Fryer's Five: Nothing new about Ky. Busch
Stop wasting any more time debating "old" Kyle Busch vs. "new" Kyle Busch, at least if the argument centers around the gains he may or may not have made in maturation.
The only thing that really matters is how Busch runs on the race track, and if this past weekend is any indication, we are indeed seeing the old Kyle Busch.
Busch came within a few gallons of gas of sweeping all three events at Dover International Speedway, where he won the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races but fell short on fuel in the Truck Series.
"If you miss out on the first one, the last one seems to be a little easier," he said after Sunday's win in the Cup race, his second of the season. "If you get the first two, the last one seems to be the hardest.
"It's not going to hurt my feelings too bad to go home Monday or to go to bed [Sunday] knowing that I lost Friday. I'm going to think more about [Sunday] and what this Sprint Cup championship means more than what winning in one of my trucks does. I want to win anything I can get in, but if I've got to give one up that way, I'd rather give it up Friday than Sunday."
That's the Busch we all saw in 2008, when he rolled to 21 wins in all three national series. He was seemingly unbeatable every time he got behind the wheel, and there were plenty of weekends when he was in contention for a sweep.
Now that he's consistently running up front again, the bravado of the old Busch is creeping back into his personality. When Jimmie Johnson was caught speeding on pit road, Busch took credit over his team radio for forcing the champion into a rare error. "We snookered him on that one. He saw us coming out in front of him and he sped," Busch said in delight.
Although he later backed off a bit on his actual role in Johnson's speeding penalty, that's the confidence level Busch needs to be operating at to be a legitimate threat to end Johnson's reign. In the end, learning to accept losing and giving graceful interviews – i.e., changing who he is – isn't going to make a difference so long as Busch is winning races.
A victorious driver is a happy driver, and the rest takes care of itself.
However …
1. Jimmie Johnson is a case study in professionalism:
Not long after that speeding penalty turned a top-two car into a 16th-place finish, Johnson agreed to be interviewed on Fox's post-race show.
Michael Waltrip, presumably watching on television, immediately posted his reaction to Johnson's comments on Twitter.
"I love Jimmie Johnson. So respectful of the fans and media. Others should learn from that man. Pit road penalty and he totally took it," Waltrip Tweeted.
Amen.
Johnson is a legitimately nice guy and there's nothing fake or phony about it. That doesn't mean he's not competitive and he doesn't hate losing the same way Busch does. It's just that Johnson chooses to conduct himself differently in public.
Is one right and the other wrong? Well, clearly Johnson's way of doing business is more polite and more professional and probably pleases his sponsors. But it's not contrived, either. It's who he is – a genuinely good person.
For Busch to try to present himself the same way would be fake and condescending. It's not at all who is he and that's probably going to be true for his entire career.
Could everyone in that garage learn from Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson? Absolutely. But what fun would that be if they were all the same?
2. Clint Bowyer sure wasn't pleased with Denny Hamlin
That was obvious late in the Nationwide Series race when Bowyer, angry after Hamlin wrecked him on a restart, returned to the track to retaliate.
When Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski in Atlanta, I was among those who felt NASCAR should not penalize Edwards beyond the immediate in-race parking he received. And remember, Edwards' contact sent Keselowski's car airborne in a spectacularly frightening accident.
If I thought Edwards should have been let off the hook, then I certainly can't argue for more punishment for Bowyer.
This is what NASCAR wanted when it rolled out the "have at it" policy in January. It wanted emotions to bubble over on the race track, and it wanted to give drivers the opportunity to police themselves. That's exactly what Bowyer was doing Saturday at Dover, and he did it in a controlled enough manner that prevented the potential for serious damage.
There are some who will argue it was immature and straight out of "Days of Thunder." That's not really a bad thing right now, when NASCAR is looking for interesting angles and exciting racing.
Let's move on from this latest skirmish and allow the boys to keep having at it. When it gets reckless and dangerous, then NASCAR can set some limits. Until then, let the drivers settle their scores themselves.
3. Now, onto Bowyer:
His action against Hamlin was clearly one of frustration. He's having a horrible go in the Nationwide Series, where his six starts are marked by two crashes – three if you count Dover, which is technically scored as "parked" – and only one top-10 finish in the three events in which he actually made it to the finish.
Rubbing salt on those wounds is a sudden slump in the Sprint Cup Series that's in direct contrast to his Richard Childress Racing teammates, who are taking off.
Kevin Harvick, the Cup Series points leader, finished seventh Sunday at a track he loathes, while Jeff Burton has been in contention for several wins and finished second at Dover.
Bowyer was 17th, done in by a pit-road penalty that stemmed from him leaving his stall with the jack still attached to his Chevrolet.
Sixth in the standings after Phoenix five races ago, Bowyer is now 15th and stuck in a bad string right now. He was in a wreck at Texas, finished seventh at Talladega and hasn't cracked the top 10 since.
Clearly RCR is much improved this year, and that includes Bowyer's No. 33. But he and his crew have got to get it together – no more broken parts, no more pit road mistakes – to get him back in line with his teammates.
4. David Reutimann has pretty good timing:
I lobbied last week for Michael Waltrip Racing to step up and give "The Franchise" the multi-year extension he's looking for, and Reutimann delivered Sunday with his career-best finish at Dover.
His fifth-place run was his best since he opened the season by finishing fifth in the Daytona 500. They are the only two top 10s he has scored all season, but that doesn't reflect the way he has been running.
"We've been running that way off and on quite a bit of the season," he said. "We just haven't ever got it to quit breaking to get the finishes we deserve. The way our season has been going, if you're anywhere even close to the top five, you're waiting for something to go bad."
The finish moved Reutimann up four spots in the standings to 20th.
Reutimann has had two engine failures this year, a broken water line and a series of bad breaks, including last weekend at Darlington when he was pitting as the final caution came out.
The strong finish comes at the perfect time for Reutimann: He heads into the All-Star race this weekend eligible to compete in the main event for the first time in his career. And, after the rain denied him a chance to celebrate his Coca-Cola 600 victory last season, he'll finally get his chance in the burnout competition prior to Saturday night's $1 million race.
5. The best of the rest:
• Ford was back on its game at Dover, as Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards all finished inside the top eight Sunday. And, a week after Ford drivers failed to lead a lap on Sunday, Kenseth was out front for 15 trips around the track.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. had another horrible day, and nobody has a decent explanation for what's wrong with NASCAR's most popular driver. Earnhardt's 30th-place finish was his third consecutive sub-par outing. Even worse, all the offseason plans to fix his team have potentially affected teammate Mark Martin's group. Martin was on fire this time last year, but his 15th-place finish dropped him to 11th in the standings.
• Talk about bad timing for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing. Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray went to the garage within just a few laps of each other Sunday, both with mechanical problems that severely set their momentum back a step. McMurray dropped a spot in the standings to 17th, while Montoya fell two spots to 19th.
