Racin’ with Russ - The oddsmakers in Las Vegas probably wouldn’t have given very good odds for winless third year driver Regan Smith to win at one of the toughest tracks on the circuit.
But, when the NASCAR Sprint Cup checkers fell at Darlington on Saturday night, that’s exactly what occurred after the one car team gambled on not pitting and was able to hold off a very strong Carl Edwards over the final few circuits.
While Smith was fighting back tears of joy in victory lane, tempers and cars were flailing around at the other end of pit road. With a handful to go, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were playing bumper tag.
The end result found teammates Harvick and Clint Bowyer in the fence, much to do with Busch’s wild and reckless actions. More on that later.
The overall race was good with numerous lead changes starting with Busch leading until a flat tire forced an unscheduled pit stop, sending him deep into the field.
Edwards had a strong car and was among the top five for most of the race. The final few yellows saw different strategies comes into play where Smith, Brad Keselowski and Tony Stewart stayed out while the rest of the field pitted.
A green-white-checker set up Smith on the pole with Keselowski giving a good push into the first turn with Edwards trying to sweep by on the outside.
As Smith and Edwards made the charge for the final lap, Smith bounced off the wall, yet was able to maintain control and stay there to capture his very first win in front of a disappointed Edwards, Keselowski, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman.
Back to the Busch-Harvick incident; the three bounced off each other coming off turn 4, but Busch deliberately right-turned Harvick on the main straight, sending the Bud Chevy hard into the fence while Busch motored on to finish 11th.
As the two pulled off the track, there was going to be some kind of discussion…good, bad or indifferent.
Harvick stops in front of Busch, gets out to discuss the matter whereupon Busch floors his car into Harvick’s unmanned car, sending it in a hard left turn into the pit lane wall, luckily with no personnel in harm’s way.
The scuffle spilled into the pits where the two happened to be pitted next to each other. Tempers flared, crewmen from both sides pushed and shoved each other while NASCAR officials tried to maintain order.
The two were sent to the big truck for a ‘discussion’. Upon leaving the truck, neither had much to say, but this incident should have long lasting implications as both are hard headed and “do not forget.”
This writer and most race fans feel Busch handled the whole thing very badly and once again has stepped over the line endangering himself and this time, many others.
When he swerved into Harvick to “right turn him,“ he used his car as a lethal weapon. To add insult to injury, when he pushed Harvick’s car out of the way, he had no regard for anyone’s safety on pit lane.
Had their been crewmen, NASCAR officials etc in the way, there easily could have been serious injuries if not a death involved where we’d be discussing Busch’s vehicular homicide charges
NASCAR needs to take a serious look at this latest Busch incident and take appropriate action, i.e., suspensions and fines. Enough is enough. What do you think? Drop me a line.
Nationwide
After Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne took turns out front leading the Nationwide race on Friday night at Darlington, Kyle Busch swept into the top spot in the closing stages, staying there to capture his fifth series win of the year and first at the tricky South Carolina facility.
Numerous wrecks dotted the event with the worst being on lap 95 when Brian Scott had a hard meeting with wall, scooping up Kahne, Edwards and Brad Keselowski in the process.
Series regular Elliott Sadler led for 23 laps but settled for third behind Denny Hamlin, yet in front of points leader Justin Allgaier and Steven Wallace.
Busch’s latest win marks his 48th career series trophy, just one shy of Mark Martin.
Open Wheel News
The Formula One circus traveled to Turkey this past weekend where points leader Sebastian Vettel once again took game, set and match. The talented German driver swept the pole and easily won the race in front of his teammate Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso.
Vettel is way ahead in points after nailing down his third win and fourth pole of the season.
From Rumorville
Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne has been released from the Mayo Clinic with a few remaining aliments as an exact diagnosis of his health problems have not been divulged. He will return to racing, but no official date has been set.
That’s it for this week. Next week’s RWR will review the results from the Monster Mile at Dover with Cup, Truck and Nationwide action along with racing news from around the globe.
Read more NASCAR news on BleacherReport.com
Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers
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