Anyone who watches Nascar on a regular basis knows that Kurt Busch can get a little hot inside the car if the race doesn't go as planned. Last week, the Penske Racing driver commented about how he had never raced as hard for last place as he did at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway and how they need to prepare to not be on stage at the banquet in Vegas at seasons end. If his car isn't right, his crew is going to hear about it before the end of the race. But going into the weekend at Dover, it appeared as if this weekend would be the one where Kurt and his Shell/Pennzoil Dodge team turned their Chase around.
Martin Truex, Jr scored his first pole of the season at the Monster Mile and managed to lead the first three laps of the AAA 400 before handling issues forced the NAPA driver to surrender the lead to second place starter, Busch. It looked as if his No. 22 Charger was the car to beat, but this would prove to be a tale of three races.
Carl Edwards started off the second "race" and grabbed the lead from Busch on lap 52, never looking back. At one point, Edwards had lapped up to 18th place. Unfortunately, an early pit road speeding penalty forced Edwards to surrender first place and a position on the lead lap, which allowed Jimmie Johnson kick off the third "race." Driver 48 grabbed the top spot and checked out.
Many teams took two tires on a lot of their stops to gain track position. Matt Kenseth won the Dover race in the Spring by taking two tires late and it was clear that every team on pit road was going to try and duplicate that feat. Among the teams that took two tires was Busch's No. 22 team. He later dug into crew chief Steve Addington on the radio, saying the team needed to do something different with their front end geometry because they continue to be the best car for 100 laps every week they're never around at the end.
This race also saw several other Chasers struggle. Dale Junior had the right front sway bar break on his No. 88 National Guard Chevy. They would replace the part and battle back to run in and around the top ten, but a loose wheel would be their undoing late in the race and relegate them to a 24th place finish. Tony Stewart also saw the luck he'd had (winning the past two races) disappear as he struggled with his No. 14 Chevy all day long and finished 25th.
There were not a lot of cautions, other than the ones for spins by Mike Bliss and Greg Biffle, which made for a lot of long runs. But the race would still prove exciting, because on the next to last restart, Busch started on the outside of the leader Johnson. This meant Kurt was able to pinch Johnson's car down in turn one and get a huge run from the center off, grabbing the lead. After his power move, Kurt held off late charges from Johnson and Edwards (who made an impressive recovery from his penalty) and scored his second win of the season and his first in the 2011 Chase.
So as the Sprint Cup Series moves west to the Kansas Speedway this weekend, Dover proved one thing to race fans: This is anyones Chase to win. Tony Stewart came from nowhere to score the first two Chase wins and now Kurt Busch comes from behind to win at the Monster Mile. The only driver who has shown any consistency is the man atop the standings. Kevin Harvick has not been in contention for wins in the Chase, but his team has finished second, 12th and tenth in the first three Chase events. Every driver knows that wins never hurt towards a title run, but this year, consistency and minimizing mistakes as a team may just be the key to scoring the championship. Jimmie Johnson may be the favorite, but Kevin Harvick is definitely the guy to beat right now.
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