April 9, 2009
By Brian Watkins
Brian Watkins
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This coming weekend it’s all about the Nationwide Series.
Why?
Because everyone else is off.
The Cup Series resumes in Phoenix on the 18th and the trucks don’t come out of the haulers again until the 25th of May.
So while the NASCAR Nationwide Series isn’t my favorite racing event to watch, it’ll have to do. I’m not knocking the series mind you, but it’s third on my list of the three major series, with the Camping World Series on top and the Sprint Cup Series smack in the middle.
With any luck, the racing will be exciting enough to help forget watching the MSU Spartans get pummeled by UNC Monday night. I’m originally from Michigan and have always preferred Michigan State over the University of Michigan- so watching the Spartans advance (once the games were on the air in Kentucky) was exciting. Watching them get out gunned at every turn by the Tar Heels was not. This, however, is a racing column and not a basketball column, so on with it…
Jeff Gordon’s win last weekend at Texas will hopefully start a trend. A trend that has drivers winning at tracks they’ve yet to conquer. When he took the checkers at the Great American Speedway, he not only said bye-bye to a 47 race winless streak, he also added another notch in his belt of tracks where he’s won.
As a side note, why don’t we call a winless streak a losing streak? While many drivers will tell you that “We’re just happy to finish in the top-five,” or “We’re glad to be here” none of them would consider anything short of 1st place, and if you’re not winning you’re losing, right?
“One winner, forty-two losers” is one of my 4-year-old's favorite quotes from the movie “Cars”, and I think it’s one of the most accurate ones from the film.
One person who losing is a lot more personal to, more than many drivers, is Kyle Busch; And one place he’s done nothing but lose is Nashville Superspeedway.
He’s tried six times to get to victory lane in Music City, and each time he’s missed the mark. In fact in all his races there, his best finish has been sixth, while Carl Edwards, who leads the Nationwide points standings and is 38 points ahead of Busch -- has back-flipped a track record three times, and in all of his starts at Nashville only finished out of the top-five once.
So coming into Nashville, it’s looking like an interesting battle; with Edwards and the track on one side of the ring, and Kyle on the other.
Kyle has momentum on his side, coming off a win last week at Texas. Combine that with his desire to win, the mere 38 point gap between he and Edwards and the empty win column for Busch at Nashville and you have the makings of one determined driver. You also could have the makings of one big wreck if he gets to antsy, but he’s shown much more restraint on the track this season than he has in the past.
All of the above as well as 42 other drivers will hopefully make it an exciting race. Even if it’s not all that exciting, I’ll be watching because this weekend, it’s the only big league show in town.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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