Full Throttle

… to almost screw up not just a win, but a drivers first ever NASCAR level win. According to this SI article when Casey Mears announced he was leaving for greener pastures Ganassi had to be talked out of pulling the plug on Casey by crew chief Brad Parrott.

“I told Chip that he’s our driver,” Parrott said and has every confidence Mears can score a double this weekend. “He’s a winner in the NASCAR series, and he can do it again tomorrow.”

At least someone in the Ganassi garage has some common sense. Wonder if Felix Sabates has any second thoughts about merging with Ganassi?

As for the race itself it was a reprise, almost, of the May race at LMS. In May it was a late race duel between Cup regulars Mears and Carl Edwards. Mears came up short on fuel handing the win to Edwards.

Saturday night the tank held just enough to hold off Edwards and take the checker before running out on the way to Victory Lane.

Jeff Burton finished third as Buschwhackers swept the top 10. The first Busch regular was Johnny Sauter who finished 17^th.

Series points leader Kevin Harvick finished fourth. Harvick leads Edwards in the standings by 323 points.

Sauter’s finish had the tongues wagging about the Buschwhackers… again (or is it still?).

[Jeff] Burton suggested after the race that NASCAR should make the technical specifications of Busch Series cars “radically different” than Cup cars, creating less incentive for Cup teams to use Busch races as extended research and development sessions.

Still, Burton said having Cup drivers in these races gives Busch drivers a chance to prove themselves and attracts more fans to watch the races.

“You can choose to embrace it, or fight it,” Burton said.

“Radically different?” Jeff must mean like this, or this in a coupe version.

If NASCAR had an epiphany they could mandate the Busch race cars be derived from street versions that are produced with rear wheel drive only. Never happen of course because Toyota doesn’t produce any rear wheel drive vehicles for U.S. consumption.

A rear wheel drive edict would have other advantages. High horsepower, rear wheel drive and clouds of tire smoke. What does that sound like?

Sounds like Formula D to me. The current practice of NASCAR winners eschewing the traditional victory lap for smoking, spinning burning outs can be traced to both Formula D and the NOPI crowd. And don’t think the Mopar crowd hasn’t noticed, they have in a big way via a drifting Charger.

Many inside and outside of NASCAR think Busch needs an “identity” of its own. Couple it with the new Pony Cars coming online in a few years and hold joint racing weekends with either of, or both, the NOPI and Formula D events and not only a new place will be carved out, but NASCAR might gain a few more younger fans after they burn through a few sets of tires the evening before a Busch Series race.

And yes, before you ask. I loooove thinking out of the box. And rumors, can’t forget spreading a good rumor or two!

NASCAR, Busch Series, NOPI, Formula D, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle