Full Throttle

Kyle Busch tried to win at Bristol Saturday evening, in fact he dominated the race leading over 400 laps, but a little thing called a graphite bumper from Carl Edwards got between him and the checkered flag.

Not an entirely bad thing when looking at the overall scheme of things. In fact it might even be a good idea for someone to pull an old short track promoters scam out of their bag of tricks.

Put a bounty on his head.

There’s no need to wipe out a race, just bang him around enough, and late enough in the next two events to prevent a win. And don’t think that wasn’t Edwards secondary thought behind winning when he tapped Busch on lap 470 even if it was sans any bounty. That little exhibition of bumper tag created a 20 point swing in Chase bonus points. No small thing at this late date.

Better to be 30 points out than 50 if every thing remains the same between now and Loudon.

Oh, and that rivalry thing everyone was drumming up the last couple weeks between Busch and Edwards, think nothing of it. Just because Edwards had won 2 of the last seven events and Busch 3, think nothing of it, they both say so.

And don’t think nothing of that “love tap” Busch gave Edwards during the cool down lap either, nor the reciprocal tap Edwards gave Busch.

Cousin Carl claims the steering wheel slipped out of his grip, that’s his story, and probably sticking to it!

Jack in the Hat said a couple weeks ago Edwards was ready to win a title, this Edwards quote plays into that remark very well: “I just kind of ran into him. That’s what happened … I have a lot of respect for the guy, and he was real fast, but we can’t give up points when they’re right there for us to take.”

OTHER NOTES: Wonder what story Dale Jr. is sticking to after getting nabbed at race start for jumping the green.

Has anyone sitting third in points at this stage ever seen so many things go wrong? Jumping the green was just plain dumb, but with all the pit calls gone wrong so far it’s like the team has a snake under the seat that jumps out and bites at the most inopportune time.

But amazingly he sits a comfortable third, but you get the feeling come Chase time that snake will still be there.