The Future of NASCAR

           

     I grew up watching Bill Elliott in the Winston Cup Series. I vaguely remember when he won the 1987 Daytona 500 and the 1988 Winston Cup Championship. But I was seven years old at the time so don’t ask me about certain details except for the fact that when he won the Winston Million there was cash floating around the track. People tend not to forget cash floating around since it doesn’t happen to often. What I also remember is not many people disliked Elliott. He was NASCAR’s most popular driver a record 16 times. Now I am watching his son Chase win NASCAR Nationwide races and I feel old. 

     In the last two weeks Chase Elliott has established himself as the future star of NASCAR and has backed up the reputation that his last name carries in racing. Elliott is 18 years old and has won back-to-back races in the Nationwide series at Texas and Darlington, a track that usually wrecks havoc on young drivers with the infamous “Darlington stripe.” He told the media he could not remember that last time he was at Darlington and had never previously raced there, yet he drove by Elliott Sadler on the final lap of a green-white-checkered finish and make it look easy. Elliott restarted in 6^th place with two laps to go. Elliott did have four fresh tires compared to Sadler’s two, but to pass him on the outside on one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks still left many in awe, including his dad.

     Elliott started making waves when he won in the truck series last year at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on September 1^st and became the youngest winner in a NASCAR national series event. He succeeded in the K&N Pro Series and the ARCA Racing Series. I watched Elliott in the season-opening ARCA race at Daytona and came away with the feeling that he might have a rough start when he touched off a giant wreck and tore up a lot of cars. Elliott turned Buster Graham and collected 13 other cars and his crew ended up in a heated melee on pit road with the race still going on. Elliott did not make any friends, but one things that earns you friends is winning.

     “It’s too early in the race to get aggressive like that,” Graham said. “He’s got a lot to learn.”

     Elliott’s dad says he was not at fault, but few people are talking about that incident at Daytona now. His win steak could easily be at three if he had not been collected in an early race crash with Dylan Kwasniewski in California. Chase is for real and now NASCAR media members are speculating about when he will debut in Sprint Cup. Let’s watch this Nationwide season unfold first, but he does have the look of a young Jeff Gordon who took the Busch Series by storm despite not winning a race and was quickly elevated by the same car owner who is supporting Chase along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. That car owner, none other than Rick Hendrick, arguably the most successful owner in racing. Elliott could very well fill the seat of Gordon’s when the 5-time champion hangs up his helmet, which could be after this season. This prediction is a bit bold I know, but one prediction I am willing to make, Chase Elliott will be the best young driver we have seen in Sprint Cup in a long time, when he does make the transition. For now, he has made Nationwide races a must-see. 

(Photo courtsey of Jonathan Ferrey / Stringer, Getty Images Sport).

An Unreal Comeback

(Above Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)     

     Where did Kurt Busch come from? I seriously kept muttering this over and over after Busch drove his Haas Automation Chevrolet past Jimmie Johnson and into victory lane at Martinsville, Virginia this past Sunday in the sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the 2014 season. Busch is the sixth different winner in the Cup Series in this season where winning is more important to making the Chase.

      I think the real question I was pondering was, “how did Kurt Busch do this?” And by that I mean, how did he become relevant again in NASCAR after a dramatic fall from grace with Penske Racing just two years ago. I’m not ready to anoint the 2004 champion, “officially back,” or a championship contender this year just yet, but I was rather impressed with not only his ability to track down Martinsville-dominator Jimmie Johnson in the late stages of the race, but also his composure in dealing with Brad Keselowski when the two drivers clashed very early in the marathon 500 lap race.

     Busch and Keselowski made contact in the narrow Martinsville Speedway pit lane within the first 100 laps, severely damaging Keselowski’s car. As Bad Brad made his way back out onto the track, without a hood and front end body work, he immediately went after the #41 of Busch. He drove into the side of Busch’s car and became a nuisance for nearly 20 laps. Keselowski was like the fly swarming around a pit bull on a hot summer day, although it was freezing in Virginia on this particular Sunday. Busch did not bite. He did not lose his cool. He kept driving. He kept his focus. It was almost strange to watch as you waited for the other shoe to drop and Busch to take himself out of contention by retaliating. But he kept driving toward the front. This occurrence alone was enough to lead me to believe that this was a different Kurt Busch. Then he won the race. He quietly maintained and carved up the field when it mattered most, in the final 50 laps. Unless you follow NASCAR very closely, you may not know that seeing a driver win Martinsville that’s not named Johnson or Hamlin is quite an unusual thing. And if the name on the trophy ended with Busch, it’s usually Kyle.

     Towards the end of 2011, Busch had a profanity-laced tirade when Dr. Jerry Punch, a well-known racing reporter, asked him to comment after a race. It was the final straw after a season full of confrontation. After this outburst I was positive Busch had ruined his career after being fired by Roger Penske. Sure, he would drive again, but not for one of the competitive teams in Sprint Cup. But Busch started at the bottom and worked his way back up. First with Phoenix Racing, and then Furniture Row Racing where he became the first single car team to make the Chase in 2013. He finished 10th in points and scored 11 top five finishes. Then Gene Haas and Tony Stewart gave him a chance to join their super team. Haas was the one who pushed for signing Busch to a fourth car to go along with Stewart, Danica Patrick, and Kevin Harvick. After some initial doubts, Smoke decided to trust Haas and offer Busch a contract. Haas had stated many times that his corporation, Haas Automation, had never been on the hood of a winning car in Sprint Cup. He can now scratch that off the list.

     After the first month of the NASCAR season, Busch not only has a win under his belt, essentially clinching a spot in this season’s Chase, but this May 25^th he will attempt to become the 4^th driver to race in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 in the same day. Busch signed with Michael Andretti’s IndyCar team and will attempt to run open wheel’s crown jewel and then fly to Charlotte for the longest stock car race of the season. He always had the talent, but the attitude got in the way. He’s still got the attitude, calling Keselowski’s on-track behavior Sunday “a punk-ass move”, but his focus is clear. He wants another championship, and he is not about to let Gene Haas down for taking a huge chance on him. So far so good, but the NASCAR season is still young. At this point, Kurt Busch is saying and doing all the right things.

      “It’s amazing how many things have to fall into place, and so I never doubted myself,” Busch told NASCAR.comafter the win. “I never gave up. I kept trying to find little stones to uncover and rocks to overturn to try and make teams better for the way I knew how to make them, and I was just trying to find the right combo, and Stewart-Haas Racing is that combination for me.”