NASCAR Review: Busch Wins Loudon
Kyle Busch's win at Loudon overshadowed by Stewart/Newman's sideshow
Jul 17, 2006
The younger of the Busch brothers, often referred to as 'Shrub', inherited the lead with 69 laps remaining after passing Elliott Sadler, and never looked back. It was the first win of the 2006 Nextel Cup season for Busch, and the third of his very young career.
"We had just been trying to make the car turn better," Busch said. "We were just trying to bide our time, run our own race and not make too many mistakes." Minimal mistakes have been aiding Busch in his climb towards the top of the NASCAR Nextel Cup standings. Busch has elevated himself up to fourth in the standings, just 334 markers behind first place Jimmie Johnson.
The race at New Hampshire was an eventful one, as it was last September. I'm not sure what it is about Loudon, New Hampshire, but it seems to bring out the worst in Michael Waltrip. Waltrip wrecked Ryan Newman on an ensuing restart on lap 95, and ran into the back of Robby Gordon during the final caution of the 308-lap (supposed to be 300-lap) race.
I have already covered my take on the Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart incident which occurred on lap 91. Newman had just pitted for four fresh tires, and was attempting to recapture one of his two laps back from Stewart, who was riding around on older tires. Basically, neither driver gave an inch, and Stewart was re-introduced to the outside retaining wall at New Hampshire.
Stewart laid blame on Newman, and Newman would fire back.
"Newman just took us out," Stewart said. "We're starting to learn to race him like he races us and he doesn't give anybody a break so I wasn't about to give him a break..., he'll just take me out then if you don't let him by. It's amazing how he expects you to let him by, but he doesn't give anybody that same courtesy."
Newman's view was obviously one of dissimilarity, "He came down on us a little bit. I came up on him a little bit and we hit. He got the raw end of the deal. It didn't do us any favors, but he sure didn't live up to what he preaches."
Tony Stewart now finds himself outside of the top ten in the NASCAR Nextel Cup points standings as he is now 11th, just 11 points behind Greg Biffle. Ryan Newman is all but out of contention for a spot in the Nextel Cup Chase for the Championship, now in the 19th spot.
It was strong day for the NASCAR Nextel Cup rookies, Reed Sorenson, Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, and David Stremme in particular. Sorenson had a top five car, but was forced to pit late after running out of fuel. Clint Bowyer had to rally back after he pitted out of sequence with the leaders, and was wrecked by Brian Vickers, who was also involved in an earlier incident with Joe Nemechek. David Stremme finished a career high eleventh.
Jeremy Mayfield's name is all over the silly season rumor mill after he admonished team owner Ray Evernham last weekend at Chicagoland.
Mayfield is expected to drive the third entry for Michael Waltrip Racing.
Hey, at least if Mayfield get irritated with his new employer, he can take him out on the racetrack instead of the media room.
Quote of the week:
Greg Biffle on the tight race to the chase
"Look at Tony - in May he was second in the points, and now he's out of the top-10...Man, when Tony ran out of gas last week at Chicago, I said 'I can't believe last year's champion might not even make this year's title-hunt.' And here he has another bad race."
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