Hello fellow NASCAR fans! I write this in the early morning hours of Sunday, the day of the race for the Golden Corral 500. Although the Nextel Cup contenders will be racing later today, it is worthwhile to recap the action which has happened already so far with the Busch and Truck races over the past two days.
On Friday night, the Craftsman Truck Series marked it's third race of the season. Notably, in the previous two races of the year, Mark Martin, the "newcomer" to the series, won both races (in Daytona and California) in convincing fashion. Obviously, the trucks are to Mr. Martin's liking, who is expected to be a force to reckoned with for the remainder of this season and into next season (and possibly beyond). Martin, who remains a Cup regular for the 2006 season (which is expected to be his last), was going to run only a limited schedule in trucks this year until his hot start probably is changing that perspective. Although Martin would be part of the story for the Atlanta race, he wasn't the headliner this time.
Todd Bodine, undoubtedly the hottest driver coming off NCTS action last season, was the first driver other than Mark Martin to win a race. It wasn't an "easy" victory for Bodine, though, as he had to pass Martin with only five laps remaining. So far this season, the points chase for the NCTS clearly belongs to these two drivers. Given that Martin has two wins and a now a 2nd place finish, he stands firmly at the top of the points. Bodine, with two 2nd place finishes and now his first win of the season, stands closely by in second place. The reigning series champion, Ted Musgrave, is within striking distance in third place, having three straight top-5 finishes to his credit as well. Beyond the top three, the points positions start to spread out, but many contenders are still around with 22 races remaining in the 25-race schedule.
As a separate but notable news bite from the NCTS, former champion Bobby Hamilton was diagnosed with cancer this past week and will be done with racing for the remainder of this season and for possibly the foreseeable future. Please consider your thoughts and prayers for the Hamilton family in their difficult time, as son Bobby Jr. continues to race the series for the remainder of the season.
On Saturday night, the Busch series took center stage. In what has become "Nextel Cup Lite" the Nextel Cup regulars, aka the "Buschwhackers," once again dominated the action at Atlanta. In five Busch races on the season, their have been five different winners - all are regulars in Nextel Cup rides this season. Starting with Tony Stewart's win at Daytona up to Kasey Kahne's win last week in Las Vegas, it hard to think that someone other than one the Cup guys is going to win this series this year. Can someone "new" step up to be to this series what Martin Truex, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, et.al. have been for the series in previous seasons? The highest ranking non-Cup regular is Burney Lamar, a Busch rookie currently sitting back in 8th place in the standings. Fellow Busch regular Jon Wood, the protege for the Wood Brothers Cup car next season, is one place behind in 9th. Thankfully, the next handful of spots are held by Busch regulars, but the Cup guys are dominating the top-10's in races so far. Lamar and Paul Menard (who is a semi-regular in Cup action) are the only others with more than one top-10. With names like Kevin Harvick in the top spot through Carl Edwards in the seven spot, the top-10's are clearly the expectation of these guys. Matt Kenseth has raced only three starts in the Busch series with two top-5's, all three top-10's, and stands 19th in points without really trying. Greg Biffle, comparably, has raced 4 of the 5 races, with 1 win, and three top-5's in standing in the 10th spot in points. In any case this digression into the effects of Nextel Cup drivers on the Busch series this year leads well into the winner of the Atlanta Busch race.
The Nicorette 300 (an ironic name, given the sport's history with Winston) was won by another Cup regular, Jeff Burton, on Saturday. Burton is a notable winner, however, since he has not won a race at any level since 2002, when he was still in the Roush Racing stable. Since moving to Richard Childress Racing in 2004, Burton has had minimal success, but his Cup consistency this season has been promising. This win is particularly encouraging in pointing towards a resurgent Jeff Burton for the remainder of the season. Burton led not only the last lap but also the most laps in the race, winning comfortably at the finish. There were multiple other leaders in the race, notably the aforementioned Biffle, Kenseth, and last year's winner Edwards. Edwards is of particular note since the 2005 race here was his first Busch win, followed the next day by his first Cup win. Will Burton follow suit with a long-anticipated Cup win on Sunday? Only time will tell, but I won't be rooting against him given his history and having been a consistent "good citizen" of NASCAR.
The other contenders in the Busch race were the "typical" names we have seen so far this season. Besides top-5 finishes for both Biffle and Kenseth, Kasey Kahne made another strong run to finish in the runner-up and JJ Yeley rounded out the top five. Burney Lamar was the top-finishing series regular in the 8th spot. Tire problems once again punctuated the action (yes, pun intended), with Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Ryan Newman having significant car damage due to blown tires in the race. Let us hope the tire problems do not carry over into the Cup race on Sunday, but do not surprised if we some of the same in the Golden Corral 500.
Here's to looking forward to what should be another exciting Cup race in Atlanta on Sunday. I'm not sure how much I will get to see live (due to another commitment that coincides with race time), but I certainly plan to see the replays and highlights if not the race finish when time allows.
Later y'all.
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