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July 22, 2007
Busch Young Guns had their chance to shine
In a stand alone event at Gateway, the Busch Series Young Guns had their chance to shine without a ton of Buschwhackers in the field. This was their chance to show everyone that they had what it takes and that they will eventually be good enough for the next level, once they learn a little patience.
The first 100 laps only saw two cautions and one of them was for debris, but after that there were seven more cautions, most, not all, being caused by impatient drivers. A lot of them found themselves out of the race or down quite a few laps, only two Busch Series youngsters actually finished on the lead lap, Tim McCreadie and Chase Miller.
The youngest soon to be star made himself an enemy in veteran Mike Bliss. Asked about the incident he said he was hit by someone who looked "about 10". Landon Cassill is young, but not that young, he turned 18 a few weeks ago and this was his first Busch Series race for Hendrick Motorsports. He's young, so he still has time to learn some patience on the track, heck there are non-Rookies that have a hard time with patience too. He'll either learn or make a lot of enemies along his way up, the choice will be his to make, hopefully he makes the right one.
Reed Sorenson won the race over Scott Wimmer, ending his drought in the Busch Series, now all he needs is a win in the Cup series. Edwards, although having a bit of trouble, battled back to finish 6th.
We need to see more of these races with mostly just the young guns of the Busch Series in them. I know NASCAR won't stop the Cup regulars from racing in the series, so it's a nice change when we don't see a lot of them in the race.
July 22, 2007 in NASCAR Busch Series | Permalink
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Comments
Indy is a nice track to visit but not a good place to watch a race. I have been there for the Brickyard and the F1 race. That big grandstand in the infield ruins the place. The F1 race is even worse.
Posted by: jeff | Jul 24, 2007 10:32:12 PM
I do the Indy weekend - the Trucks and Busch at ORI on Friday and Saturday (awesome short track) - then Sunday we swing over to Indy (WORSE track ever to watch a race live) for the Cup race. We love seeing Cup guys in the Truck and Busch races. Usually, Tony, Kasey, and a few of the other dirt veterans show up and run the sprint cars races on Thursday(at ORI). From a fans point of view - the more cup guys -the more entertaining.
Posted by: kitty | Jul 23, 2007 10:16:51 PM
How much more f**kin money does the France family need?
Jeez, for once I'd like to see some ultra-rich bastards do something "right", instead of "good investment".
Who's going to sponsor the Busch Series next year? No answer. Because there's no money in it. We only watched this weekend because there wasn't a Cup race.
No other reason to watch, with all the Bucshwhackers.
Posted by: JWSmoke | Jul 23, 2007 9:17:19 PM
I'm tired of seeing NEXTEL-wackers myself. Guys like Reed, David Stremme, JJ Yeley etc.who belong back in the the Busch series until they get some more experience.
Posted by: jeff | Jul 23, 2007 7:21:55 PM
The Buschwhacker nonsense is getting old. They need to play against the best, fairly. NASCAR, of course, has to find a way to make money and make that happen. Lot's of complaining but I still see the biggest Busch crowds, ever, compared to yesteryear. People vote with their wallets and viewing. When people don't show up and TV suffers, then NASCAR will listen.
Posted by: Keith | Jul 23, 2007 5:20:30 PM
Landon Cassill is one of the best young talented drivers I have seen since Matt Kenseth in the Midwest. This kid, no, this young man has heart, determination,and morals. He is also one heck of a good racer. I have seen him compete against the best racers in the midwest and all over the country when he was just a teenager and he wiped the board most of the time. This young man is talented. He has what it takes in NASCAR.
Darren
Minnesota
Posted by: Darren Groff | Jul 23, 2007 2:39:18 PM
Nice to watch a Busch race with out all of
the Cup drivers. These young drivers need
the experience if they are ever going to
become a cup driver. NASCAR needs to limit
the number of cup drivers in a Busch race
but then again, NASCAR is money hungry. They
think, if the cup drivers are in the Busch,
they will sell more tickets and this is more
MONEY.
Posted by: Race Fan | Jul 23, 2007 2:22:23 PM
Stricklinfan82 - One way to prevent field fillers is to get 43, decent-funded teams competing on a regular basis. Yes, the Cup guys do take up a lot of spots, but they also help ensure there is something to watch. If there weren't Cup guys, the Busch Series would be lucky to get an entry-level TV deal.
Posted by: Chad | Jul 23, 2007 11:50:38 AM
The other thing that needs to go in the Busch Series are the field fillers. I wish NASCAR would find a solution to the teams that show up every week to run 10 or 20 laps and park the car and get a nice paycheck. Joe Nemechek entered Jeff Fuller in his #88 car in every Busch race a few years ago and never let him run more than a handful of laps in any race. While it hasn't been taken to that extreme this year we've been seeing a lot of "questionable" teams showing up on weekends when there's been short fields. Any time I see Brad Teague, Morgan Shepherd, or Mike Potter entered in a Busch race I just cringe. NASCAR should have a rule where you have to prove something is wrong with your car when you retire from a race.
I don't blame those field fillers for what they're doing. If I had the assets to throw together a Busch-legal car and was guaranteed $10,000 to show up to a race with a short field I would do it too, but I think that cheapens the sport. I'd rather see the purse money get split among the 35 or so legitimate teams that enter the race with the intention of competing.
Posted by: stricklinfan82 | Jul 23, 2007 11:34:23 AM
The general manager at Gateway said last week that the field in Saturday's Gateway 250 was the best ever at GIR.
Huh?
In 2006, we had Sorenson, Ky. Busch, Harvick, Hamlin and Edwards.
Yes it was a "true" Busch Series race, but it was severely watered down compared to last year.
Posted by: Chad | Jul 23, 2007 8:31:38 AM
It's nice that these newbies get a shot without the Cup drivers, but the fact of the matter is the Cup drivers are the ones that put (as an old promoter friend of mine once said) "Asses on the boards." Once again class repeat after me, it's all about money and always will be.
Posted by: Rich | Jul 23, 2007 7:18:06 AM
I would like to see Roush put one of his up and coming driver in #60 car and give them a shot at proving that they can drive, it should be obvious by now that the #60 car in the Busch Series has proven over the long term to be one of the best cars in the field. It is the same car that Mark Martin won so many of his Busch Series races and now Edwards is just carrying on the same winning tradition in the #60. The only difference is car Edwards doesn't really car what he has to do to get to the front, whether he has to push people out of his or put the car where it doesn't belong just to get to the front. Mark definitely didn't drive like that when he was in the #60 and he still won races.
Posted by: Jon | Jul 23, 2007 6:18:32 AM
These NBS races with cup guys i just cant get into and i wish nascar would find a solution to the Bwackers.
Posted by: aggie | Jul 23, 2007 1:54:45 AM
stricklinfan,
I have to disagree a little bit with the Hendrick situation; I don't see Gordo hanging around too much longer, especially with just having a kid. What else is there that he can accomplish? He's not going to win 7 championships. In fact, I predict that even though he's had a great start, he won't win it this year. As for Unibrow, he will probably get his panties in a wad over the attention Junior will get, and he'll take his toys and go play with someone else's team. Give it a couple of years and watch.
Yes, it was refreshing as hell to see a Busch race without all of the Cup guys stealing the show. As much as I root for Junior, I hate it when he's running in a Busch race now.
Posted by: Ironman | Jul 23, 2007 12:19:28 AM
It was also good to see Kevin Hamlin get a 7th place finish despite being blatantly taken out by Carl Edwards earlier in the race. It looks like Chip Ganassi made a great call when he swapped the #41 and #42 teams around. Hamlin and the #42 car both looked the best they have all year on an oval and Reed Sorenson finally showed some sign of life in the Busch Series for the first time all year, returning to the dominant form he showed in his rookie year in 2005 when he earned himself a Nextel Cup ride.
Posted by: stricklinfan82 | Jul 22, 2007 11:50:10 PM
Landon Cassil stepped up and did exactly what the Cup owners want their young drivers to do - get in the car and run up front right away. He ran in the top 10 all night before being involved in the incidents with Mike Bliss and Travis Kittleson.
Just based on one race it looks like this kid as a lot of talent. The question that's left to be answered is whether this kid is another Kyle Busch (a young kid that can drive fast but gets himself in trouble every week) or if those incidents where just rookie mistakes and not a sign of things to come as he matures as a driver. I tend to believe the latter because it looked like he meant well by trying to give-and-take most of the night.
The other thing I wonder about is whether the Cup teams are going to stop their Driver Development Programs now that there is a 4-car limit in place in Nextel Cup. Roush has given up on the "Gong Show" and Hendrick seemed to have given up on his driver development program until Landon Cassil popped up out of seemingly nowhere. If Cassil starts running great in the next year or two what can Hendrick do with him? I don't see Gordon, Johnson, or Earnhardt Jr. going anywhere in the next decade and Casey Mears seems on the way to being the next big superstar so will Hendrick just end up having to let Cassil go to another team when and if he's ready to race in Cup like Gibbs had to let Aric Almirola go to Ginn Racing because he didn't have an equivalent Cup ride available for him?
Posted by: stricklinfan82 | Jul 22, 2007 11:39:32 PM
Barb,
You are right, this race showed that we don't need a field full of Cup drivers to make it an interesting race.
Posted by: Jon | Jul 22, 2007 11:34:32 PM
I agree with you about Cassill, Jon. Mike Bliss probably won't join his fan club though. The veterans mess up too though as Carl Edwards demonstrated a few laps later.
The young guns impatience might stem from the fact that they are forced to perform like veterans right off the bat. In the fickle sport of NASCAR stock car racing rookies don't get much time to prove their worth. Even with all the tangles on the track it was fun to watch the race minus a field filled with Buschwhackers.
Posted by: Barb g | Jul 22, 2007 11:29:27 PM
Kathy,
You were right about impatients causing many of the wrecks. One more time it was a Buschwhacker that won in the Busch Series.
Reed had the best car and he deserved to win. We did get to see plenty of very young drivers that were finally given a shot to prove themselves as you said.
It looks like we got a sneak peek at the next Jeff Gordon at Hendrick Motorsports. He was even driving the #24 car, I am sure we will hear plenty about Landon Cassel.
Posted by: Jon | Jul 22, 2007 8:10:57 PM
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