his presence on Twitter, fans know he’s one of the funniest NASCAR drivers around. [More at NASCAR-ista.com]
