June 27th, 2010 
T.C. I don’t care who you are, if you didn’t think the end of the race at Loudon was good, then you aren’t a race fan. There, I said it.
As a whole, I realize this probably wasn’t the most exciting race of the season, but the last 15 laps were awesome. We saw Jeff Burton make a rare mistake, and two bump-and-runs for the win.
It all started on lap 289. Burton got into turn three too deep, slid up the track, and got into Kyle Busch’s left rear. At the time, the two were racing for third, and both had led laps. Busch ended up 11th, with Burton one spot back in twelfth. Apparently the New Kyle Buschwas driving today, as he was surprisingly calm after the race with his comments. Don’t forget though, these two crossed paths a few weeks ago at Charlotte, in an incident that ended with Burton yelling at Busch on pit road after the race. This burgeoning feud is far from over.
Just a few short laps later, Kurt Busch pulled the classic bump-and-run on Jimmie Johnson to take the race lead. Busch got under Johnson into turn three, and he made just enough contact to send Johnson up the track and scoot by. The elder Busch was able to get away for a few laps, but Johnson ran him back down, and pulled the same maneuver on Busch! Johnson would go on to win his second straight race.
In his post race press conference, Jimmie told reporters that after Busch got into him, he only had one thing in mind: ”wreck his ass.”
We’ve now had two straight weeks where a number of drivers were upset after the race. Last week, the common theme was Jeff Gordon. This week, Clint Bowyer was mad at Juan Pablo Montoya, Montoya was mad at Reed Sorenson, and so on. The drivers have shown that the gloves are off, and anything can and will happen during these races. And if you think these guys are going to forget what has happened over the last two weeks, think again. It might not happen right away, but scores will be settled.
And you know what? There ain’t a damn thing wrong with it.
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…and come “the chase” time ….. lets hope that no one who has been starting ( or is involved with ) these scores claims that they are special just because they are one of the 12. These old scores may not be settled by then, so they may still be active during “the chase” so no whining. This is not to mention the new scores coming up this summer, it is gonna get hotter and payback is a b!#@h …. SO HAVE AT IT BOYS!!!
That’s racin’.
If they are gonna bump and grind and get ignorant with it… make it for the checkers, I say.
I’m not a JJ fan, nor a JJ hater, but that team is really something else.
-W
I LOVED THE BUMP AND RUN KURT USED ON JIMMIE! Well until Jimmie passed him back
I hate Jimmie!!!
EXACTLY!!! All the effin complainers can effin bite me, because THIS is what real NASCAR racing is about for me: long green runs with pit strategy & masterful displays of skillful driving by the best there is. It was all so awesome I’m not even mad about Jimmie winning again, an absolute driving clinic by champions & future champions of the sport on how racing’s done right! THIS is what I wanna see & I thank NASCAR for keeping their nose out of it & letting the drivers decide how the race unfolds. Triple A Plus.
If you primarily watch NASCAR for wreckage, do me a favor and go find some other sport. May I suggest demolition derby.
If Kurt Busch had waited until 2 or 3 laps to go, his “bump & run” move would have won him the race. But JJ had time to recover to get Kurt back and that was that.
What impressed me was how neither KB or JJ lost control of their cars after getting nosed out of the way.
KB and JJ showed the ability to turn a snoozer race into a great finish. And that is why these guys get the big bucks!
Finally some racing like it used to be.
Isn’t it refreshing to see JJ was enough of a pro to realize that KB bumped him, he didn’t crash him. So being the pro that he is, JJ reels in his immediate emotional reaction to retaliate like a child and crash KB, and instead respond in a mature way and just return the favor for the win.
Nobody crashed and JJ/KB actually looked like two of the best drivers in the world (which they are). This is in comparison to Burton/KyB. I take Burton at his word that it wasn’t intentional, but the point is that the crash does not make them look like the best drivers in the world (even though they are). The point is that crashes diminish the sport and non-crash contact improves the sport.
NASCAR take note: THIS IS WHAT WE WANT TO SEE! We don’t want childish tantrums and crashes.
Drivers take note: as JJ/KB showed us, you can definitely “have at it” without crashing the other guy, and this is what closed wheel racing is all about. And if you can’t “have at it” without crashing the other guy then maybe you don’t belong there…
Both bump and runs were masterful. Just great racing, and great too watch. Even my girlfriend- who knows nothing from racing- saw the skill in those moves (especially Busch’s).
When Kurt Busch tried to hit the bump-and-run with six laps to go, I thought to myself, “Too early.”
He didn’t seem to have a strong enough car to drive away from Johnson when he hit the bump. I think he thought it was time to go and that clean air would keep him out front.
But, in the end, Johnson prevailed.
That was an exciting finish.
I have written a formal letter of appreciation to NASCAR about this race, and quoted this blog in it. Thanks for writing it!
Kurt Busch was the big story at the Finnish of this race. He raced the #48 clean. Moving Jimmie out of the way & then Jimmie moving aside Kurt for the win. He showed great car control and patience. I think Kurt’s doing a great job.