Kyle Busch won the latest Nationwide race while driving a Toyota racing car that featured a NASCAR mandated 15% horsepower reducing restrictor plate so the other racing teams would have a more fair chance...

What if another one of the Toyotas wins a Nationwide race?

Will it be crying time again?

What will NASCAR come up with next?

The top ten things NASCAR may now consider to give the domestic car race teams a better chance against Toyota.

10. Teams that drive Toyota cars will now have to start every race from the 30th position in the field or lower, regardless of their qualifying times.

9. All Toyota race cars will be forced to use a smaller fuel tank than the domestic race cars so they will have to pit more often.

8. All Toyota race cars shall adhere to a 50% speed reduction compared to the domestic race cars while driving on pit road (if its 50 MPH, Toyotas have to go 25).

7. All Toyota race teams will only be allowed two people on their pit crews that service the cars during a race.

6. All Toyota race teams will only be allowed one set of four tires per race.

5. All Toyota race cars will not be allowed to use any air flow spoiler devices on their vehicles.

4. All Toyota race cars must stay at least three (3) feet away from any other car during the race or be disqualified.

3. If a Toyota race car wins a race, it will only earn half as many Nationwide Cup points as would normally be awarded.

2. All Toyota race cars must be turned over to NASCAR at the end of every race for inspection. The cars shall become the property of NASCAR at that point and will not be returned.

And the number one consideration NASCAR may be mulling over to give the other racing teams a "fair" chance against Toyota race cars...

Joe Gibbs Racing, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin are all banned from the NASCAR Nationwide Racing Series unless they switch to a domestic car manufacturer's vehicles.

Those are some pretty crazy things to consider aren't they? Well they're not any crazier than what NASCAR just pulled with their 15% horsepower reducing restrictor plate on all Toyota engines. An engine that was supposedly NASCAR approved in the first place.

The domestic auto manufacturers and the teams that race those cars didn't or couldn't cough up the funding to make the same engine modifications that Toyota was willing to make, so NASCAR has forced Toyota back to the pack instead of expecting the pack to play catch up...

Yep, that's the American way anymore. If you can't beat them, then complain to a higher authority. It's not your fault, it's theirs... Makes me want to get right out there and wave the flag! Thanks NASCAR...

The LifeLock 400 at Chicagoland was won by Kyle Busch, thus proving once and for all that NASCAR has allowed Toyota an extremely unfair advantage… By allowing Kyle to drive a Toyota. 

All this talk about the unfair advantage Toyota has been given by NASCAR just went out the window. The only advantage Toyota has is Kyle Busch driving for one of their teams.

In what turned into a showdown between Hendrick Motorsports’ latest Cup Champion, Jimmie Johnson, and Kyle Busch, their former driver who was unceremoniously cut loose last year over Casey Mears (who they’ve set free at the end of this season) to make room for NASCAR’s hottest commodity, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With 20 laps to go, and coming off a rare caution during this race that may have set the record for the highest average Cup race speed at Chicagoland, Rick Hendrick’s hope for a happy birthday, seeing Jimmie Johnson in Hendrick’s 48 Chevy wind up in Victory lane was about to come true. Jimmie had just driven around Kyle Busch who had at the time led for 164 of the 247 laps run. Johnson pulled away and it appeared Busch might also be in trouble as Kevin Harvick looked to be making a run to take over second. Then as the race wound down, the one thing the Hendrick faithful didn’t want to see happened as David Gilliland’s number 38 Ford blew its engine and out came a late caution. This brought Johnson back to the pack for a single file two lap run to the finish.

So it all boiled down to a showdown. Johnson seemed to be in control as the 48 was obviously the stronger car. All he would have to do is run his best line and in two laps it would be over. Let’s face it, Kyle Busch would be satisfied with a second place finish wouldn’t he? The only remaining question concerned whether Busch had enough to hold off another strong Chevrolet that was running right on his bumper as the pack approached what would turn out to be a green/white/checkered end to the LifeLock 400. Apparently all would be right with the world according to Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. Rick Hendrick had to be eyeing a big birthday cake with VICTORY! scribbled  across it. That cake would be fantastic! He must have been all set to hug a soaking wet Jimmie Johnson. It would be about time that darned Kyle Busch would get his! The script was written.

Jimmie decided to play it slow on the restart, trying to surprise Kyle and get a good jump. Kyle would have none of this. He hadn’t read the script! All he knew was he had been presented with yet another chance to rub Hendrick’s nose in it. Kyle put the hammer down and nosed his M&M’s Toyota right into the rear end of the Lowes Chevy. Johnson floor boarded his ride in response and together the two lead cars jumped away from Harvick. Kyle did the only thing he could do, as Johnson stayed near the white line on the inside. Kyle jumped out and ran to the high line, a place that he had shunned the whole race. He kept his pedal firmly planted to the metal and held on hoping against hope that the car would stick.

Johnson, who had run magnificently on that very same high line most of the evening was stuck down low and low wouldn’t be good for Lowes… Kyle dove down off the high line and began running side by side with Jimmie. As they negotiated a turn the two cars just touched and the Chevy bobbled. Johnson was forced to ever so slightly get off the gas. It was all Kyle needed. He took the lead and made it count over the course of the final lap.

Please allow me a little leniency here…

For somewhere birds are singing, and somewhere the stars shine bright, but there is no joy in Hendrickville, mighty Johnson lost the showdown last night!

Anyone who didn’t enjoy the final few laps of this race just can’t be much of a NASCAR fan, even if you wanted Johnson/Hendrick to win. Yes, there was luck involved, there always is, but anyone who passes off Kyle Busch as just having an unfair advantage didn’t see the race I saw.

This guy is in the driving zone and it’s a zone few drivers have been in for quite some time. He is breathing some pretty rarefied air as he now has 7 wins in 19 cup starts this season tying Darrell Waltrip for second behind the great Dale Earnhardt who accomplished 8 wins in 19 starts one season. Incidently, both Earnhardt and Waltrip won the Cup in the seasons they had this type of success. Face it folks, the kid’s good!

* * * * *

Kyle Busch runs down a two time Cup champion and sweeps Chicagoland, 2008!

Kyle celebrates at Chicagoland!

Is it any wonder why this man is smiling?

The Cup race in Loudon New Hampshire was being run in an opening between the thunderstorms that had plagued the New England area over this final weekend in June. As the race progressed a wary eye was being kept on a weather front as it approached the race track from the west. The TNT race commentators were discussing the chances of rain as the race wound down to the final few laps. Kyle Petty jokingly refered to it as approaching humidity as he hoped out loud that the race would be completed.

Just as the race had run relatively caution free and it was beginning to become apparent that the lead cars were going to be forced to pit for fuel as the final 30 laps neared, the weather front could be seen not far from the track and it was readily apparent from the televised view that these weren't just clouds, it would be raining shortly. Finally the teams leading the race were faced with making a call. Then the hoped for caution occurred as Dale Earnhardt Jr. was evidently down on the apron to be the first into the pit and here came Jamie McMurray running on the apron and paying more attention to who he was running with than to anyone that might be in front of him. He plowed into Junior, David Ragan got spun as a result and debris went everywhere. Now, with the yellow out, the question became do you make a mad dash into the pits for fuel, or play the odds that you might be able to make it without additional fuel. If a caution or two came out before the checkered flag flew, it could mean all the difference. These are the normal strategy questions these people should have been mulling before pit lane was opened. But what about the nearing storm front? The TNT commentators were saying that the radio traffic between the pit bosses and the drivers was not only about such things as fuel and handling, but also of the possiblitiy of rain. What would be the right call?

Here's a look at the radar weather picture taken just before the rain started falling that would discontinue the LENOX Industrial Tools 301...

The white dot is where the Loudon Speedway is located. Notice the yellow and red areas of intense storm activity and remember the storms were moving west to east. You can't tell me the crew chiefs in this race didn't have access to information such as this...

Pit lane opened and here came all of the leaders with only a handful of cars staying out on the track. The Hendricks cars that had run strong at or near the front most of the day all came in for a quick gas n' go, as did most of those pitting. The race leader, Tony Stewart, made a right sides only tire change along with fuel. Between the eight cars that didn't pit and the gas n' go cars, Stewart found himself clear back in fourteenth place when the cars lined up for the restart. This would be a two row restart making Stewart as good as buried in the middle of the pack after having made a great run racking up over 130 laps as the race leader. The decision these folks made to pit for fuel is one thing, but why the tire change too?

By the time the restart took place, the Miller Lite number 2 Dodge driven by Kurt Busch was in first place on a wish and a prayer that there would be more cautions or that the skies would open up before the cars that had run up front all day could catch him as they gambled on their fuel situation.

The race no sooner restarted with Kurt having to deal with lapped cars than another wreck occurred bringing out yet another caution at the end of this race. Then Kurt's brother Kyle, who had been running in the middle of the pack all day, got intentionally spun by Juan Pablo Montoya while the race was under caution... Each driver blamed the other for the incident and thank goodness no one else became collateral damage. There will be more on this I'm sure.

Then the rains came... It wasn't long before NASCAR stopped the race, handing Kurt Busch his first Cup win of the 2008 season.

The winner Kurt Busch being interviewed after the LENOX 301 was discontinued...

Two races ago Dale Earnhardt Jr. pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat by continuing his run while his fuel gauge screamed for more fuel, now the Miller Lite Number 2 Dodge team is able to also grab the golden ring under similar circumstances, only the rain made it an elementary decision in my opinion... Rolling the dice.

Congratulations to whoever made the call to stay on the track among the Kurt Busch crew... Maybe Klvalus can find out... This Miller's for you!

Thanks to http://www.actionsportsinc.com/thu.aspx?maxdet=
300&imgdet=300&dir=display/ImageSe####mp;img=
18611.jpg for the picture of the Miller Lite Number 2 Dodge...