April 13th, 2010 
Journo 2010 hasn’t been smooth sailing for the Joe Gibbs Racing teams of Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin this weekend showed his recovery from ACL surgery is going to be tough if even just for his own stubbornness; and for the second week in a row Busch was denied a win because of a bad late race pit call.
After the race at Phoenix Kyle Busch was fuming mad. His anger at his situation kept him from doing any post-race interviews, and it was probably all for the best. Fox attempted to interview him, but he brushed them off in what, according to a producer, was TMZ-esque video. They elected not to show it. Had it not been for a late race pit call by Dave Rogers though the TV cameras may very well have been interviewing Kyle Busch in victory lane.
I’m not one to be a Monday morning crew chief (and I know it’s all to easy to do), but what a call? Dave Rogers brought Kyle Busch in for a four tire stop with what everyone knew would be a G-W-C finish. He admitted later he knew the #39 and #24 were taking two tires. And while he couldn’t have foreseen getting bottled up on pit road, he should have known two laps wasn’t going to be enough for four tires to matter. The track position, especially at a place like Phoenix, is what was important and with his call he ensured they lost theirs.
To make matters worse this is the second week in a row a pit call by Rogers has cost them the chance at a win. In Martinsville, Rogers elected to bring Busch in behind teammate Denny Hamlin with just six to go. Where Mike Ford was in a tough spot with Denny Hamlin, Dave Rogers was not with Kyle Busch. It was apparent by the time Kyle made the move to pit road that no one of significance was following them in. Ironically it was this pit call that ultimately put Kyle in a position to get wrecked and allowed Denny the chance to win – the first Gibbs Cup win of the season.
I wrote a few weeks ago asking if Kyle had any regrets letting Steve Addington go. The past two weeks have proved to me that my question was justified. Rogers is certainly putting the team in position to win, as is Kyle, but he’s snatching the opportunities back with bad calls. Kyle may not have ended up winning either of these past two weeks but he never had a chance to prove otherwise because of the pit calls.
With the way he has run you’ve got to wonder how long it will be before Dave Rogers gets sent down the river. We’re reaching a point where Kyle is going to be less trusting of Rogers’ pit calls and that’s a problem. We saw how quick they were to get rid of Steve Addington last season and he had four wins and led them to a 13th place finish in the points. All I have to say to Dave Rogers is, good luck.
I also had to question the call this weekend to let Denny Hamlin stay in the car the whole race. It was almost frustrating to watch him run like he did when he had a backup driver itching to get in the car. He had to be in pain and there was no reason for him to finish what was a long race. I can’t imagine driving 378 miles a week after major surgery on my knee.
It was almost like Hamlin felt he needed to prove something to somebody. I know it sucks to get out of the car, but if you’re in pain and running poorly why risk aggravating the injury? If I’m JD Gibbs I would have told him to bring the car in. There were plenty of opportunities for them to come in and make a switch without losing much ground. They just never took it.
The silly thing is the move could have helped them in their championship bid. Instead they finished the day in 30th, two laps down. He was outrun by underfunded Bobby Labonte and Scott Riggs and just barely outran the underfunded and underpowered Front Row cars. We’ll see if he thinks better of it next week.
I know we’re still early in the season and generally speaking Kyle Busch and Dave Rogers’ relationship is still young, but some of the things that have happened this season have me scratching my head. They’re both great teams and they’re more than capable of winning every week, but doing stuff like they’ve been doing is not going to help them down the stretch.
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Speaking of underfunded cars ….. and I may have missed reading about it on this site …. unless I am mistaken, this last weekend was the closest I have heard the announcers come to actually using the term “Stop and Park”.
They referred to the new(?) rule about the first car to park, when not wrecked etc is going to be impounded to the testing garage, or something like that. They never actually said “Stop and Park”, but they came close.
Journo, do you and TC ever rewatch the race to see what the home viewer sees / hears? or do you just move on to next week?
also I wonder if you guys ever play any of the fantasy racing games out there?
I think you’re way wrong on this one. There is no “right decision” in that situation. Stay out, two tires, or four tires all could have been the “right call”. It’s totally a matter of luck.
Garry: I go back and rewatch the race every once in a while. If it was a particularly good finish, or I know something big happened during the race that I didn’t see, I will go at least seek out some clips to see what happened. I know Journo usually has a better grasp on what happens during the TV broadcasts then I do. And no, I don’t play any of the fantasy racing games.
I think calling the Martinsville decision by Busch’s team a “bad move” is hindsight. Denny Hamlin was able to use the new tires to his advantage, maybe Busch could have too (if he didn’t crash).
Phoenix was clearly a dumb move.
In these situations there really is no right call, you just have to have lady luck on your side. If there would have been another GWC JJ, KB, and some of the other 4 tire takers would have been more up front at the end. I think it was JJ that said if they would have gone one more GWC they would have been sitting in 1st place.
I seem to remember years ago that NASCAR use to penalize drivers if they refused to give interviews after the race. Is that still true?
Ric: I’m sure NASCAR wouldn’t be happy about it, but I’m not aware of an actual penalty for refusing an interview.
I think NASCAR’s rule just deals with the top 3 finishers–they have to go to the media center after the race and may get a penalty if they don’t. Since Kyle ended up finishing farther back than that, he wasn’t under such an obligation.
Only the top three finishers are required to meet with the media. From 4th on it’s optional.
Please don’t think of blaming Kyle for the lack of an interview. I would have been smokin’ mad for a long time after a boneheaded call like he got. Fox can’t even do a good interview to a race winner most of the time, so leave it at that. And Kyle, if you happen to be looking for a new crew chief, let me know.
Thanks Kevin and Loren for the responses. I should have just asked Journo instead of opening my big mouth…
I agree that the pit calls cost them. I still think the call at Martinsville was the right one (or at least -could- have been the right one, if Menard didn’t take him out). As for Phoenix, I’m still ambivalent. The modus operandi this season seems to be to take four tires during late cautions to insure against multiple GWC. I don’t have data that shows how often multiple GWC happen since the double-file restart was introduced, but I’m guessing it’s probably happening more often than before. I believe this (and the fact that they knew the 48 was taking four) influenced Rogers’ decision. That sort of answers the question as to why they took four with a guaranteed GWC coming. Either way it was a gamble. Most folks are arguing between taking four and two tires but what if the 18 had just stayed out?
I wouldn’t say the #18 was a “bad” call. Just turned out to be the incorrect call after all was said and done. JJ took 4 and dropped from 2nd to 7th. But JJ also had the good fortune to line up on the inside, unlike KB on the outside, and passed 3 cars even before the exit of turn 2 on the restart. If the inside line had of stalled out and a GWC occurred, Rogers coulda been a hero. Although, I will say if anyone can hold off the field on only 2 new tires, KB would be the one.
#48 “had to” commit to 2 or 4 regardless of others because he was pitted close to pit entry. #18 was pitted all the way down towards pit exit and had the opportunity to make a reactionary call. I am a bit surprised that more teams don’t use the spotter to make the call based on what he can observe has just occurred upstream w/ others.
Hey at least KB didn’t leave his car stranded in turn 3 after the checker.
I’m thinking, next time 3 tires might be the way to go!
Listen, with Kyle Busch, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. Kyle is a time bomb waiting to explode as soon as something doesn’t go his way. I wouldn’t want to be his crew chief for all the money in the world. I’m sure Steve Addiington is glad to be away from Kyle Busch. Everyone deals with adversity, and I think it’s time for Kyle Busch to grow up and act like a man instead of storming off like a brat after every race he doesn’t win. Did Rogers make a bad call? Sure? Kyle Busch makes a lot of mistakes, too!
No matter what the reason, Kyle Busch and his team are not winning races. That makes me VERY HAPPY!!! I can’t stand the little worm.
Now, if only we could get the 48 team struggling………….
Wasn’t Kyle the jerk that said with Jr “it’s always the CC’? LOL Every driver has suffered disappointment. Until Kyle learns how to be a man, he will be known as the Offical Baby of Nascar. Let’s hope it isn’t an eternal official name.
Kyle thanked Dave for the great car on the radio. Complained about always being about a show not a race. I did not hear any complaints about the pit call (same pit call made by the 48). He did tell DR not to ever pick that pit stall again, but that was the worst complaint I heard directed to the CC. He also tweeted about how great the car was after the race.
Do you have insider info on this one – or just summation? Curious to know if this is a product of Kyle’s “reputation” or if there’s really a story here.
Thanks.
Good article and agree with you on all points.
I am a huge Kyle Busch fan and absolutely have been sick over the past two weeks with the calls that have been made by Dave Rogers. There was no catching up on the final few laps. Passing had been difficult all night at Phoenix. Great effort by Kyle the last two weeks and only giving up a lot of positions in the end with poor pit call decisions.
The bad luck has hurt enough all season long without screw ups in the pit!
I think JGR made a mistake removing Addington, and Dave Rogers’ call looks bad in hindsight, but really, double-file restarts at Phoenix have a fairly high likelihood of resulting in chaos, so it wasn’t unreasonable to bet on multiple GWCs. He just lost the bet this time.