The stars at night are big and bright...

The stars at night are big and bright...
The stars at night are big and bright...

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Bow chicka wow wow!

NASCAR returned with a vengeance Saturday night with the Bud Shootout. I love money races. They put it all on the line in a dash for the cash. "Checkers or Wreckers". Tonight was no exception.

While the drivers struggled with a new unstable setup on the cars, fans were treated to some exciting racing. Pack racing returned just like NASCAR wanted, but it didn't take long to find out just how unstable their new rules package was.

A slight tap to the left rear is all it takes to put somebody in the wall. Paul Menard was the first to find this out via David Ragan.

It was a lesson learned by Jeff Gordon. We'll get back to that...

The story of the night was the Kyle Busch Show. He put on the most unbelievable demonstration of driving ability I've ever seen. Not once, not twice, but 3 times he was sideways at over 195 mph and got the car back under control. He's a brat, he's arrogant, he's an attention hound. But the kid can drive a race car like nobody's business.

Love him or hate him, you have to respect Kyle Busch on the track, as Jeff Gordon would soon learn the hard way.

With 2 laps remaining Gordon tried to punt Kyle out of the way by hitting him hard in the left rear going into Turn 3. Kyle got sideways like Gordon wanted, but as El Punto Gordo tried to go around the sliding Busch he became tangled with the pack and triggered a huge wreck that would take him and most of the remaining contenders out of the race. Gordon slid sideways on the driver's side for over 1000 ft before tumbling to a stop upside down.
Karma, ain't it a Bitch? 

Kyle? He somehow, once again, got his car under control and escaped the wreck without any major damage. One of only 3 remaining cars that had not been damaged in the race.

It was down to a Green/White/Checker finish with Kyle Busch pushing Tony Stewart as they exited Turn 4 on the final lap. With less than 100 feet to go, Busch pulled out from behind Stewart with the legendary slingshot move and beat the defending Sprint Cup Champion to the finish line by 1/100th of a second.

What. A. Race.

Like I said... All he does is WIN!

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