Kurt Busch Wins Thriller in Sonoma as Tempers Flare

Nascar's road course races have earned the reputation for being uneventful and not providing a lot of excitement or controversy. But in the last two years, that's is beginning to change. Last season saw beating and banging and half the field wound up pissed at Jeff Gordon by the end of the race. Would this years race be able to follow that?

Joey Logano led the field to green, but he quickly surrendered the lead to Kurt Busch. Busch quickly proved his Dodge would be the car to beat and would lead by as much as two seconds. But in behind the lead cars was were the real action was happening.

Bumping and grinding normally reserved tracks like Brisol and Martinsville was prevalent as drivers jockeyed for position around the 11-turn Napa Valley road course. The first big skirmish of the day occurred when Kyle Busch slid into the dirt off turn ten and when he came back onto the track, Brian Vickers was forced to slide in front of Tony Stewart. This irked Smoke off, so he pushed Vickers into turn eleven and spun him out. This collected several other cars, most notably Dale Junior. He knocked a hole in his radiator causing his motor to eventually blow up, sending the No. 88 out of the race.

Later in the race, Robby Gordon and Joey Logano got into it. The battle ended with Logno stuffing Gordon into the turn eleven wall. Gordon said on his radio after the incident that the "20 is going in the fence." That never happened, but after the race, Gordon said "He took me out. i passed him clean and I guess he didn't think it was clean. i guess I need to pull a Childress on him, just not at the racetrack." Logano saw things a bit differently. "He drives like a moron every week" the Gibbs Racing driver said. "We were a lot faster than him. I got outside of him...and he knocked my fender in. So I had enough of it..."

There was payback though. Tony Stewart messed with the Red Bull and got the horns because Vickers hooked Stewart, spinning him backwards, and allowing the rear of the car to climb the tire barrier. As Stewart's car hung there in the hairpin, Vickers made his way to the garage area.

After the race, Stewart said that he knew Vickers wrecked him as payback and didn't blame him for it, but he thought that Red Bull driver was trying to block him. Smoke said that was why he dumped the No. 83 car. "I don't care if it was Ryan Newman (the other car Stewart owns). I would have dumped him, too." He also said that "until Nascar makes a rule against it I am going to dump them every time for it." Vickers also admitted to dumping Stewart on purpose, but said that "he made his bed at that moment and he had to sleep in it." Vickers went on to say " I think when he sees the replay and he realizes why I went low - if he looks at it out of my front windshield - he'll realize it had nothing to do with him."

The last major pileup occurred when Juan Montoya dumped Kasey Kahne at the top of the turn one hill. The next lap, Brad Keselowski dumped Montoya at the top of the next hill. Montoya said "it' s hard when people think they know how to race on road courses and they think they do. It's okay." Kahne also got a jab in at Montoya's expense, saying "last year, when (the Earnhardt Ganassi cars) were really, really good and Jamie McMurray was the man, Juan still couldn't win a race. That shows about what he can do here in Nascar anyways."

While all this wrecking and controversy was taking place, Kurt Busch was making his getaway. He beat Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards to the line for his first points win of the season and the first road course win of his career. Next week, the Sprint Cup Series returns to the "World Center of Racing", the Daytona International Speedway. We saw in February what a difference the two car draft has made on the racing. This race is going to be a good one because, honestly, anybody can win it.

Ambrose Looks for Redemption at Sonoma Road Course

Last season's trip to the Infineon Raceway was one that Marcos Ambrose likely wants to forget about. In fact, he had forgotten all about his heartbreaking miscue in the final laps of last seasons race until reporters mentioned it to him this weekend. For those who didn't catch what happened, in the last few laps of last year's event the Tasmanian Ambrose was trying to conserve fuel under a late caution period. As the field crossed the start finish line he cut his engine off before they reached the hill in turn one. Perfectly routine... that is until the car wouldn't refire. The field then began their assent into turn one, making firing the engine in Ambrose's No. 47 car next to impossible. His car stopped at the top of the hill, Nascar penalized him for not maintaining "reasonable speed" and he was strapped with a sixth place finish.

Even i you're not a fan of the smiling driver from down under, you had to feel bad for him. Having a a shot to win your first race in Nascar's premier series and losing like that is unfathomable. But this season, Ambrose has a new team and some new colors on his car, but he still has the same passion he's had since his first truck series start in 2006.

Ever since he climbed in a stock car, Ambrose has been fighting to prove he belongs. He made his name racing (and dominating) the V8 Supercar Series in his native Australia. This series races strictly on road courses and uses a car similar to a Nascar stock car. They race the same Holdens and Fords that fans drive to the track. Ambrose won series titles in 2003 and 2004 and brought his expertise to our sport in 2006.

Despite his road racing prowess, Ambrose wants to be known as a racer, not a road racer. While he hasn't silenced all of his critics, he has proven that he does belong and he can get it done in Nascar. He has top five finishes at Las Vegas and Dover and has led laps in more than a few events this season. But while he has proven his worth on ovals this season, now the series returns to Ambrose's forte. Now they will turn left and right on the tricky Infineon Raceway. Ambrose and his Stanley team are pretty much a lock for a top ten.

But to win would mean so much to so many more people than just those on the No. 9 Ford team. The team's sponsor Stanley Tools has already committed $100,000 to the Children's Miracle Network. But if Marcos wins the race Sunday, Stanley will add a zero to the check and donate $1,000,000 to the hospitals. Yes a win would cement Marcos Ambrose a place in Nascar and the Sprint Cup Series, but it would also help some very sick children and their families and that would be the most important part of a Marcos Ambrose victory come Sunday.

Silly Season in Full Swing as Nascar Enters Summer Strech

As Nascar heads into the dog days of summer, the weather isn't the only thing about to heat up. The hot seat that several drivers and crew chiefs are on is beginning to get warmer by the race and add to the pressure their teams already feel to perform at the sports highest level.

Roush-Fenway Racing is the team in the biggest quandary. All of their driver's and sponsor's contracts are up this season and the only combo they have managed to lock down was Greg Biffle's No. 16 car with 3M sponsorship. Carl Edwards, David Ragan and Matt Kenseth, as well as their respective sponsors (Aflac, UPS and Crown Royal) have yet to sign on the dotted line and commit to racing the team's Fords in 2012. The biggest player in this deal is definitely Edwards. He leads the points, has already visited victory lane twice and has eleven top tens in fifteen starts this season. It would be hard to imagine him leaving his cushy seat in the Aflac No. 99 right?

Not if Jack Roush can't afford his price tag. With Edwards' new-found stardom comes a hefty asking price. If "The Cat in the Hat" can't put together the cash, Joe Gibbs Racing is set to pounce on the superstar wheelman. It has also been rumored that JGR has been courting

Edwards for a while now and that he may move into a second car for the Toyota organization (Tell me Edwards going to a Toyota team wouldn't stick in Roush's craw). It was also rumored that current Roush sponsor UPS, one of the richest and most prestigious sponsors in the garage, would accompany Edwards should he move to Gibbs Racing.

That's another key factor in how Roush-Fenway will go about preparing for 2012. David Ragan has shown several signs of promise, but has been relatively unimpressive so far this season. This could play into UPS's decision to stick around and if they follow Edwards to JGR, that's millions in sponsorship dollars that RFR will forfeit to the Totoya juggernaut. If this did prove to be true, then fans could expect Edwards' current sponsor, Aflac, to move over to Ragan's No. 6 team.

The other question is if Edwards did move to Gibbs, would it really be in a fourth car? Joey Logano has done very little to impress in his three years in cup and Home Depot has to be a little miffed that the driver who replaced two time champion Tony Stewart in that ride has not lived up to the hype. However, JGR has said that both the home improvement giant and Logano will return in 2012. But they also said that about Stewart in 2008. Smoke then left to form his own team in 2009, despite still having a year on his contract at Gibbs.

On the crew chief side of things, it was also reported that Greg Zippadelli would jump ship from the struggling No. 20 car and reunite with his longtime driver and friend Tony Stewart at Stewart-Haas Racing. This would allow the current head wrench on the No.14, Darian Grubb to take over as SHR's director of competition, a position recently vacated by Bobby Hucthins. Zippy and Stewart were very successful in their decade long run at Gibbs Racing, winning more that thirty races and two titles in 2002 and 2005.

So we will have to wait and see what happens. The merry-go-round of rumors has been spinning out of control in recent weeks and it will be very interesting to see where all the drivers and sponsors involved will land once it stops at season's end.

JGR Penalties Announced

Just in case you've been out of the loop this past weekend, Nascar found the three Joe Gibbs Racing cup teams to have unapproved oil pans on their Camrys at Michigan last Friday. As you might expect, there had also been a lot of speculation prognostication about what penalties the organization might receive for this infraction.

That all ended Tuesday when the sanctioning body announced that the teams crew chiefs, Mike Ford (No. 11), Dave Rogers (No.18) and Greg Zippadelli (No. 20) had each been fined $50,000 and placed on probation until December 31st. In addition, the teams car chiefs and senior vice president of racing operations each received a year of probation.

This is just not a sufficient penalty. They really needed to deduct points from these teams. While JGR still adamantly denies that they were trying to gain an advantage, the facts are the facts. These oil pans weighed between twenty five and thirty pounds apiece. They also laid extremely close to the underside of the engine. At a 2 mile oval like Michigan International Speedway, what other explanation could there be for an infraction like this than to gain an aerodynamic advantage over the competition?

This isn't the first time that the team owned by the former Washington Redskins coach has had a run in with rules violations. A Busch Series race at Michigan where magnets were used to prevent the throttles in both their cars from running wide open comes to mind. They just play stupid and hide behind their Bibles. For a team that displays such religious, moral values and has a play-by-the-rules mentality, its quite surprising that they try and bend those same rules as much as possible.Instead of just looking at the pans as "unapproved", Nascar really should have asked more questions and thought about what the team had to gain. They definitely botched this call.

Red Bull Done in Nascar?

When Toyota entered Nascar's Sprint (then Nextel) Cup Series in 2007, three teams signed up to field Camrys for the rookie manufacturer. They were Bill Davis Racing, Red Bull Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. Four years later, it appears that only Waltrip's organization (predicted by fans to be the first to fold) will be the lone team of those original three racing in 2012. Davis' team closed up shop after the 2008 cup tour due to sponsor Caterpillar leaving for Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 car and now it seems that Red Bull is pulling support of it's two car operation after this season.

It was reported Monday that the Austria-based energy drink juggernaut will no longer fund it's Nascar team but still be involved in other forms of motorsport. The team is sponsoring Formula One driver Sebastian Vettle's championship run, winning just about everything on that circuit, but the team has struggled mightily on the American side of their racing endeavour. They have come close to winning a few times this year with Kasey Kahne and have a few top tens with Red Bull veteran Brian Vickers.

In it's four year history, RBR has earned just one win with Vickers at Michigan in 2008 and one Chase for the Cup berth in that same season. Other than that, the team has been a middle of the pack one at best.

Even though the story just broke, there are already two scenarios for this operation next season. The first, and most likely, involves team GM Jay Frye and driver Mark Martin buying the team and racing with equipment supplied by Hendrick Motorsports. The other involved former crew chief and team owner Ray Evernham buying the team, a story that Evernham insists is false.

One has to wonder though how committed the Red Bull brand actually was to their Nascar program. They are based in Austria and, because of that, spend no time at the racetrack. You can't run a successful racing organization when every other owner shows up at the races every week, concerned and interested in how their team is running and operating and you aren't. Both the team's drivers are moving on after this season (Kahne to Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 car and Vickers has said he's exploring his options) and their lack of success on the track is doing very little to entice other drivers to sign up to race the team's Toyotas. There are still many questions to be answered and it will be a little while longer before we know all the details, but it will be very interesting to see how this all unfolds.

Michigan Race "Pans Out" for Hamlin Team

The weekend for the Joe Gibbs Racing organization didn't start all that promisingly. All three teams were found to have unapproved oil pans on their Toyotas, each weighing about twenty five pounds. Later, in the final practice of the day, Joey Logano blew an engine. This was JGR's ninth engine failure of the season. Surly their race weekend would not be all that spectacular. Right?

The HelluvaGood 400 started when Kurt Busch (after winning his third consecutive pole award) led the field into turn one flanked by David Reutimann's Aaron's Dream Machine. It didn't take long to get exciting because withing the first several laps Jimmie Johnson spun his No. 48 Lowes Chevy off turn two. The Chad Knaus led team later discovered that they had sheered off one of their front sway bars in the spin and lost several laps making repairs. This cost the five-time defending champions any shot at the victory.

The Roush-Fenway Fords also flexed their muscles early on. Greg Biffle jumped out to an early lead and was joined up front by team mates Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth. The blue oval brigade has proven all season long that the FR-9 engines they have under the hood are unstoppable on 1.5 and 2 mile tracks.

Pit road and fuel mileage also proved impactful. Matt Kenseth's team failed to get their Crown Royal Ford full of fuel and had issues with hung lug nuts during their stops. Marin Truex, Jr had a top ten car, but was relegated to mid pack because a loose wheel forced him to pit his NAPA Toyota. Dale Jr also had a car that could have contended for the win, but a slow stop (where he lost eleven, yes eleven, spots) placed him in the middle of the pack. David Reutimann also encountered issues. Despite the car's speed, the engine lost all fuel pressure as the No. 00 car entered the straightaways. The team replaced the fuel cable and the carbourator which eliviated the problem. It also cost them about twenty laps on the racetrack and any chance of a top ten finish.

More controversy started when, late in the race, Mark Martin slid up the track off turn two and forced teammate Earnhardt, Jr into the outside wall. This led to Junior blowing a right front tire, hitting the turn two wall again, and setting up the final restart of the day. This time, Kenseth spun his tires, held up Edwards and allowed Hamlin to jump out to a pretty stout lead. The No. 17 Ford made one last run at Hamlin's No. 11 off turn two, but could no complete the pass when the air off the 11 caused the nose of Kenseth's car to push up the racetrack. But on the final lap, off the final corner, Kenseth made one final run at the FedEx Toyota. He got loose, almost wrecking his Fusion, and sealed the win for Denny Hamlin.

This was Hamlin's first win of the season, snapping the four year long jinx on drivers that have not won after finishing second in points the previous season. But the race this weekend will prove more difficult for Nascar regulars like Hamlin. The race this weekend will be in Sonoma, California, where drivers will have to make right and left turns on the Infineon Raceway and there will be some new faces up front because of that. Will Denny Hamlin make it two in a row or will a "road course ringer" finally conquer the twists and turns of the Napa Valley road course?

JGR Teams Caught Red Handed

Before the Sprint Cup Series racers even hit the track for practice there was controversy in the garage area. The No. 11, No. 18 and No. 20 team out of Joe Gibbs Racing were found to have illegal oil pans on their cars that were never submitted for approval by Nascar. The teams were forced to replace the parts before they took to the track. Now the talk is about what penalties, if any, there will be.

It was originally reported that there would be no repercussions because the violation was discovered before the teams hit the track. But now, Nascar is saying that it would be similar to the penalties Michael Waltrip Racing faced at Texas last season. MWR's No. 00 and 56 teams as well as the JTG Racing No. 47 car and the No. 13 Germain Racing team (both built in the MWR shop) were found to have radiator pans that weren't approved by the sanctioning body. The 47 and 13 teams were penalized 50 driver and owner points and $75,000, while the 00 and 56 crew chiefs were fined $25,000 and no points were deducted. The pans weighed anywhere from 25 to 45 pounds depending on the team. Because of this Nascar classified the pans as "unapproved ballast weight" and that they "should weigh a couple of pounds at best."

Fast forward to Friday afternoon in Brooklyn, Michigan. The oil pans on the Gibbs Racing cars were reported to weigh about 25 pounds apiece. Other teams oil pans weigh about four pounds. Nascar said that there probably wouldn't be a points penalty, just a cash fine because they don't have to judge if a part is too light or too heavy because they were never used in the track. That's baloney. If the intent to cheat is there, there should still be a points penalty involved.

For a team owned by such a Bible banging holy roller like Joe Gibbs, they sure to get involved in cheating scandals a lot. Lets all remember the Nationwide (then Busch) Series race at Michigan in 2008 when the JGR No. 18 and 20 cars had magnets in the throttle to prevent it from running 100 percent wide open. Now this. You can't tell me that the team was not trying to gain more front downforce by having an oil pan that weighed about 20 pounds more than a normal one. But Nascar won't look at it from that perspective because the parts were never used on track? Give me a break. Typical Nascar favoritism and I can guarantee you that his Holiness, Mr. Gibbs, and his team will all hide behind their Bibles and talk about how they didn't mean to do anything wrong. I wonder what Jesus would have to say about your team's recent rule breaking Mr. Gibbs.

Third Hall of Fame Class Provides Great Mix of Cup, Mods and Mechnics

In recent years, one of the biggest debates outside of who is going to win on a given weekend is who would make up the next class of inductees to be enshrined in the Nascar Hall of Fame. Well that question was answered Tuesday afternoon when it was announced that Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Inman, Richie Evans and Leonard Wood would be the third class of stock car legends to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame.

The first driver announced was Cale Yarborough. He made his name in racing by winning 83 races and three consecutive titles from 1976-'78. Three consecutive titles was unheard of during that time. He also won four Daytona 500s. Yarborough was a good ol' boy with a temper (this was evident at the end of the 1979 Daytona 500) and he was also aligned with one of the greatest owners of the day, Junior Johnson. His No. 11 Holly Farms Chicken Chevelle Laguna was always a threat to win on Sunday. The man that replaced Cale behind the wheel of Johnson's No. 11 was the next name announced.

Darrell Waltrip spent his life trying to make it in the then Grand National Series. He made his first start in the No. 95 Terminal Transport car and has since won 84 races and three championships. Ol' D.W. won all of his titles driving for his hero, Junior Johnson. His No. 11 Mountain Dew Buick is still one of the most iconic cars in the sport today. Today, many newer fans know him as a color commentator for Nascar on FOX and the guy that yells "Boogity, Boogity, Boogity! Lets go racing boys!" before the start of every broadcast.

The third man inducted will be the first crew chief in the hall. Dale Inman, the winningest crew chief in Nascar history, scored a staggering 198 race victories and seven titles (eat your heart out Chad Knaus) with his cousin, stock car racing legend Richard Petty. In an era where there was no two way radio communication and pit boards were the main line of communication between a driver and crew, it was very important that the crew chief knew what his driver wanted in a race car. Inman knew how Petty wanted his car to feel and it showed on the race track. Their Petty Enterprises No. 43 team was the team to beat on a weekly basis.

The fourth name announced was a bit of a surprise. Rome, New York's Richie Evans made his name racing in Nascar's modified division, winning an unprecedented eight consecutive titles (Jimmie who). The "Rapid Roman" won virtually everything there was to win in the modified division and turned down several offers to go Cup series racing because he was having too much fun racing his famous No. 61 orange and black modified. But despite this success, his career was tragically cut short.While practicing for a race in Martinsville, Evans' wrecked hard in the third turn and perished in the accident. It is great to see an icon from one of Nascar's lesser known divisions getting the recognition he deserves.

The final name announced was legendary owner Glen Wood. The patriarch of racing's second most famous family, Wood and his Wood Brothers Racing team (revolutionized the racing world. The Wood's No. 21 team was also selected to pit Jim Clark's Lotus in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. Clark and the Wood's went on to win the event. This team did some pretty revolutionary things to save time on pit road and practiced their pit stops to make them more of a mechanical ballet than a change of tires and a full tank of gas. One of their most significant innovations was using an adhesive to bond the lug nuts to the tires. This saved the team the trouble of having to put the lugs on the studs by hand, saving precious seconds. The No. 21 car also won an impressive 98 races ad has been wheeled by legends like A.J. Foyt, David Pearson, Morgan Shepherd, Michael Waltrip and Kyle Petty. They also won the 2011 Daytona 500 with rising star Trevor Bayne.

So I think the voting committee definitely got it right this time. The mix of two cup champions, a legendary crew chief, one of the most successful owners in the sports history and probably the greatest driver to never reach the Cup series. Names like Yarborough, Waltrip, Inman, Wood and Evans are all hall of fame material with hall of fame numbers. These five names revolutionized the sport and dominated during their careers. But more than that, this class also demonstrates what this hall of fame is really about. It isn't a Sprint Cup Series Hall of Fame, it's a Nascar Hall of Fame and this diverse group confirms just that.

No. 24 wins No. 84 at Pocono Raceway

In what was one of the calmest races in recent memory, Jeff Gordon drove his familiar DuPont Chevrolet into victory lane at Pocono Raceway. This was Gordon's fifth win at the "Tricky Triangle" and the 84th of his illustrious career, tying him with legends Bobby Allison and Darrell Waltrip for third (that's right, THIRD) on the all time wins list. Jeff Gordon has only been driving a Cup series car since 1992 and has been winning in them since 1994, but the things he has accomplished have been nothing short of astounding. I'm really not a Jeff Gordon fan, but the guy can wheel a race car and he proved that to us once again on Sunday.

The No. 24 started the race in third, right behind polesitter Kurt Busch. This was the second week in a row the No. 22 Dodge led the field to green, this time flanked by Paul Menard's No. 27 Chevy. But the race was at Pocono, so it didn't come as a surprise when Denny Hamlin's FedEx Toyota grabbed the lead and set sail. There were only four cautions over the 500 mile event, so there were very few opportunities for teams to regroup and make a charge at the No. 11 car. The only spin of the day came late in the event when Greg Biffle looped his 3M Ford off turn three, however the race remained under the green flag.

But just because there was very little on track action, that doesn't mean that the race was short on story lines. Probably the biggest one was the No. 18 and No. 29 cars getting into it again on the race track. Early on, fans saw Harvick run Busch's Toyota all the way down to the pit wall down the frontstrech and later falling in behind and pushing the younger Busch the length of that same straightaway. Busch and his crew chief Dave Rogers were not pleased, Busch later saying "It's not my fight. He's trying to turn it into one." Harvick saw things a little differently. "He knows he's got one coming" the RCR driver said. "I just wanted him to think about it." Harvick was also asked if he thought Busch got the message. "Of course he did" Harvick said. "It's all a free game now. Probation's over."

The race saw a few different leaders in Kurt Busch and Juan Montoya, but it looked as if Hamlin was going to run away with the victory. That is, however, until the field made some late race pit stops. Hamlin had the valve stem sheared off his left rear tire, causing the tire to immediately go flat. He rode around the 2.5 mile triangle back to pit road which caused some minor damage to his left rear quarter panel, but also allowed the rubber from the flat tire to wrap around the Toyota's rear end housing, knocking a brake line loose.

With the king of Pocono, Hamlin, down and out of contention, the door opened for the DuPont team to charge. Gordon had laid back in the weeds all day long and pounced when the right time came. Nobody is better at saving equipment and using it when it matters than Jeff Gordon. So when he took the checkers and pulled into victory lane for the 84th time, it wasn't a surprise to anyone. The No. 24 team will try and repeat in Michigan this weekend and keep Denny Hamlin from winning his second spring Michigan race in a row. It will also be interesting to see what happens between Busch and Harvick in the Irish Hills as well. Judging by how exciting this season has been so far, this weekends race in the Motor City should be a great one.

Childress Penalty Announced

Well Nascar announced Richard Childress' penalty yesterday. They will fine the team owner $150,000 and place him on probation until season's end. This was a very tough decision to make, I'm sure, because his actions can't be take too lightly.

Don't get me wrong, I stand behind Childress and I love the fact that he stood up for his team. But other's disagree. Most people accused Nascar of playing favorites, letting RC off easy, while another, lower profile owner would have been suspended from the sport. That may be true, but let's remember who we're talking about here. Like I said in my previous post regarding this matter, Richard Childress is about as redneck as you can get in the Nascar garage. He's extremely old school and doesn't take any crap from anybody. So he is going to settle a score like they did back in the good old days of stock car racing: Settle the score in the garage and let Nascar worry about it later. That's all that happened.

He is also the only owner like that in the Sprint Cup series. Could anyone really see businessmen like Rick Hendrick and Jack Roush fighting in the garage area? All Joe Gibbs would do is give a sermon about how violence is wrong and hide behind his Bible. Richard Childress is a good ol' boy and isn't afraid to get down and dirty when it comes to doing what he feels is right.

Now, about the penalty. Many members of the Nascar media have said RC should have been fined and suspended, it was a tough call for Nascar to make. "Boys, have at it" is all well an good between drivers, but when team owners get involved, that's a totally different story.

Like I said, Childress is the only owner who would be likely to do something like this and he probably won't do it again. Yes, a fine is great, but I still feel something more than just "probation" should go along with it. $150,000 to an owner of Childress' magnitude is mere pocket change. With the money he makes off winnings from four Cup series teams and two Truck series teams (not to mention the money he makes from teams that lease chassis and engines from him), I think he'll be just fine financially after he cuts that big check. And all Nascar fans know what a joke "probation" is so that won't amount to much as far as teaching him a lesson. Suspending him for a race or two would definitely have sent the message home that this type of behavior won't be tolerated among Nascar owners.

You can't please everyone. Some say Nascar hit the nail on the head, and some say they didn't penalize RC near enough. I stand behind what Childress did because he was just standing up for his team and what he felt was right. But I also understand that we can't have team owners going around knocking out drivers in the garage after races either. A one or two race suspension and a fine would have driven that point home a bit more clearly. But, this was a one time thing with the only owner who would do something of this nature. Good call or bad, it's time to move on to racing at Pocono and to leave "boys, have at it" to the drivers.

It's Miller TIme for Keselowski and Blue Deuce Team in Kansas

For the second week in a row, a Nascar Sprint Cup Series race came down to fuel mileage. For the second week in a row, Dale Earnhardt, Jr came within laps of snapping his 105 race winless drought. And for the second week in a row, a totally unexpected team pulled into victory lane.

After a very mild, uneventful STP 400, Brad Keselowski stretched his fuel mileage and pulled the Miller Lite "Blue Deuce" into victory lane for the first time since teammate Kurt Busch won last seasons Coke 600. But to do it, Keselowski had to beat former teammate and owner Dale Earnhadt, Jr. This is also Brad's first win for Penske Racing.

Brad's teammate, Kurt Busch brought the field to the green flag and dominated most of the race. This was a far cry from the Kurt Busch who has struggled mostly all of this season, cussing out his pit crew and calling out and insulting members of the Penske Racing management team by name and yelling about how none of the aforementioned team members can do their jobs right. But the #22 AAA Dodge led several laps and looked to be on track to turn the Penske organization's nightmare season around.

As the race progressed, there were very few wrecks and even fewer passes. The race was also beginning to look more like a fuel mileage race than a regular dash to the checkered flag. That's exactly how it worked out. The teams that had been out front, like Busch's #22, Tony Stewart's #14 and Carl Edward's #99 were all forced to pit road, while Keselowski, Dale Jr and Denny Hamlin were trying to stretch the Sunoco E-85 ethanol in their tanks to lap 267.

Junior's crew chief Steve Letarte instructed his driver to just pass Hamlin and race him. Keselowski was going to run out anyway. Right? What the #88's head wrench didn't know was that Brad's #2 Dodge was only about 3/4 of a lap short on gas. So saving that little amount of fuel was easy. Then, with about five laps to go, Junior was told to start saving again, eliminating any chance he had at catching the #2. This pretty much sealed the deal and netted Brad Keselowski his second Sprint Cup win. While the Miller Lite team celebrated in victory lane, Earnhardt, Jr walked down pit road, looking a lot more peeved than he did last weekend. It was almost as if he knew he should have won this race. Second place is, after all, just the first loser.

Keselowski and Junior will both get another shot to win this weekend as the Sprint Cup action heads to the "Tricky Triangle" of Pocono Raceway. Denny Hamlin has been untouchable there for several years now. Will Brad Keselowski repeat? Will Junior finally score his first win in over 100 races? Or will Denny Hamlin continue his stranglehold on the field at Pocono? We'll have to wait until 400 miles of racing around the tri corner racetrack in the Poconos to find out.

Temperatures Not The Only Thing Hot In Kansas

The talk so far this week at the Kansas Speedway has been about a slick racetrack ad high temperatures. But the mercury wasn't the only thing boiling over Saturday afternoon. After the Camping World Truck Series race, won by Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch drove his #18 truck into the side of Joey Coulter's #22 Richard Childress Racing Silverado to express his displeasure with a move Coulter put on Busch to grab fifth from him off turn four on the last lap.

It was later reported that about a half hour after the race, Coulter's owner Richard Childress removed his wristwatch and approached Busch in the Truck Series garage. Childress then put Busch in a headlock and punched him two or three times. Busch fell to the ground, got back up and then Childress took another swing at him.

Now, this wasn't all because Kyle put a little dent in the side of Coulter's Childress-owned Chevy. These two do have a history. Most recently, Busch and RCR driver Jeff Burton got into a heated confrontation after the fall Charlotte race last season following an on track scuffle. Kevin Harvick and Busch also got into it at Homestead last season, as well as after the Darlignton race earlier this season (I think we all know what happened there). This truck incident was merely the straw that broke the camel's back. Busch had reportedly told Kyle a while ago to stop wrecking his cars or he would take care of Kyle himself. So the writing was definitely on the wall.

Childress is a 65 year old man and Busch, a 26 year old kid. How would it look if Busch gave a 65 year old man a black eye? With a sponsor like M&M's, a favorite among kids, Kyle can't exactly go around fighting a Nascar legend like Childress. But on the flip side, Kyle never would anyway. He talks big and acts tough, but when the time comes to make good on his threats, he turns tail and runs. Richard Childress is about as old school as you can get. He's a tough ol' redneck and isn't going to take any crap from a young punk like Kyle Busch. Kyle can't exactly earn respect by running away with his tail between his legs when the time comes to stand up for himself either. (Especially in this case, where a 65 year old man dropped him like a bag of dirt).

I don't think we'll ever really know what happened. Speed channel's Nascar Racday talked to Kyle Sunday (after the choirboy got out of church. Gimmie a break) and he didn't offer many details. Only that he wanted to move on. Nascar also advised Childress to not talk about the situation to the media. So, for the time being, Childress has been sworn to secrecy and Kyle (along with his Cup owner Joe Gibbs) will continue to talk big and hide behind his Bible when it comes time to throw down.

Personally, my hat goes off to Mr. Childress. This is how things were settled back in the day. Let the boys settle it first and let Nascar settle it later. There's a reason why his RCR team earned the nickname "The Junkyard Dogs" back in the day. There's a reason why he picked guys like Dale Earnhardt, Sr, Mike Skinner and Kevin Harvck to drive his cars over the years. This team is, and has always been, made up of good ol' boys that will race you hard and knock you on your ass if you do something they don't like. Yes, what R.C. did is a PR nightmare, but sometimes it is about principles and standing up for whats right. That's what Richard Childress did and I applaud him for that.

Nascar Drivers Show Support For Tornado Ravaged Joplin

There are several reasons why Nascar is different than conventional stick and ball sports, but one of the biggest is that they are always ready and willing to give back. During the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, all the drivers ran special decals and raised money and supplies for those affected. They also support our military in all that they do for our country. So with the recent tornadoes in Joplin, Missouri, several teams, drivers and sponsors jumped at the chance to lend a helping hand to those affected.

Jamie McMurray, driver of the #1 Bass Pro Shops Chevy, is a native of Joplin and still calls that city home, despite living in North Carolina. This past weekend in the Coke 600, while many drivers were sporting red, white and blue paint schemes, McMurray's was the same orange, black and camo Impala that he runs every week. But it did have one major difference.

Johnny Morris, owner of Bass Pro Shops and close friend of McMurray, took Tracker Boats off the side of the #1 car for the weekend and replaced it with the phrase "Hope Joplin, Mo." along with the website convoyofhope.org. But the race quickly turned to heartbreak for this team because as Jamie ran second, fighting for the lead, his engine let go and sent him out of the race. Jamie is a guy who flies under the radar a lot and is a hell of a race car driver. He is also a really great, genuine guy and seeing that Hope for Joplin car heading to the garage was disappointing not only for him, but for the fans as well. That would have been a really great feel good win and a great boost of moral for that city.

On his way to Kansas for this weekend's race, Jamie also stopped to tour the devastation around his hometown. He stayed pretty calm during the majority of the trip, until he arrived at East 25th Street and saw where house number 4471 once stood. That is when McMurray let his emotions show.

Jamie Mac walked through the rubble that was childhood home and managed to talk through his tears about remembering Christmas as a child and how he now had a greater appreciation for what those affected are going through now. He also saw what remained of Joplin High School, from which he is a graduate. This site was one of the few places left where clean up had not yet begun, so it really gave the Earnhardt-Gannasi Racing driver some perspective about the damage that was actually done.

You can watch McMurray's reaction in his interview with ESPN reporter Marty Smith by visiting http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2011/6/3/2204586/nascar-jamie-mcmurray-joplin-tornado-damage-2011. You can also access this link by clicking on the above picture of McMurray's car. The video was posted on the SB Nation website by writer Jeff Gluck and really helps to paint a vivid picture of McMurray's emotions. Just being able to hear Jamie's voice and see his reaction, just breaks your heart and really puts things into perspective. It's impossible to imagine being in that situation.

Another team doing some fundraising this weekend was Michael Waltrip Racing. MWR drivers David Reutimann, Martin Truex, Jr and Bobby Labonte, as well as the teams sponsors Aaron's Rent and Bass Pro Shops held autograph sessions and collections for the folks in Joplin. Reutimann and Labonte signed autographs for fans at an Aaron's store in Kansas and Truex did the same at a Kansas area Bass Pro Shops. (They are only an associate sponsor on Truex's #56 car. Most of their sponsorship dollars go towards Jamie Mac's car). The team's #00 and #56 pit crews were also on hand to load tons of supplies onto trucks bound for Missouri.

That is what makes Nascar different. The drivers that we see race every Sunday are not big time celebrities like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and LeBron James. They are real people and they have not forgotten where they came from. From big time drivers like Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, to those that fly under the radar like Jamie Mac and Reutimann, they all do great things from setting up foundations for different causes, to visiting disaster areas and collecting supplies for disaster relief. It's great to see that McMurray, Reutimann, Truex and Waltrip care about what their fellow Americans are going through and that they are there for them, using their "celebrity" statuses for good. Please keep those affected by the tornadoes in Joplin, Tuscaloosa, Mississippi and Massachusetts in your thoughts and prayers as they rebuild their homes and their lives.