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closeIs eight enough? Win at Glen begs the question
Kyle Busch locks up top Chase spot, but no one expects him to slow down
JIM UTTER
The Charlotte Observer
Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch celebrates his win in the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen, N.Y., Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008. (AP Photo/Russ Hamilton)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - The only things standing in the way of Kyle Busch's series-leading eighth Sprint Cup Series victory was one of Watkins Glen International’s recently named "drivers of the decade" and 45 minutes to think about racing him.
With eight of 92 laps remaining in Sunday's Centurion Boats at the Glen, Michael McDowell and David Gilliland ignited a violent nine-car wreck in the final turn that required a nearly 45-minute red-flag period to clean up.
Busch, then the race leader, was left to ponder the aftermath, which included holding off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, who was looking to end a yearlong winless streak and was named Friday as one of the Glen's "drivers of the decade" for his success at the track.
Busch and his crew chief, Steve Addington, were more than a little nervous. Quickly after the restart with six laps remaining, Addington's concerns were assuaged.
"My worry was we were on 26-lap tires and running through the debris that was laying there from the wrecks," Addington said. "After he got through Turn 1 like he did I said, 'OK, that's pretty good.' He got going there from Tony.
"You never know what you got going into that first corner after you've been sitting there all that time."
Busch got a sweep of both Cup road course events of 2008 and the victory allowed the 23-year-old driver to clinch the No. 1 seed once the field is set for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He will also start his run to his first Cup championship with at least a 50-point advantage heading into the final 10 races.
Busch's patience was tested, having to wait while track safety crews worked to remove wrecked cars and clean up debris before the final six laps.
"I was a little nervous having Tony behind us and sitting there for so long," Busch said. "I wondered if we were going to have a flat spot on the tires. I wondered what we were going to do, how we were going to get good on the restart, when I was going to turn the brake fans on and what would I do if I get down in Turn 1 and somebody gets alongside you.
"There are just so many thoughts that go through your mind, things you can try to visualize in your mind and think about if they do happen. Fortunately, it turned out to be the easy way - we got a good restart, pulled away and went from there."
In other words, Busch made it look easy. That's a phrase that has been repeated with far more frequency in the NASCAR garage area as this season as worn on.
Stewart, who finished second for the second consecutive race, said he could never get close enough to Busch to even attempt a meaningful pass for the lead in the final six laps.
"I could never get the runs in the right spots. That was the key. We were a little bit off on (Turn) 5 and off of (Turn) 7," Stewart said. "There were corners we were better than him - just not in the right spots."
Marcos Ambrose, making just his third Cup start, finished third, Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth - his second-best finish of the season - and Martin Truex Jr. was fifth, also his second-best result in 2008.
For a good portion of the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. appeared to have a car capable of providing him his first road course win in the Cup series. He grabbed the lead on the second lap from Busch, who started on the pole as a result of the qualifying rainout on Friday.
Earnhardt Jr. led 28 of the first 29 laps and was on course to work the same pit strategy as the other top cars, but right before crew chief Tony Eury Jr. planned to bring Earnhardt Jr. to pit road for his final green-flag stop, a caution was displayed.
That badly timed yellow flag left Earnhardt Jr. the only lead-lap car that needed to pit and on the restart on Lap 67 he dropped back to 31st while Busch remained firmly in the lead.
"What are we going to do to get a good finish? Strategy got messed up there at the end," Earnhardt Jr. said. "We should have done something different, but I don’t know."