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This championship feels good for Stewart

By DAVID GREEN

Over the past season, Tony Stewart set an example Kurt Busch would do well to study. And I'm not talking about winning a second Cup championship.

Only the most virulent Stewart-haters could have been displeased with the outcome of this year's NASCAR championship battle. Stewart's performance all season long made his title as bulletproof as any since the back-to-back titles won by Jeff Gordon in 1997-98, with a total of 23 victories in the two seasons.

But Stewart's performance as a human being surpassed even his racing success in 2005. The Anybody But Tony crowd must have been frustrated by the sheer joy Stewart seemed to get from his achievements this season, and Smoke gave them nothing to jeer when things did not go his way. The closest he came to having an angry moment was in the moments after he came out second in a tought fight with Ryan Newman in the Chase's opening round in New Hampshire.

The way that Stewart savored the Brickyard win and the championship, the exultation he showed in his fence-climbing escapades, the genuine happiness he displayed in victory lane celebrations and the good nature he displayed on days when he didn't win all made this season a complete victory for him.

Many of us thought we had witnessed a similar turnaround a year ago, when Busch won an amazing championship title. He seemed to have matured, and put behind him the kind of cockiness and arrogance that had earned him the derision of a good many fans and a punch in the nose from Jimmy Spencer.

As a driver, Busch had indeed matured. But, as we learned early this year when he had a run-in with NASCAR officials, he still was a bit of a punk. And then, he caused more controversy in the manner in which he arranged to leave the Roush team and join Penske.

No, there's nothing wrong in executing a contract with a long lead time -- not in a business ethics sense, anyway. But only an idiot would assume such a thing could be done with no collateral damage to the relationship with the present employer. That's why the term "lame duck" was coined.

Finally, Busch showed feet of clay in the traffic incident that led to his ouster from the No. 97 car. Much that Busch's fans have written in support of him is true, especially the remarks about how his actions are scrutinized in a much more intense way in comparison to the foibles of Joe Motorist.

That's all the more reason for Busch and his peers to get things right. I'm not all that old, and I can remember when racecar drivers were looked down upon by most respectable citizens. Reckless driving by the reigning Nextel Cup champ is a good way to reprise that attitude.

Will Stewart "fall off the wagon" in 2006 or at sometime in the future? His critics probably hope so, but just as I found no joy in Busch's backsliding, I would hate to see Stewart revert to his old, unhappy, angry ways.

I have a feeling I won't see that. Stewart is older and wiser than Busch, and he seems to have come to terms with the things that were causing him to behave badly.

Smoke has already lasted longer in the Cup Series than I figured he would. I envisioned him as a driver who would burn brightly and fade away quickly -- not because of any lack of talent or achievement, but because he would get a belly full of all that goes with being a NASCAR star and take the money and run.

Instead, he has mastered all the aggravations. He's on top of the world, with a second Cup title, a tranquility he may have never known before, his very own dirt playground in northeastern Ohio and just about everything else he could want.

He’s a champion in a whole new sense of the word now.

Utter-ly thankful

By Krista Voda

Being a blogger, means having a forum to express your thoughts.

Unfortunately for you, the readers, those thoughts aren't always insightful.

This is one of those times.

But, because you guys are a part of the That's Racin' family, I wanted to include you in on this one.

I'd like to thank TR's Jim Utter for taking an interest in my 2006 plans. (Of course, I have to say nice things about him; otherwise they take away my per diem of snack cakes.) But even if I wasn't forced to be complimentary, I would be. Two reasons: Utter has always worked for the story and he's always been fair to me.

BUT.....

Because all 3 members of my fan club (hi mom, dad, grandma) are surely interested, I wanted to clear up a couple of potentially confusing points.

In my return to Speed Channel programming, I will not be moving back to Charlotte. Pittsburgh has opened its iron city arms to me and I'm happily hugging back, and staying put. I will travel out of there for the truck series and supercross events...(which I'm obviously excited about)!

And one of these days, I hope to learn what other women have before me: Just because someone asks your age, doesn't mean you have to tell them.

So, Jim Utter...here is my message to you: Thanks for caring...thanks for listening...and never listen THAT well ever again!

Oh and, for the record, he's older than me!

Embarrassing end to Busch's reign

By DAVID GREEN

We've all had a chance to digest what happened to Kurt Busch this past weekend at Phoenix and things have shaken out about as one would have expected, given the bizarre nature of events and the history leading up to this climax.

David Poole summed things up very nicely, I thought, in his column this week. Without question, any driver with a sponsor whose product is an alcoholic beverage carries more than the usual burden to behave when he's driving on the highway, and he should expect greater scrutiny when there's any suspicion that he may have been drinking and driving.

Just as obviously, it's ill advised for anybody to be abusive or abrasive toward a law enforcement officer. That's pretty much a no-win situation whether you're an average Joe or someone with a measure of celebrity status.

My personal opinion of Busch has had its ups and downs. I cringed at the smack-talk he laid on Jimmy Spencer after he roughed up Mister Excitement en route to this first Cup Series victory at Bristol and I thought he begged for what he got from Spencer in the aftermath of that incident.

I thought he showed great maturity in his run to the 2004 championship title and gave him credit not only for the considerable driving talent that he has but also for straightening up his act overall. I was very impressed with the job he did in the TV booth as a special guest commentator. Busch may very well be one of the most articulate athletes in all of professional sport.

Then, earlier this year, we began to see symptoms of backsliding in the behavior department.

The announcement that he had signed with the Penske team so far ahead of his scheduled departure from Roush also put Busch in a somewhat tenuous situation. Even if you're the president of his fan club, this kind of thing has to make you feel a little bit uneasy.

Busch, crew chief Jimmy Fennig, Roush and other pertinent characters continued to do and say the right things (on the record, anyway), and when Busch went into his second Chase on the heels of a victory, it appeared this lame duck team just might keep its good thing going, but that's not how it has worked out.

The Roush team's decision to cut him loose may appear either honorable, if you dislike Busch or if you have strong enough feelings about his misbehavior, or vindictive, if you're a fan of Busch's.

Regardless, it is an ignominious conclusion to Busch's campaign as the reigning Nextel Cup champion. His failure to carry his defense of the title to the final race is a black eye for him and for the sport.

18 and Life

By Krista Voda

That's the name of a Skid Row song. I only used it as the title because I'm talking about driver #18, J.J. Yeley.

Lee wrote about Bobby Labonte's move to Petty Enterprises. And I agree with what he said (how can you not) Labonte is the real deal. He's done something only 26 others have ever done: win a Cup championship.

But with his move, comes an open seat.  Came an open seat, past tense. Today it was announced that J.J. Yeley will take over that ride.

So what does this have to do with Jamie McMurray? Well, actually nothing. But I bet it'll get you to keep reading!

Ok, and seriously. There is a similarity.

When McMurray was selected to drive in the Cup series for Chip Ganassi, everyone said Jamie who? He was a relatively unknown, driving for Brewco Motorsports in the Busch series. At the time of the announcement, McMurray had only finished in the top five, three times.

But one of those times just happened to be the race before (and the day before) the announcement was made, when McMurray finished 2nd to Dale Earnhardt Jr at Richmond.

Was it a surge of good fortune or a sign of things to come? Either way, Ganassi could use that 2nd place finish as a launching pad for McMurray's talent.

In HIS most recent Busch race, J.J. Yeley finished (yep) 2nd, it was at Memphis. It was only his 4th top five of the season.

But, just like with McMurray, the Gibbs camp can use that runner-up finish as a forecasting tool, at least in terms of validating their decision.

Of course, McMurray did some validating of his own, when he won two of the last four Busch races of 2002, the year his promotion was announced. And he's obviously, gone on to a pretty successful Cup career.

So, will Yeley be able to do the same?

He has tons of accolades in the open wheel ranks, winning USAC's triple crown. But his stock car numbers have not been that impressive.

An already pressure-filled situation will be intensified with the inevitable comparisons to Denny Hamlin. The two are currently teammates in the Busch series, both will move up to Cup next year. And Hamlin is quickly turning heads. He has finished in the top ten in 3 of the last 4 CUP races...and just won his first Cup pole.

Yeley's best Cup finish in 6 career starts is 25th.

In today's NASCAR world, the learning curve is nearly non-existent. If he's not up to the challenge, others, whether qualified or not, are standing-by. I've seen it from other angles.

Yeley needs to tear a page out of McMurray's book. People are watching. He'll need to prove that he's willing to put in the time and the research necessary to make him successful. Of course, a little well-timed luck wouldn't hurt, either.

The door is open. Of course, we all know that door is revolving. It's Yeley's job to keep himself on the inside of it.

Bobby Labonte, No. 43

By LEE MONTGOMERY

The racing media sat in attendence during the preseason media tour one chilly day in January, listening to Bobby Labonte talk about the upcomong season. His future in NASCAR's top series was uncertain, but he clearly has the talent to win at the highest level.

One writer, noting Labonte's home is in close proximity to Petty Enterprises, wondered if Labonte would be interested in driving for NASCAR's first family.

Labonte's eyes widened, taken aback by such an overwhelming suggestion. He really didn't know how to answer, but one could tell he clearly was interested in driving for such a top team.

It didn't happen that year, but Friday it did.

No, the question about the Pettys didn't happen in 2005. I can't honestly remember when it did, but it was back when Labonte was driving for his dad in the Busch Series, and his team's shop in Trinity, N.C. hosted the media tour. Trinity is where Kyle Petty lives, and it's not too far from the hallowed grounds of Level Cross, N.C., home of Petty Enterprises.

Labonte was too young and inexperienced to be considered for such a ride back then, and the Pettys were simply too good for an unknown like Labonte.

My, how times have changed. How many people now consider Labonte to be taking a big step backward in his career by taking the Petty ride? How many Petty fans are thanking their lucky stars Kyle Petty was able to land such a top-name driver?

And let's remember one thing: Labonte is among the best there is. You don't win a championship in this sport without loads of talent.

Will Labonte be able to get the No. 43 back to Victory Lane like he promised? We all know a driver is only a piece of the puzzle, and Petty's pieces aren't exactly fitting together these days.

But there has been improvement, and Labonte simply wouldn't take this ride as a last resort. He sees something in Petty Enterprises, probably the same thing Robbie Loomis saw: potential.

Bobby Labonte is the best driver to sit in the No. 43 since ... well, Richard Petty. And we all know what great things Petty did in that car, even if it was a long time ago.

Labonte won't win 200 races and seven championships. No driver ever will, in any car.

But don't be surprised to see the No. 43 up front again.

Maybe then the idea of Bobby Labonte driving for Petty Enterprises won't be so far-fetched.

Edwards evokes fond memories of Hutch

By DAVID GREEN

After Carl Edwards' second victory in as many weeks, a name from 40 years ago popped into my head. It occurred to me that Edwards was having a Dick Hutcherson-like season.

Just days later, "Hutch" was dead.

Nouveau NASCAR fans can be forgiven if they don't recognize the name. Hutcherson's career was one of the briefest in the history of stock car racing. However, it was also one of the brightest.

In 1965, Hutcherson won nine races and finished second 10 times in a 52-race season. He pushed teammate Ned Jarrett to the Grand National championship title. Just like Carl Edwards in 2005, it was his first full season of racing in NASCAR's premier series, and like Edwards this year, Hutch was not eligible to win the rookie-of-the-year award.

There's more. Both were born in the Heartland -- Hutch in Keokuk, Iowa, and Edwards a few hundred miles south in Columbia, Mo. Both honed their racing skills on Midwestern dirt ovals.

You'd really have to be into the history of stock car racing to know of Hutcherson, except perhaps as half of Hutcherson-Pagan Enterprises. Fans from the last couple of decades know Hutch-Pagan as one of the chief suppliers of racing parts, up to and including turn-key, ready-to-race cars.

Some may know that Hutch, after only three seasons in NASCAR, hung up his helmet to take over management of the great Holman-Moody racing operation. They may know that Hutch directed the Grand National championship seasons of the great David Pearson in 1968-69, but then again they might not know; "crew chief" is a much more glamorous title now than it was in the 1960s.

Of those who do remember Hutch as a driver, some may point out that his super freshman season came in the year that Chrysler Corp.'s factory-supported teams boycotted most of the year because of NASCAR rules restricting the famous Hemi V8. However, Hutch's achievements stand on their own merits. He had plenty of seasoned competition all year long -- and Mopar's Richard Petty and Pearson (then driving for Cotton Owens) were added to the mix in the last quarter of the campaign.

In 1966, Hutcherson was on the other end of the boycott issue. Ford pulled its teams out of competition for much of the year. Hutch competed in only 14 races, winning three of them. While the boycott was keeping him out of the big Galaxies with which he was familiar, he took a spin in a Ford GT-40 sports prototype, and logged a third-place finish in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.

Not bad for an old dirt-dobber from Keokuk.

In 1967, Petty rewrote the NASCAR record books, winning 27 races. Hutch was second nine times. At the end of that year, during which Hutcherson won only twice in 33 starts, he retired at age 35. Despite the achievements he enjoyed as team manager with Holman-Moody and the business success he later built with Hutcherson-Pagan, despite the fact that so many of his contemporaries (Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Fred Lorenzen) were also calling it quits, Hutcherson second-guessed his decision to retire so early.

"Racing pumped me up," Hutcherson told Stock Car Racing Magazine's Gene Granger in 1983. "I loved it. I've regretted (retiring) ever since."

Hutch's achievements deserve remembering in these days following his death at age 73. There's no better tribute to him than the remarkable season Carl Edwards is enjoying.

Candystore for Automotive Junkies

By Krista Voda

How does a person spend a week in Las Vegas and NOT see a single show, NOT sample a single buffet, NOT visit a single nightclub, and ONLY gamble away $5!

The answer? SEMA.

This past week, I was in Vegas for the annual SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association)automotive trade show.  Thousands of products and hundreds of thousands of people, including some famous racers.

Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Robby Gordon were there. Patrick Long, who won the GT2 championship in the American Le Mans Series was checking out some of the goods. Travis Pastrana, X-games gold medalist and American Rally driver, was signing autographs. Freddie Spencer, the motorcycle legend, unveiled a new bike.

For the NASCAR guys especially, with the season winding down, free time is limited. So why make the special trip?

For Stewart and the Gordons, it was to get some press. Tony got to see his new Hummer for the first time, since being tricked-out by DUB Magazine. Jeff unveiled a new Chip Foose-designed paint scheme for next February's Fontana race. Robby announced a new sponsorship deal for this year's Dakar Rally in December.

For others (including Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch), the show represented the chance to be a consumer. And even though I work in the field, it was unbelieveable to see the number of products available for car-crazies. And once a product is invented, you can bet that the next year, the same product will get even bigger or more advanced.

It got me thinking...how in the world do people even come up with some of the ideas? I, mean, who is sitting at home wondering how to get Swarovski crystals embedded on their car? Ok, sure, actors and rap artists who have money to blow. But what about the "normal" crowd? What products or inventions would we like to see?

Of course, the cars themselves, were unreal! Concept cars that would rival NASA and production cars for the years ahead...it was a great chance to see what the car manufacturers have in store for 2007!

It was a really cool experience...and one that I get to share with you.  You can see everything from this year's show on the Speed Channel special, "SEMA Las Vegas", airing Sunday December 4th at 9 pm, eastern. (shameless plug, i know!).

But seriously, it's a great chance to see all of the cool toys...including Stewart's customized ride, which will certainly stand out on the streets of Indiana!

South has no monopoly on stock car racing

By DAVID GREEN

Fellow blogger Krista Voda's recent post and the discussion it triggered got me to thinking (something I don't often do, as it makes my head hurt and usually gets me into some kind of trouble). Is it really fair to suggest, based on random anecdotal evidence, something as sweeping as "New Yorkers don't get NASCAR"?

Well, in the South, you're not going to get much hate mail for suggesting such a thing. Fans from other parts of the country may not protest as long as it's New York that's being bashed. But substitute "yankees" (the generic version of the word, with lower-case "y"), and you just might get some negative reaction.

Fellow Southerners, you may not want to read this, but it's true: We don't have a monopoly on any form of auto racing, not even stock cars.

I know we like to think of it as "our" sport, and it is "our"sport in that so many of us embrace it so passionately. But it's not exclusively "ours." And we should know this by now.

Going back to Year One (1949) and every year since the inception of the Nextel Cup Series, drivers from all across the country have been prominent participants -- not merely token representatives, but race and championship winners.

Down at grassroots levels, the same thing is true -- obviously. Where do you suppose those Cup standouts cut their racing teeth?

Wisconsin race fans will be quick to claim their state has more oval tracks per capita than any other state in the Union. (I haven't done all the math, but I do know there are 43 such facilities in the Badger State, according to National Speedway Directory. North Carolina has 36, if you count Lowe's Motor Speedway, its dirt track and its Legends track as three separate items.) The sales manager at any NASCAR speedway would be horrified to learn that he or she could no longer accept ticket orders from fans in Pennsylvania. The mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire echo with V8 thunder, just like in North Carolina and Virginia.

And, since we started this item by questioning the veracity of a derogatory reference to New York, let's focus on the Empire State for a moment.

Hold onto your Moon Pies, boys, because Noo Yawk State is a veritable hotbed of racing, from big-block dirt modifieds to gleaming asphalt late models to well-seasoned street stocks. Some 47 oval tracks are listed. They may not eat grits, but they show plenty of grit in the way they race.

Several fans wrote to defend the honor of Long Island, home to Riverhead Raceway and Steve Park. Nobody has mentioned that six times between 1964 and 1971, a little one-fifth-mile paved oval named Islip Speedway was on the schedule of what is now the Nextel Cup Series tour. Winners of races there included Bobby Allison and Richard Petty.

Islip is in south central Long Island -- my guess, about 30 miles due east of Lower Manhattan.

Do New Yorkers "get" NASCAR? Sure, they do -- those who want to. Same as anywhere else.

NASCAR's expansion efforts are not so much causing (or attempting to cause) something to happen as they are a savvy acknowledgement of something that happened a long time ago.

Are the little guys gone for good?

By DAVID GREEN

Bill France was more than a decade into building his stock car racing organization, and things were going pretty well. But, there were problems, of course.

Some of the more successful team owners were badgering France to jack up the prize money. Eventually, France came to the conclusion that his critics were right. The purses needed to be bumped. So, he did just that.

"But," remembers one of the more successful team owners, "he put all the extra money at the back of the field. He didn't add any for the winner."

Walter "Bud" Moore, whose cars were driven by Joe Weatherly to the Grand National championship titles in 1962-63, was never shy, so he went to France to demand an explanation for this outrageous decision. "What the hell are you doing, giving more money to those back-markers?!?" Moore raged.

Big Bill stuck a finger in Moore's face and replied, "Because you sons of b-----s need somebody to pass!"

France understood that a race among only the six, eight, or however many cars that were truly capable of running at the front of the field on a consistent basis would not make a satisfactory show for the fans. Part of the spectacle was a crowded racetrack, not just a handful of cars, with a measure of competitive cars and enough "back-markers" that the leaders would have something other than a clear track with which to contend.

"He was right," Moore acknowledged.

NASCAR racing today seems to be possessed of the conviction that there can truly be absolute and complete parity, that it's theoretically possible for all 43 cars in any given race to finish in a dead heat if only we had a track wide enough for a 43-wide formation.

Not only do I reject that theoretical possibility, I wouldn't want to see such a race if it were possible.

The truth is that we are not that much closer to absolute parity than we have ever been. Oh, we can make arguments based on statistics and real-world observations that we usually have closer, more competitive racing than we often did in the old days.

Everybody (yours truly included) has trotted out the example of Ned Jarrett winning the 1965 Southern 500 with a margin of victory of 14 laps over the second-place finisher; such a thing is completely unthinkable nowadays. And, in theory anyway, yes -- there are a good many more entries that have a better chance of victory when the green flag drops on a race nowadays compared to the 1950s, '60s or '70s.

The fact is, though, we've had only an incremental increase in the number of different winners in a given season, and that number is not likely to grow much larger. Most races come down to two or three drivers with a real, honest-to-goodness chance to prevail. The 1965 Southern 500 example notwithstanding, a good many races in the '50s, '60s and '70s ended up much the same way.

The problem is that corporate NASCAR has generated the notion that every team can be a winner. It has to be that way, because what right-thinking corporate sponsor would willingly funnel its cash into a team that had no chance of success?

The select group of what Big Bill France would call "sons of b-----s" still need, and still have, somebody to pass. It just costs a whole lot more for the "back-markers" to play that role nowadays.

In the final analysis, a handful of team owners dominated the sport in years past, just like the handful of "mega-team" owners are dominating it today.

What's the best way to ensure that there will always be a full field of competitors -- to allow the mega-teams to grow ever larger, and count on them to provide some back-marker entries of their own, or restrict expanded ownership and depend on privateers to participate, knowing in their hearts they have no chances of competitive success?

I don't claim to have the answer. Personally, I like any sport better when there is some opportunity for the little guy to get his foot in the door. Occasionally, David scores a hit on Goliath's forehead, and when he does, it makes for great drama -- real drama, not the contrived drama of the hippodrome.

Like Derrike Cope winning the Daytona 500, or Alan Kulwicki capturing the Winston Cup. Like Morgan Shepherd driving Cliff Stewart's Pontiac to victory at Martinsville, and then hauling the winning car home on an open trailer behind a stake-bed one-ton truck.

Maybe my thinking is outdated. Maybe those days are gone forever. Time will tell.

So, who deserves the Cup title?

By DAVID GREEN

Seven races down, three to go, and the inevitable tight battle for the Nextel Cup rages on. Once in a blue moon, somebody may put together a dominant end-of-season streak and lock up the title early under the new Chase format, but it didn't happen last year, and it's not going to happen this year.

The Chase format, as has been discussed ad nauseum, skews conventional thinking; any of the 10 drivers (yes, any of them) had a legitimate shot to win when the points were reshuffled and the 10th-place guy found himself within 45 points of first place. What has happened in the first seven races, and what will happen in the last three, owes almost everything to chance and very little to "earning" something in the old-fashioned sense of it.

So, who's the most deserving driver? Who truly deserves to win the 2005 Nextel Cup?

It says here that the three guys at the top of the charts right now are the most deserving candidates.

Tony Stewart has been racing during the Chase very much the way he raced at the beginning of the season. He has done everything but win. He has led laps, dominated races, finished second or in the top five with a regularity that no one else has shown.

Jimmie Johnson has been resurgent after a hot start and a lukewarm middle of the year. Much like last year, he's the winningest driver among the Chasers, and yet he finds himself in second place.

Greg Biffle has been one of the best performers on the track for the past year-and-a-half now, not just this season.

Odds are that those three will decide it amongst themselves. But, as we said earlier, the Chase format defies conventional thinking. Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman are stout talents; all it would take is a sub-par performance, not necessarily a catastrophic misstep, by the top three, and one of them could inherit the big prize.

One of the two sentimental favorites among the Geritol set still has a long-shot chance. If any driver ever deserved a championship, it's Mark Martin. It would be a great, great story if Mark rallied to win this one, but he and Roush Racing teammate Matt Kenseth may be just a little too far off the pace to make it up in three races.

Happily, Rusty Wallace already has a Cup trophy in his collection, because he's not going to win this one in his farewell season. Kurt Busch, likewise, can be counted out, along with Jeremy Mayfield.

I mean no disrespect to any of them, but none of the seven from Edwards and Newman down to Mayfield truly deserve the 2005 championship based on an evaluation of their season-long consistency.

The same could be said about last year's champ, Busch. Surely Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon were the most deserving drivers from a February-through-November perspective, and Johnson, without a doubt, was the class performer in the last 10 races.

Old-school thinking will be served this year if Stewart, Johnson or Biffle emerge with the Cup, because they have performed best all season long, and the winner will have done the best job in the 10-race playoff. The only sour grapes with any legitimacy would be from the Stewart camp, should Smoke not win it, when they recall how that 185-point lead after 26 races melted to 5 as the points were redistributed.

Under the old format, Stewart would have been a prohibitive favorite. Certainly, he has run more than well enough to have maintained the lead he enjoyed prior to the Chase races.

But that's not the format we use now. Happily, the three best drivers all season are the three most likely to win the whole thing. May the best man win.