And the winner is — Kyle Busch — as it has been for five times this season in the Sprint Cup series and 11 times already in all three series.
With this win (his first road course win in the Sprint Cup series), Busch has now won on every type of track — short tracks, speedways (1 1/2-mile to 2-miles), superspeedways and road courses — and joins the ranks of drivers like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart who have done the same.
Busch is beginning to prove, if he hasn’t already, that he’s “in it to win it.” Whether he actually does is a different question, but he sure is trying and showing — or rather proving — that he can.
Are you tired of hearing about Kyle Busch? I am, but that’s me; maybe you’re different, or a Kyle Busch fan. (Nothing is wrong with that.)
I thought I would change this week’s Pit Report a bit and talk about the “silly season” that is in full force already.
“Silly season” is when drivers, crew chiefs, teams and sponsors make changes — for good or bad. When drivers’ contracts are up at the end of the year or are even near the end of their contracts, they begin “looking” at their options and the rumors start flying. If a sponsor’s contract is up with a race team, the rumors start flying.
The “season” once didn’t get into full force until this time every year or later, but rumors have begun to fly as early as the end of one Cup (or Nationwide) season and continue through the off-season.
The current “silly season” consists of the following rumors for 2008:
•Veteran Mark Martin will no longer split the No. 8 Chevrolet ride with Aric Almirola and will head to Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) to split the No. 5 Chevrolet ride with Nationwide driver Brad Keselowski, who won his first race two races ago for JR Motorsports.
This leaves Casey Mears, the current driver of the No. 5, with no ride, right? Not exactly. He is said to be the driver first in line to drive the fourth car for Richard Childress Racing (RCR) — the No. 33 Chevrolet.
As for Almirola, he’s said to be reaching a full-time deal with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI) to be the only driver of the No. 8.
•Then, there is Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Toyota, looking for a way out of his contract with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and back to Chevrolet. He has been rumored to be the possible driver to the No. 33, also, or the No. 5, as well as partnering up with another team — a Chevrolet team — to become part owner.
The team rumored is Haas CNC Racing and the ownership percentage is 50 percent. This rumor, which started very early in the season, has not died down with each passing week, allowing it to sound more real than fiction.
Other rumors concerning Stewart have been flying around.
•Who would fill Stewart’s Toyota ride? None other than Joey Lagano — the 18-year-old who recently won his first Nationwide race after only three starts. He currently drives for JGR in the Nationwide series and has been the most talked about phenom for the past year before turning 18 last month.
•The newest rumor to pop up is that Reed Sorenson, driver of the No. 41 Dodge, will be out of a ride next year, U.S. Army is leaving DEI, possibly heading to Red Bull Racing or Bill Davis Racing, and DEI will be dropping a team and going to only three cars as opposed to the current four cars.
This move leaves the question open as to who will go. The answer could very well be that the current driver of the No. 1 DEI Chevrolet, Martin Truex Jr., could be on his way out and headed to another team, possibly HMS’s No. 5, RCR’s No. 33 or an, as yet, unknown team. Truex Jr.’s Tuesday announcement was — no decision has been made.
Several other rumors are flying about, but there is not enough time or space for me to try to bring them to earth.
I do know that, just like last year with Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s announcement, this year is sure to ruffle some feathers, confuse more people and introduce whole new topics of discussion among fans.
Don’t miss:
From Loudon
- Sprint Cup qualifying, Friday at 3 p.m. on SPEED
- Camping World RV Sales 200 (Nationwide race), Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ABC
- LENOX Industrial Tools 301 (Sprint Cup race), Sunday at 12:30 p.m. on TNT
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