Busch Nearly Flawless All Around In Victory

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Busch Nearly Flawless All Around In Victory

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Just passing some thoughts about the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway.

** With nearly flawless race strategy, Kurt Busch and his Penske Racing team made victory on the 11-turn road course look easy.

Not that any NASCAR Cup Series is all that easy, you understand. It’s just on some days, drivers just seem to have a simpler time of it than on others.

So it was for Busch. He claimed his first win of the season and his first ever on a road course with the classic combination of a fast car and the proper tactics. The driver from Las Vegas, Nev., quickly took the lead and ultimately led 75 of 110 laps.

Busch said that his Dodge hit its stride early and then got better as the number of laps mounted. Along with that, the team had established a strategy through which it hoped it could complete the race on only two pit stops – always the plan at Infineon, but seldom achieved.

“We had a goal,” Busch said. “Our fuel strategy from practice gave us the calculations we needed. It showed that we could make it on two stops.

“It was one of those unbelievable days where having a game plan going in, we weren't questioning it, it was just old school on how we were going to make it on two stops.

“With the pace dropping off like we saw it in practice, it was going to take one of those perfect efforts to make sure we maintained our lap time throughout the run to be able to make it on the stops and not worry about tires as well as the fuel strategy side of it.

“A lot of guys said that they couldn’t make it on two stops. So we knew that there was going to be teams pitting around lap 10, lap 15 to get those fresher tires.

“My thought was inside the car. I needed to continue to push this car hard and run a lap time that wouldn’t allow those guys with fresh tires to chop off and be able to catch us.

“The race played out perfectly for us.”

The victory was the 23rd of Busch’s career and it elevated him to fourth place in points, 34 behind leader Carl Edwards.

The win gave him a welcome piece of insurance in the quest for the Chase, given that the “wildcard” selections will be drivers with the most victories who rank 11-20 in points when the Chase begins.

Busch seems safe enough at No. 4, but like any other driver, he’ll take any edge he can get.

“It’s awesome to have that insurance package,” said Busch, whose fortunes have changed over the past few weeks – remember his sarcastic rants over the radio when performance wasn’t what he thought it should be?

“We got a win, but we still need to run hard and that’s what we’ve been doing of late with the Penske Dodge.”

** The back-and-forth scrap between Brian Vickers and Tony Stewart isn’t likely to stir much response from NASCAR – at least, that’s one man’s opinion.

It began on lap 37, when Stewart locked on to Vickers’ rear bumper entering turn 11, causing Vickers to spin and, among other things, creating damage to the radiator of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevrolet, which was gathered up in the mishap.

Vickers returned the favor on lap 87. He allowed Stewart to pass him going into the 11th turn and then hit Stewart from behind, which drove him into the tires stacked in the corners of the turn.

Stewart’s car was badly damaged, repaired somewhat, and returned to racing with less than 10 laps remaining.

Stewart was unapologetic. He said that Vickers had moved into position to block him, a tactic that Stewart would never abide.

He maintained that if it was going to be done to him – and the driver’s identity didn’t matter – then he was going to respond exactly as he did at Infineon.

Vickers, meanwhile, contested the opinion that he intentionally blocked Stewart. He suggested that track conditions and crowding rivals forced him into Stewart’s path.

By the way, the TNN broadcast analysts were in agreement with Vickers.

Stewart’s candor, however, reflected perfectly on what “Boys, have at it” used to be in NASCAR – and what I think the sanctioning body would like it to be today.

Competitors freely expressed how they liked to be raced, noted the on-track tactics of which they did not approve and how they would respond to it all.

They also knew they could expect reaction if they affronted others on the track. Even Stewart admitted what Vickers did to him was indeed “payback.”

Given that, don’t expect NASCAR to take any action. What happened at Infineon is exactly what it has told us it wants to see - drivers settling differences among themselves.

** For most of the race, neither Jeff Gordon nor Edwards attracted much attention. Both were unspectacular in qualifying - Gordon 13th, Edwards 23rd – but when the race was over, Gordon wound up second and Edwards third.

Not a real big surprise as far as Gordon is concerned. He’s easily one of the best road-course racers in NASCAR.

Edwards stormed forward throughout the race to finish third and, thus, clearly indicate it’s going to be hard to knock him out of No. 1 in points before the Chase begins.

The finish was Edwards’ 12th among the top 10 in 16 races this season, which suggests that regardless of how NASCAR changes its points system, consistency still counts for a lot.

** Among the top 10 in points, only Earnhardt Jr. (seventh), Clint Bowyer (eighth) and Ryan Newman (10th) do not have insurance victories. They would all breathe a bit easier if they did.

No driver from 11-20 in points has a victory, yet. Brad Keselowski, 10th at Infineon, ranks 22nd in points and has one win. He will, obviously, put himself in a much better position to make the Chase, which begins after the next 10 races, if he can move up at least two positions by then.  

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