Russ Bond Motorsport Report: Busch Makes History with Toyota
Camry Photos
Look, see, it’s me gloating….la-ti-da. So, guess who won the Sprint Cup race at Atlanta? It was Kyle Busch, who dominated the last half of the event to take the win, bringing Toyota to victory lane for the first time.
To be honest, I could just as easily be talking about Carl Edwards’ third consecutive victory, but his engine blew up with 50 laps to go. That handed the point to Busch, who had the field covered.
For Toyota, it was the first time a “foreign” nameplate has won in NASCAR since Al Keller won at the airport road course in Linden, N.J., in a Jaguar in 1954.
If I was Toyota, I’d actually find that statement a little annoying. Why? Well, how about a little quiz? Out of the current cup cars, the Camry, Fusion, Charger and Monte Carlo, how many are actually built in the good ole’ US of A?
Give up? Well, the Camry is actually the only one built in the USA. Ford Fusions (real Fusions, of course) are built in Mexico, the Charger is built in Canada, and the Monte Carlo doesn’t even exist anymore, but when it did it was assembled in Canada. So which one really is foreign?
Anyhow, Busch dominated the weekend again, winning the Truck race on Friday night – also in a Toyota – then led the first 153 of 170 laps in the Nationwide race until a tire blew.
“Carl Edwards had the best car here [Sunday] by far,” Busch said. “Whatever those guys have figured out over there, it’s really scaring us. The 16 [Biffle] doesn’t show it, the 17 [Kenseth] doesn’t show it, the 26 [Jamie McMurray] doesn’t show it, but for some reason that 99 does — whether it’s him driving the thing or whether it’s the car, it’s definitely something that we’ve got to work on.”
Edwards was very good, even though he had been assessed a 100 point penalty and his crew chief, Bob Osborne is gone for six weeks. Last week I told you there was a problem with the oil tank. Well, actually it’s the oil tank cover, and now the trick is out of the bag – except for the television guys who continue to think its all a farce. Fact is, take that lid off and you can get more downforce and more horsepower.
Toyota and Roush Racing swapped comments during the week, leading up to this weekend, and you’d have to say it was a draw. Toyota’s Lee White told USA Today that there was a huge gain to be made, and that he thought Roush knew exactly what was happening.
Jack Roush took exception to that and the battle of words was on. In the end, Edwards was still fast – with the cover in place – and Toyota won the race. Toyota actually finished one-two at Atlanta, as Tony Stewart finished second.
“He’s amazing,” Stewart said. “I’m proud to have him as a teammate. I think he’s a huge asset to Joe Gibbs Racing, obviously. It’s fun to watch him. When he runs the Truck race, and we’re sitting in the bus, I normally don’t pay that close attention. But it’s just fun to watch him drive, whether it’s a Truck or a Nationwide car or the Cup car.
“He will drive it far beyond what it’s capable of doing. There’s no doubt at the end of the day that he’s got everything that car’s capable of. That’s what you want out of a guy — stuff like driving the thing on the apron in Turn 2 during the Truck race the other day, passing guys. I haven’t seen anybody do that here — not on purpose, at least. He likes a loose car, and it doesn’t bother him at all to drive it that way.”
Stewart hit the nail on the head, and Tony can tell you exactly why the cars were that hard to drive this weekend. More than ever this year, we have seen the cars put back in the hands of the drivers, and to be blunt, some are out to lunch. The speed difference is huge, as guys like Busch, Stewart, Edwards manhandle the cars, while the other just drive and hang on.
Most of that this weekend was caused by the rock hard tires Good Year brought to the track. This was Goodyear’s answer to the high number of tire failures that have happened in recent weeks. Stewart was the most vocal, but he made his point.
“We’ve got such a bad right-side tire, compared to what we tested here [in October],” Stewart said. “There isn’t anybody, I don’t think, who is happy with the tires we’ve got. After 10 years in the Cup Series, you learn to be highly disappointed with everything that Goodyear does …
“I hate to say it, but the best thing that Goodyear does is to make that gold trophy at the end of the year [a special award for the Cup champion, which Stewart received in 2002 and 2005]. That is the one thing that they always do right. Everything from that moment on until the end of the year — it’s a crapshoot.”
Finally, the story could have been much different this morning if the last lap hadn’t gone the way it did. Winner Kyle Busch came up on the two embarrassments to Sprint Cup, Dale Jarrett and Michael Waltrip. Waltrip took a lap to move out of the way, and Jarrett just wouldn’t. Busch was very reserved, but on the last lap his patience was used up. He ran up on the brutally slow Jarrett and came within inches of putting the bumper to him.
Most were pointing fingers at Busch to lay off Jarrett, but to me it was clear what Jarrett was doing. Jarrett realized the next time to the finish line would be the most photographed finish in NASCAR history, and he wanted to be in it. If he could hold up Busch long enough, history would be his.
Busch wasn’t having any of it, and he nearly crashed Jarrett to take the win. Jarrett, who was three laps down, should be a little more professional than that.
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