If Kyle Busch wants to make the NASCAR 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup he needs a great finish at Richmond International Raceway . (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Some Thursday observations:
Whenever there’s an issue that doesn’t seem to make sense, it’s always a good idea to check the facts, specifically the statistics involved.
For those wondering how a four-time Sprint Cup winner this season could be on the outside looking in a the circuit heads to the final regular season race at Richmond on Saturday, a quick look at the stat sheet says it all.
After 25 races, Kyle Busch is tied with Mark Martin for most Sprint Cup wins with four, but there are 37 points standing between Busch, in 14th place, from a berth among the top 12 who will participate in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
The main reason Busch is not a lock for a Chase berth is that his win total doesn’t tell the full story about his overall performance. When Busch is not winning, he’s just so-so or worse. Other than his wins, he’s had just two other top-five finishes and four more top-10s.
His average finish is 16.7, and he’s had 10 finishes of 20th or worse.
Busch said as much on this week’s teleconference.
“It’s not going to be Richmond that keeps us out; it’s going to be the rest of the year that we’ve had our struggles that’s going to be what kept us from being in the Chase,” he said.
But it may be too soon to write him off. He won at Richmond earlier this year.
* Kevin Harvick’s dominating win in last week’s Nationwide Series race at Atlanta was bound to happen sooner or later. Drivers and car owners can only stand defeat so long before they do whatever it takes to get back to Victory Lane.
Joe Gibbs Racing has been dominating NASCAR’s No. 2 circuit, but racers don’t like being outrun on a regular basis, especially one like Harvick who is also the car owner.
Harvick said after his win that it had cost him plenty to catch the Gibbs Toyotas. His crew cut the body off his Chevy, replacing it with a better one, and countless hours were spent in the search for the little things that add up to a lot of speed.
It was evident. He was the class of the field, leading 131 of 195 laps and overcoming Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s gas mileage gamble by making a pit stop then running him down and passing him with two laps to go.
