Trouble in Turn2

After taking a day to reflect on the weekend, it’s time to break down Kyle Busch’s triple. As I noted Friday, I don’t think it was very significant to attempt all three races. Other drivers of lesser skill have accomplished the feat on a companion weekend. Robby Gordon has driven in other countries on the weekend of a Cup race. All three of Busch’s rides were guaranteed to make the race. So the difference was obviously the travel. Trips from Pocono to Texas and Nashville are definitely draining, but if anyone is used to a taxing flight schedule it’s a Cup driver.

What’s most interesting how some have questioned Busch for racing in all three series based on his results. I suspect some of these people would have hailed Busch’s passion or how he’s a “pure racer” had he won one of the races. I think Busch’s wreck in the Pocono race had more to do with a mistake on the part of Busch and his spotter than the effects of a long weekend.

Speaking of Busch, Bob Margolis (with a hat tip to Doug Demmons) made an interesting note about Busch’s wreck in Cup practice:

After he wrecked his primary car in practice Saturday morning, NASCAR officials and members of Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing team kept both cameras and fellow competitors away from the front end of Busch’s wrecked Camry. Supposedly the JGR guys have a special front-suspension setup that is a big part of why Busch is so fast these days and they didn’t want anyone to spend too much time checking it out.

Watching the Dover race, it struck me that Tony Stewart was the only car involved in the big wreck that opted for a brand new nose instead of cutting the front off. I remember a race at Richmond in 2005, Jeff Gordon innocuously hit the wall and the shock completely broke. It was apparently an experimental shock, which also came into play later in the year when Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch had their shocks confiscated at Dover. Now read what Busch’s crew chief Steve Addington said about Sunday’s crash at Pocono:

We had to replace all the front lower chassis points and the whole front end. We cut the whole front end off that had the radiator mount and all that in it. Juts replaced the whole front end. The right front lower control arm pivot points had to weld back into the chassis and all.

I have no idea whether the suspension is the reason for Gibbs’ and Busch’s 2008 success, but it does share some of the traits of the Hendrick package from 2005. I should also stress that I’m not implying it’s an illegal part either. Like coil binding evolved with the old car, Gibbs might have discovered something that simply works better.

The #88 finally broke through to win a race in 2008. Well it was Brad Keselowski, not Junior, but it was also deserved after several misses.

You know, I knew we could do this but you never really know other than in your heart until you can prove it on the racetrack, and we’ve been so close and it’s seemed like we’ve caught bad breaks and today we caught the right breaks and that’s what we needed. We needed a little bit of luck with a fast racecar, and we had a fast racecar today and, call it a bit of luck.

[for the entire audio go to Nationwide’s website]

It’s the breakthrough for Keselowski that could lead to bigger things. Of the eleven drivers that have won their first Busch/Nationwide races in the last four years, only Stephen Leicht and Justin Labonte have not graduated to a fulltime Cup ride.