The Frontstretch: Fanning the Flames: Addressing Bristol and Analyzing Kyle's Achievement by Matt Taliaferro -- Wednesday August 25, 2010

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Fanning the Flames: Addressing Bristol and Analyzing Kyle's Achievement

NASCAR Fan Q&A · Matt Taliaferro · Wednesday August 25, 2010

 

I love picking on ESPN because they set themselves up for it. The NASCAR-specific crew is alright — it’s the “catch-all” stuff that burns them (or chafes me … whatever). It’s most recent self-gratifying bit of over-hyped narcissism is something called the weekly “Cross-Sport Power Rankings” on ESPN.com. Admittedly, I don’t know what it is exactly, or how athletes are nominated and ranked (nor do I care). I think it’s basically another concoction dreamed up by someone in Bristol, Conn., that means very little, if anything at all … but they have to fill web space with something, and this sort of mindless, meaningless junk is it. Watch one episode of ESPN’s SportsNation and you’ll understand what I mean.

Anyway, NASCAR’s own Kyle Busch ascended to the top of the Cross-Sport Power Rankings this week. The NBA’s and Team USA’s Kevin Durant, in what I think was an international exhibition performance against the mighty Spanish National Team, was second.

What struck me as appropriately daft about Busch being knighted by the all-powerful ESPN “all-star panel” (as it bills itself), is that in the video highlighting the list on ESPN.com, Kyle is granted this prestigious and ever-so-sought-after title because, in the words of video-host Bram Weinstein, Busch “pull[ed] a historic double, winning the Nationwide and Sprint Cup stops in Bristol.”

Hey Bram, you and your all-star panel may want to check the facts before firing up the webcam. Come to think of it, does ESPN not employ fact checkers for just this sort of blunder? What is this, “Wayne’s World?”

See ESPN, the reason Busch’s performance at Bristol was notable (I think “historic” is taking it a bit far), has to do with the fact that Busch won three races — Truck, Nationwide and Cup — not the Nationwide/Cup double, which has been done numerous times, dating back to the late ’80s/early ’90s.

Be that as it may, thanks for the rare tip of the Yankee’s-emblazoned cap, Worldwide Leader. Next time run the NASCAR-related script by Mike Massaro.

And by the way, you need to change a location on your 2010 NASCAR schedule page: The fourth race of the Chase is in Fontana, not Sonoma, as you have it listed.

And on that note, we’ll hit this week’s emails. It was a slow week from you, considering the events at Bristol. C’mon … pick me up guys. Here’s your link to me. Bring it strong.

Let’s pick up where we left off, with everyone’s favorite Las Vegas native:

Matt, I have a couple questions. First, when Kyle Busch beat Jamie Mac onto pit road, I’m confused. Isn’t the rule that you need to be single file when you get on pit road? I could be wrong.

As far as Kyle’s ‘triple’, since only 1 other driver even had a shot at it (Brad K), it takes a bit of the glow away. Kyle winning all 3 races was, to me, like the New York Yankees winning the World Series, the college World Series, and the Little League World Series. The first is impressive, the other 2 not so much. The boy can surely drive a race car, but really? And, since the media insists on lumping every win he’s ever had in any of the series together, why don’t they do the same for all the other drivers who ever ran Trucks and Nationwide?
— Sally Baker

Bristol fans saw this scene in triplicate, an impressive, if not exactly historical feat.

A: Let me sort these out. Question 1: The rule coming to pit road is that drivers must be single file when they cross the pit road commitment line. Busch made his pass before they got there. And it was a pretty nifty pass, at that.

Question 2: As I said earlier, I consider Kyle’s triple a notable accomplishment more so than an “historical” one. Don’t get me wrong, it was impressive as could be, because he did have to beat three fields of professional drivers — and that’s where I disagree with your baseball analogy. Kyle beat pros in each event, not the local Saturday night yocals with “Bubba’s Body Shop” on a quarterpanel so sledgehammered-out that you can no longer read it. Plus, the fact he started at the rear of the field in the Truck race made it all the more noteworthy.

Question 3: I think the media notes Busch’s wins across all three series because he has so darn many of them. 78 touring series wins since 2004 is an amazing number. No other driver comes close in the period of time. One reason for that is no other driver has made as many starts over the three series, I mean, when was the last time we saw Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson even attempt a Nationwide race, much less a Truck show?

There are some exceptions in Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick. However, since 2004, Busch’s 78 wins in 467 starts trumps Harvick’s 42 victories in 431 races as well as Edwards’ 46 wins in 444 starts and Biffle’s 23 triumphs in 402 starts.

It’s a great talking point — how meaningful stats like these are — one that can be debated for hours. How do championships factor? What type of equipment were they running? What was the make-up of the fields? Isn’t Cup what really matters? You can come to your own conclusions, but Busch has won in 16.7 percent of the races he has entered since ’04. Edwards’ 10.7 percent, Harvick’s 9.7 and Biffle’s 5.7 don’t hold a candle.

Still, this needs to be said: Busch has to win at least one Cup title to be considered amongst the all-time greats. Yeah, I know Junior Johnson is a first-ballot bad-ass with no titles in the bag and Mark Martin throws a frivolous element into my argument. However, when the gold-standard is seven titles and two active drivers have four each, you have to throw the ultimate hardware up on the mantle.

Bristol’s attendance was listed as 155,000 on racing-reference.info. It holds 160,000. Is that number accurate? Can you give me one that is? Thank you Matt.
— L. Benton, Johnson City

A: Monte Dutton estimated it at 152,000. I tend to take his word. I thought it was a nice crowd considering what we’ve seen over the last couple years. And I’d imagine the Kyle-Kes dust-up on Friday helped the walk-up gate on Saturday.

Thanks for sticking with me ‘til the end. Enjoy your free Sunday afternoon.

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mikeyfan5599
08/26/2010 08:02 AM
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Matt everyone is talking up the triple by Kyle, but let us remember back in the day Richard Petty would win 3 races in the “Cup Series” in a week on both asphalt and dirt with the same car. So Kyle’s, while I am a fan, accomplishment isn’t really that spectacular. And don’t give me the competition BS, as at most of those races, you had drivers like Ned Jarrett, Junior Johnson, Bobby Allison, David Pearson, Tiny Lund, you get the picture.

Matt T. -- FS.com
08/26/2010 10:33 AM
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When The King won 27 races in ’67, he’d race against a high-caliber field once a week. The other two or three races were in 30-car fields with half the talent level. Not taking anything away from Petty, but to him & his family, racing was a profession when it wasn’t to 95 percent of the other participants.

Apples & oranges.

ANJ
08/26/2010 12:13 PM
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OK everybody hates Kyle Busch but his Mother, Girlfriend, Dog and Cat.
We get it!
OK what he did is not historic
We get it!
OK he is brash and a 25 year old show off, the Las Vegas Andre Agassi of Nascar
We get it!
OK Brad was on probation otherwise he would have wrecked Busch. He was on probation folks, not for being a nice guy.
We get it!

Now…. please give it a rest and move on.

wcfan
08/26/2010 12:42 PM
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Matt
Thank You for your post on Petty, alot of fans believe he beat 25-30 of the best drivers every race, while driving sub par cars. He beat alot of mid pack drivers while having the VERY BEST EQUIPMENT AND THE MOST MONEY.

Brooks
08/27/2010 10:17 AM
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@wcfan Well that sounds very familiar because that’s what Kyle Busch is doing every week in the Nationwide Series.

 

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Contact Matt Taliaferro

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