Coming off the heels of a very disappointing race this weekend at Indianapolis, it got me thinking of what some of the biggest factors can be to ruining a race for us - the fans. Of course, we’re always unhappy when our driver finishes outside of the top-ten, or even worse, when the driver that we adamently root against wins the race … but, I’m thinking of things beyond that. I’m talking about the actual elements that help give the race a lackluster feel to it. Here goes …

5. Multiple Cautions for Debris - These are obviously a part of racing that is more often than not well out of the control of NASCAR or anyone else. You get one or two of these, fine, no biggie - let’s move on. But, when you start getting 3, 4, or even 5 of these things, then you’re just left with an unwanted lull in the action.

4. Red Flags - I don’t really care what it’s for. Whether it’s for rain, a huge wreck, or a portion of the track coming unsurfaced, an extended period under red can take the wind right out of the race’s sails.

3. Rain - There’s obviously nothing you can do to ward it off, but when Mother Nature strikes the NASCAR track, she pretty much dictates the entire event. Teams have to start working different strategies based on when they thing the rain will come, and if it does, all too often we’re left with a guy standing in Victory Lane that really didn’t deserve it.

2. Over-Abundance of Commercial Breaks - We all know that the networks make the bulk of their money off advertising, and personally, I’m okay with that. But, at some point you’ve just got to draw the line. Take this past weekend for example. ESPN knew that NASCAR was going to continually run their competition caution periods, and even if they didn’t, there were going to be enough tire issues to fill the caution quota anyway. But, as if 11 caution periods weren’t enough to get in all the advertising they could hope for, the network still decided to cut to commercial at least once during every green flag run. I wasn’t counting, but I’d imagine that there were AT LEAST 20 commercial breaks … in  a 160 lap race. Do the math.

1. Bringing the Wrong Tire Package - This past weekend at Indy was obviously about as bad as it could possibly get, and kudos to NASCAR for doing their best to work around Goodyear’s blunder. But, even when it’s not the absolute worst, the wrong tire package can absolutely destroy a race. Whether it results in a race filled with competition cautions (Indy) or it results in multiple cars blowing tires for no real reason (Las Vegas) or it hinders on-the-track passing to the point of sheer boredom (Atlanta), the tires themselves play a major role in determining what the cars look like out there on the track.

Okay, so they’re actually pretty good friends and probably the furthest thing from being rivals with one another, but still. It’s pretty abnormal for Smoke to run this deep into the season without a Sprint Cup win to show for it, but so far in 2008, he’s managed to do just that. Of course, the racing Gods haven’t really seemed to help Stewart out much in that department, either. What … a pit road speeding violation during the last round of stops at Pocono … the cut tire at Charlotte … the late race wreck at Talladega … the mid-race wreck at Vegas … and, of course, the last lap pass at Daytona … all races that Stewart could have won - but, didn’t.

But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.

That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.

Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.

Image details: O’Reilly Challenge Practice served by picapp.com

It was announced Thursday that Bruton Smith, company chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI) has purchased Kentucky Speedway, located about midway between Louisville, KY and Cincinatti, OH, for the sum of $78.3 million - the track had originally cost $152 million just to build. Smith was very open from the get-go of the announcement that it was his intent to bring a Sprint Cup Series date to the track - a feat that previous owner, Jerry Carroll of Kentucky Seedway LLC, had been unable to accomplish.

Carroll is currently tied up in an ongoing lawsuit against NASCAR due to his inability to secure a date for the track on the Sprint Cup Schedule. The case was originally dismissed by the US District Court in 2005, but Carroll has since filed for an appeal with the US Court of Appeals. Carroll claims that the lawsuit is still on despite the recent sale of his facility, but NASCAR spokesman, Ramsey Poston, has assured that NASCAR will continue to defend their case vigorously.

The sale of Kentucky Speedway itself is still in the beginning stages and is not expected to be finalized until sometime late in the summer. Because of this, SMI has not yet made any formal requests for a 2009 date, but Poston has already stated that even if they had, not to expect a Kentucky race next year because NASCAR is already deep into their sanctioning process for the 2009 schedule.

There are several scenarios that could play out over the next year or two that could lead to landing a Cup date in Kentucky. SMI currently has seven other NASCAR tracks under their control: Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and Infineon Raceway. Of these tracks, all except for Las Vegas and Infineon currently host two Sprint Cup dates. It could be very feasible for Smith to attempt to move one of the dates from NHIS over to Kentucky if needs be. It was originally discussed last year when SMI purchased the Vegas facility that they may try to get another date for that track, but that has yet to play out in anyway.

Another possibility is that Smith and company could attempt to purchase yet another track that already has to Cup races, and then attempt to move a date from that track. The leading candidate for this scenario appears to be Pocono Raceway, a track that Smith has been rumored to have been interested in for some time now, but sources have not yet confirmed whether or not the track is for sale.

Smith can make the request in any way he sees fit, but at the end of the day, the decision will fall upon NASCAR. Poston insists that track ownership does not play into whatever they decide to do, but with SMI currently controlling 1/3 of the Cup Series schedule, it stands to reason that the sanctioning body might go ahead and cater to their requests for a date swap if they should happen to make one.

Recommended Reads:
- Smith Coy About His New Kentucky Home (the Finish Line)
- My Old Kentucky Speedway (From the Marbles)

With all of the controversy that Kyle Busch has managed to cause already this year due to his reckless on-track behavior, I thought it would only be fitting to compile a list of his most shining moments … or, rather, his top-ten wrecks. Enjoy!

10. Busch gets spun by Jeff Burton at the finish line as they race for the win at the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2007.

9. Kyle Busch sets off “the big one” in the 2006 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega.

8. Richmond wasn’t the first time that Kyle Busch has been involved in an accident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Here they make contact on pit road during the Ford 400 in 2007 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

7. Kyle is involved in another “big one” at Talladega Superspeedway, this time during the 2007 UAW-Ford 500.

6. Kyle Busch and Mike Skinner get into it at the Craftsman Truck Series’ opening event in 2008, the Camping World 300, at Daytona International Speedway.

5. In the closing laps of the Craftsman Truck Series’ Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway, Kyle plows into Johnny Benson as they race for third place.

4. Kyle’s involved in a horrific accident in the 2007 Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway, in which his Nationwide car performs several barrel rolls.

3. Kyle Busch was already quickly approaching notoriety status with the NASCAR fans, but here’s the one that pushed him over the top. Watch again, as Kyle battles Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the lead in the closing laps of the 2008 Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

2. Kyle gets into his older brother, Kurt, while racing him for the lead at the 2007 All-Star Race. Neither of the brothers appeared to take it personally, and Kurt even makes some witty comments following the race to make light of the situation.

1. Saving the best for last … at the 2006 NASCAR Awards Banquet held in New York City, Kyle Busch was giving his “thank you” speech – and, actually called his girlfriend by the wrong name. You’ll love this!

Image details: The Dan Lowry 400 Practice served by picapp.com

Richard Childress Racing has announced that their brand new number 33 team - not scheduled to go full-time until the 2009 season - will be fielded in the running of the Coca Cola 600 two weeks from now at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, and that NASCAR veteran driver, Ken Schrader, will attempt to qualify the car for the event.

Schrader was left without a full-time ride when, earlier in the season, BAM Racing announced that they would be taking a sabattical from the sport until the Fall due to sponsorship woes. Since then, Schrader ran the no. 70 Chevrolet for Haas CNC Racing to a 42nd place finish at Talladega, and failed to qualify the no. 40 Dodge for Chip Ganassi Racing two weeks ago at Richmond.

Schrader has run in four races this year, with a season-best finish of 21st back in March at Las Vegas and currently sits 47th in points. In his 44 career starts at Lowe’s, he has accumulated a win, 6 top-five’s, and 13 top-ten finishes. The most recent top-ten finish in Schrader’s career was a 7th place finish in the Fall of 2006 at Richmond.

One has to wonder if: a) There could be a potential matchup between Schrader and RCR for Childress’ fourth team in 2009, and b) Schrader can piece together some decent runs with solid equipment beneath him.

In listening to and reading post-race comment after the running of Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500, you’d never know that Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Jeff Gordon all finished inside the top-five based on their commentary alone. In what’s turning into an ongoing saga between the race car drivers and Goodyear that started months ago when Goodyear started making tweaks to their tire packages both in an effort to accommodate NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow” and also to implement a safer tire for the sport, things really started heating up after a long day ended disastrously for several of NASCAR’s top stars a week ago in Las Vegas.

Tony Stewart – NASCAR’s most outspoken star – has been at the helm of this criticism after cutting a right front tire in Sin City that sent him smacking the turn 2 wall in what he’s described as one of the hardest hits he’s taken in a very long time. Despite the fact that there wasn’t a single tire incident reported in Atlanta from anyone in the 43-car field, the man known as “Smoke” continued to berate NASCAR’s official tire supplier immediately following the race, citing “that was the most pathetic tire I’ve ever raced on in my professional career.” He then went on to state that Goodyear has done a very poor job in building their tires and that they should be embarrassed about what they brought to the track over the weekend.

NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Jr, wasn’t quite as bold as his friend Stewart in the post-race interviews on Fox, but did criticize Goodyear as well by insinuating that it was just a bad combination that they brought to Atlanta Motor Speedway. However, later on after the race, he did have a little bit more to say. “I don’t think, for one, that the race was all that exciting. We couldn’t run side-by-side or we’d wreck. We had to let each other go by. Everytime you got beside a guy, you were just like ‘Take it’. He continued, “Goodyear doesn’t like to hear people bashing them tires and I don’t like doing it, but I ain’t going to sit here and put up with this. And I don’t think any of those other drivers or anybody is going to do it. Hopefully, we can all get along and come up with something better than this.”

Things didn’t get any easier for Goodyear when it was time for NASCAR’s most prestigious driver to speak up. Jeff Gordon told the media, “I felt like I was going to crash every single lap … that was the hardest day I’ve ever had at Atlanta, especially for a top-five finish. This car and this tire at this track was just terrible.”

Justin Fantozzi, the marketing manager at Goodyear, responded by stating, “To get into attacks in the media is not the right place. We’re tremendously proud of the wear rates that we saw here.” He later went onto say, “We’ll do the exact same thing that we do every race. We have a post-race data analysis meeting. We now have a new set of data and we’ll go back and sit down with the engineers and go through the process again. Driver comments are part of the data set. It’s temperature, it’s wear rates, it’s driver comments, it’s feel, it’s grip, it’s overall race pace. So, we’ll look at the overall data set and then we’ll make that decision.”

“The reason we’re talking about it is that we don’t want to have to race on tires like we raced on Sunday every week. This wasn’t fun. There wasn’t anything about Sunday’s race that was fun for anybody. I ran second, and I wouldn’t re-run this race for any amount of money in the world. It was just that bad,” says Stewart.

Tony Stewart came into this past weekend of NASCAR action riding on as hot of a hand as anyone in the garage as he sat first in the Nationwide Series points standings and third in the Sprint Cup Series.  Lady luck played an evil trick on the man known as “Smoke” and took an ugly turn for the worse … twice.  On lap 138 of the Nationwide Series’ Sam’s Town 300, Stewart – who at the time clearly had one of, if not the, dominant cars in the race - made contact with David Reutimann and the two cars slid simultaneously into the outside wall of Turn 4. Both drivers emerged from the crash okay, but Stewart later complained that his ankle was sore. He reported that he hit the inside of his right foot against the pedal during the accident causing it to bruise.

Tony entered Sunday’s UAW-Dodge 400 showing no signs of pain, though … or, at least you couldn’t tell from a fan’s perspective, because despite starting back in the 25th position, he charged his way to the field and was running in the top-five. After slipping back to 7th place, on lap 109 Stewart cut a right-front tire in Turn 3 that sent his no. 20 Home Depot Toyota cruising straight into the wall in what he described as the hardest hit he’s experienced in a very long time. After the accident there was some concern when he took several minutes to climb from his cockpit and used track officials as crutches as he hobbled away from the scene. He complained of the same soreness in his right ankle, but also that his legs were tingling and felt half-numb.

All reports at this point indicate that Stewart has recovered from his accidents nicely and that there should be little to no room for concern as the Sprint Cup Series heads into Atlanta this Sunday. The only alarm currently going off in the Joe Gibbs Racing camp is the fact that last Sunday’s accident slid Stewart from third to eleventh in points.

Just hours after Carl Edwards won the UAW Dodge 400 in Las Vegas to garner his second Sprint Cup Series victory in a row, NASCAR inspectors found an issue with his no. 99 Ford in post-race inspections. The issue was that the lid on his oil tank box was off. Earlier in the season at Daytona, NASCAR docked five Nationwide Series teams for their lids being loose.  There’s absolutely no talk about Edwards’ victory in Vegas not standing, nor was the incident sufficient enough to cause him to fail the post-race inspection.  However, each of those five Nationwide teams were docked 25 driver and owner points, so similar action is expected to be taken against Edwards.  Carl currently boasts a 21-point lead in the points standings over the no. 18 team of Kyle Busch, so such a penalty would drop him back down to second in points should that happen.  According to nascar.com, NASCAR will be sending the car back to their R&D department to evaluate the car with an announcement regarding potential penalties coming sometime this week. Crew Chief Bob Osborne will wait to comment on the matter until NASCAR makes their determination on the situation.

NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series kicked off their first race of March with a bang this Sunday in Sin City when they visited Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the UAW Dodge 400. Heading into the weekend, Kyle Busch and his no. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team was the talk of the town as he came into the race as the series’ points leader and turned in the fastest lap during qualifying to win the Coors Lite Pole Award at his hometown track where he held a current streak of three consecutive top-ten finishes. But, alas, as is the case with so many races, by the time the checkered flag waived there was a new name at the tip of NASCAR fans’ tongues as Carl Edwards pulled away from the field in the closing laps to secure the win for his no. 99 Roush Racing team for the second week in a row.

Kyle Busch looked like the car to beat early in the race as he led the first 21 laps, but was soon overthrown by eventual race winner Carl Edwards. Carl surrendered the lead on lap 48 during a round of green flag stops that gave the cars of Scott Riggs, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Robby Gordon the opportunity to lead laps as they had all pitted during the race’s only caution to that point back on lap 9. Once the pit stops cycled through, however, it was Edwards right back to the front. During those stops, Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler were both penalized for being too fast on pit road and were pushed a lap down.

The next caution came on lap 69 for debris, and with only 17 cars on the lead lap, Jeff Burton stayed out to lead the race, but Kyle Busch regained the helm about 11 laps later. At this point, Joe Gibbs Racing’s dynamic duo was looking pretty solid yet again with Busch leading and Stewart charging through the field, but on lap 109 Stewart blew a right front tire that sent him sailing into the wall, cutting his race short for the second day in a row.

Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, and Dale Junior all exchanged the lead throughout the course of the next three cautions before Edwards took control again with 73 laps to go. Edwards had been shuffled back through the field earlier when NASCAR penalized him for having a tire roll across pit road during an earlier stop under caution. After battling fiercely to regain his track position, it appeared as though maybe it just weren’t meant to be, because when the 7th caution came out for debris in turn 2, Edwards’ crew lost yet another tire on pit road, but this time NASCAR determined that a cameraman had inadvertently interfered with Edwards’ pit crew, and thus no penalty was handed down and Carl was able to restart third.

Matt Kenseth won that race off of pit road on lap 219 and was the new leader once again with 48 to go.  Two cautions and 18 laps later, it was Edwards back to the front, and he just took off from the rest of the field. Kenseth then lost the second position to Earnhardt with just 14 laps to go, but then Kurt Busch – who had battled all day to regain his position on the lead lap and finally did – blew a tire and smacked the wall to bring out the 10th yellow of the day with just 11 laps left.

The restart came with five laps left and the field lined up behind Edwards, Junior, Kenseth, and Jeff Gordon. In an odd occurrence, Junior spun his tires on the restart causing the cars of Gordon and Kenseth to split him. Once both cars had cleared the 88, Gordon’s car barely slid up the track, but it was enough to make slight contact with Kenseth. The rub sent Kenseth spinning around on the track – although he was able to not touch anything or anyone – but, it sent Gordon hard into the inside wall and his entire radiator actually came out of the car and shot across the track. After a red flag was flown to give the track crew ample time to cleanup the radiator fluid, the green flag dropped for the final time with 2 laps left. There was never really another race for the top spot after that, but it was fun watching Junior and Greg Biffle fight for second, which Junior won.  The Richard Childress cars of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five.  Kyle Busch went onto finish 11th. Also of note is that Denny Hamlin was the highest finishing Toyota in 9th, Kasey Kahne had the highest Dodge in 7th, and to everyone’s surprise, Jimmie Johnson – who won this event for the previous three years running – finished in 29th despite not having any on-track incidents the entire day.  All in all, I thought it was a pretty exciting race, and definitely the best showing we’ve seen from NASCAR so far in 2008.

Grades (on a 100 point scale):
The Race: 94%
The Drama: 89%
Coverage: 81%
Pre-Race Ceremonies: 78%

Overall Grade: 88.8%
*Note - the Race accounts for 50% of score; Coverage & Drama is 20% each; Pre-Race is 10%Race Results (credit nascar.com):

It was a good news / bad news type of day for most NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers today.  The good news – there were no rain clouds in sight in Las Vegas on Friday, and the series actually got their qualifying event in at the scheduled time. The bad news – Kyle Busch is the hottest driver in the sport, and he’s starting Sunday’s race from the front of the field in front of the hometown crowd.

Busch turned a fast lap of 29.613 seconds in qualifying to earn himself the Coors Lite Pole Award, just 0.125 seconds faster than last week’s race winner Carl Edwards, who will start on the outside of the front row.

AJ Allmendinger, Johnny Sauter, John Andretti, and Joe Nemecheck all failed to make the race while Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier, and Ken Schrader will be racing for the first time this season. Kyle Busch’s teammate Tony Stewart will start the race 25th, but brother Kurt will start 9th. Jimmie Johnson, the defending winner of this race, will out of the gates in 33rd.

Race Lineup (courtesy of nascar.com):