New Hampshire
produced many jaw-dropping moments this week. We had an unexpected winner, as
well as some stinging verbiage between competitors. So, here is a round-up of
all the interesting and even surprising headlines after the eventful
Loudon-based race.
The Brian Vickers Comeback
This weekend produced a winner no one
would have thought of, but everyone enjoyed. Brian Vickers won; marking his
first win after a severe medical issue sat him out of the car for most of the 2010
season. When he came back for 2011, his season was lackluster, especially when compared
to his 2009 season, where he grabbed a win and had a better average finish by 3
points. When his team, Red Bull Racing, closed its doors and the 2012 season
rolled around, Brian found himself at Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR). Despite
running a part-time schedule, he did very well on track. In his 8 starts, Brain
finished in the top 10’s 5 times, including 3 top 5’s. I, along with many other
people started to take notice, and wondered if maybe when Mark Martin retires,
he would be the guy to fill in…full time. This win now, very well might have
sealed it. It’s been a crazy few years for Brian, but this was definitely a
special moment for him. Hopefully this win is the beginning of many, for him and
the #55 team.
More Tires Bite the Dust
Tire issues plagued a few drivers at
New Hampshire. The first one happened surprisingly on lap 3, when Joey Logano
became victim to a tire failure. This was Joey’s second in a row, continuing to
hurt him in the standings, which will be addressed in the next paragraph.
As
the race continued on, I started to hear about tire blistering for some
drivers. Tire blistering is caused when a tire overheats, causing air pockets
within the compound, which can ultimately result in a blown tire. As you know,
that can be a major problem. This was not the problem for Joey, since his tire
blew before the tire could really start heating up. Instead, they said it might
have been caused by running on a lower air pressure, which is a strategy
choice.
Finally, later on in the race, Denny Hamlin blew a tire, but I never
heard the reason why. Tire issues happen occasionally at tracks when Goodyear
is trying out a new tire compound that doesn’t respond well to that particular
track. This is unfortunate for the drivers who it affected.
Joey Logano’s Chase Hopes Slip Farther
Away
The week before wasn’t a good week for
Joey, so the last thing he needed was a repeat… caused by the exact same thing.
Going into the race, Joey was 15th in the standings, this week, 18th.
He’s currently 36 points from 10th, and I don’t know if he can make
the chase by that route this season. Joey has another option though, one I
think he might be able to complete now: Wildcard (WC). If Joey’s car holds together,
and Tony Stewart continues a bad luck streak, the 23 year old might be able to
climb high enough in points, get a win, and become the second WC holder. He and
his team have certainly shown an ability to be in the top 10 and even the top
5. A win very well might be next.
Joey Logano’s Bad Move on Pit Road
This guy seems to be in these
headlines a lot! Well, he had a crazy and frustrating day, and the move he made
on pit road made it go from bad to worse. First, I don’t even know why Joey
entered his stall going up pit road instead of down. I thought that was
illegal! Another reason why NASCAR should release a copy of the Rule Book to
the public (Hopefully they will do this with the new initiative they announced
on Monday). Anyway, Joey went up pit road to replace his blown tire. I’m
guessing he did this so he could drive it back to the garage. When the new one
was on, Joey whipped his car 180˚ and hit one of his crew member’s arm pretty
hard with the right rear end of his car.
Thankfully, the crew member was ok,
and Joey later apologized, saying that he never meant to hit anyone. What was
Joey thinking when he made that move? Was it immaturity, as many have said?
Joey was obviously frustrated, but I wouldn’t call this move immaturity, as much
as I would inexperience. I can see Jeff Gordon, or Jimmie Johnson making a move
like that, but without hitting any of their pit crew members. I think Joey
learned something from this, though, and I don’t think we will be seeing him
make that same move again.
Kyle Busch Said What!?
This was the jaw-dropping moment of the day. Kyle Busch’s post-race comments,
sounded like the old feisty, very immature Kyle we all know. Ryan Newman took
the brunt of it this time, after he and Kyle had an aggressive restart with
each other. Here were Kyle’s comments:
"I really hated that Kurt got tore up. I felt like he
had the best car and was proud of them guys but, man, just stupidity. I mean
Ryan Newman's the biggest stupid idiot out here, and he's a big ogre and can do
whatever he wants because he can probably kick anybody's butt. So no sense in
getting in a fight with him, but glad he's out of a job."
“Biggest stupid idiot”? “Big ogre”!? Are we in the 3rd
grade here!? All that those comments accomplished was making Kyle look utterly
immature! I’m still trying to figure out where all these comments came from.
Kyle was doing so much better with handling the media! I was happy to see the
change! This must be like the saying “The straw that broke the camel’s back”.
Anyway, after hearing about what Kyle said, here are Ryan comments on the
matter, made the next day on SIRIUS XM radio:
"I’m just afraid if I re-arranged his face I might fix
it. (Laughs). He’s frustrated finishing third or wherever he was after hitting
me first and then getting a little rub down the straightaway, then just imagine
how I feel. It is what it is. We know that he’s not very bright. He’s a heck of
a talent but he’s not very bright. And I’ll leave it at that.”
Compared with Kyle’s comments, Ryan’s were a good comeback. The
following day, Kyle wrote a lengthy “clarification” on Twitter. Apparently some
people where questioning the reason why Kyle was “mad” at Ryan. Here is a
shortened version of what Kyle wrote:
“I want to clarify that I was answering what I felt was two
separate questions asked to me at the same time… The first was about how fast
Kurt was and the second was how I felt about Ryan Newman blaming me for him
getting wrecked. First I answered the Kurt part. He was fast... Was a shame to
see him crashed... Nowhere there did I place blame on who wrecked who. I didn't
see it and I still haven't seen it. My second answer came from being upset over
an incident I had with (Ryan) on the track… I answered it in the same response,
but it was intended as a completely separate answer. I was upset because I felt
(Ryan) raced me poorly, making contact and causing damage…that affected the
handling on my racecar. This isn't the first time that I've been raced poorly
by (Ryan) either… All this built up and allowed my emotions to spill over… I'm
not sorry for how I feel in those moments, but could have expressed it better
and certainly my comments about someone's livelihood went too far.”
I feel that this was a good move for Kyle. There was a lot of
confusion about why he was upset with Ryan, especially since he answered
another question like it was part of the first. I’m glad he also addressed what
he said about Ryan’s job. I, along with many others, thought that was low shot,
and not right. So now for the usual question: Should we expect this feud to
continue? No. The only time I think we might see this light up, is if Ryan
races Kyle “poorly” again. There might be a good possibility Kyle would give
some back.
Wow. New Hampshire left us with a lot to talk about, and I didn’t
even highlight the news that came later in the week! All of this, and the
Nationwide race will hold us through till next week when we go to Indianapolis
for the Brickyard 400! I’m sure by the end of that race, we will have a lot to
talk about as well. Can’t wait!
