Green Flag 5.08.08: You Think Folks Hated Kyle Busch Before?

Posted by Jim Carson on 05.08.2008

So much sympathy for Junior. What about the Hurricane?


There's only one big racing story this week. It centers around Richmond, specifically lap 398 of Dan Lowry Drinks 400 Crown Royals.


PRUNING THE SHRUBBERY, BY FANS OF DALE JR.

In case you've been living inside a cave or burying yourself in North Carolina and Indiana primary election developments, Junior and Shrub collided with less than three laps left while battling for the lead. There are two schools of thought here: those that feel that Shrub was at fault, and those that believe it was just one of those racin' deals.

Of course, one of those schools is a large state university, while the other one is a rural one-room schoolhouse.

Junior Nation is up in arms, and those arms are making obscene gestures toward Shrub, claiming everything from Shrub's attitude to questionable talent to flat-out jealousy. And in case you haven't noticed, Little E is far and away the most popular driver in NASCAR and thus American motorsports, and that's because of what the E stands for. Who cares if he hasn't won since spring Richmond in 2006? He still makes the NASCAR fans' world go around, as evidenced by the saga last summer that led to his split from Wicked Stepmother Teresa and landing at Hendrick Motorsports. And he's doing quite well this year ... everything except that winning part.

Those same fans are blaming Shrub for that 71-points-race winless streak extending to 72, because Shrub's car got a little loose when he was trying to pass Junior and slid up into him, sending the Amp National Dew car into the wall. If you ask me, it was just a racin' deal ... until that corrective right turn completed Junior's loss of control. I'd loved to have seen an in-car camera on Shrub and watched his hands sawing on the wheel.

But only a terrible stroke of luck made all that controversy possible. Junior never sniffed the lead at Richmond until lap 383, because before that, only one lap (under caution) was not led by Denny Hamlin. And this was Hamlin's home track; he grew up in nearby Chesterfield VA and picked up the nickname "Hurricane" because of his success in Late Models on the area's short tracks. Hamlin won the Buschonwide race the night before, but for a Sprint Cup driver, two seasons' worth of Buschonwide victories don't mean as much as one Cup victory (anyone who says different is either lying or does gymnastics after each win).

The Hurricane, who is Shrub's teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing, was headed toward that well-deserved dream night. Then his right front tire slowly started deflating. He and his crew chief must have been hiding it for 10-20 laps, because no one gave it a second thought until Junior and Shrub began chomping away at Hamlin's huge advantage. Then within a few seconds, they were three-wide for the lead, with Junior pulling away on the high side and the poor Hurricane in the middle. Hamlin hung on as long as he could, but when he was back to 11th or wherever, he slowed in turn four and stopped until the caution waved. Whether or not he could have made it around further, either to the checkered flag at a reduced pace or around to pit road for the tire change, will never be known. NASCAR figured that Hamlin's stop was intentional and penalized him two laps, leaving the most dominant single-race performance in several years back in 24th in the final rundown.

What happened to Denny Hamlin was a far bigger injustice at Richmond than what happened to Junior. I'll be rooting for the Hurricane feverishly until he wins one this year. Then I'll join the masses in rooting for that interminable winless streak to end ... I'm of course referring to the one that stretches back to 1991, of Ken Schrader.

Let's not talk about Mikey and Mears.


THAT WAS THE PAST; NOW FOR THE FUTURE

It's been almost three years since a non-Cup driver won a Buschonwide race that was held on the same track and weekend as a Cup race (Martin Truex Jr. in the first New Hampshire race in 2005, in case you were going to spend the few minutes to look it up). Here's my prediction for the next driver to pull off the trick: Joey Logano. Mark it down, and it'll happen by the October race in Charlotte.

Who's Joey Logano? The Next Big Thing, and his record would make Brock Lesnar jealous. He'll be running about 18 Buschonwide races in a Joe Gibbs car starting May 31 in Dover; he turns 18 and becomes legal to run one of NASCAR's Big Three over Memorial Day weekend.

But Logano isn't your run-of-the-mill development driver with a big NASCAR conglomerate. This ain't Landon Cassill (Hendrick) or Bryan Clauson (Ganassi) or even Erik Darnell (who has a Craftsman Truck win for Roush) we're talking about here.

Logano spent the first part of his childhood in Connecticut, where he raced quarter midgets. Then his family moved to Georgia, and young Joey fell in love with legends cars, scaled-down things which make a lot of noise. They run, among other places, during 10 summer Tuesdays at Lowe's Motor Speedway's tiny infield quarter-mile and 10 summer Thursdays at Atlanta Motor Speedway's similar layout. Logano was a big star, especially at Atlanta, but then a bunch of kids crow about their wins in legends cars and it ends up not meaning squat. Before Logano, Reed Sorenson was the big success story from the Georgia legends ranks.

Fast forward to 2005. Three weeks after turning 15 and becoming eligible to drive in the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, Logano won in his second career start against a field of 40+ entries at Mansfield OH. While watching him test, Mark Martin called him the real deal. Logano won twice more in 2006, after signing his development deal with Gibbs.

Last year Logano took a commanding win in his first-ever start in the NASCAR West Series, and that win came at another signature facility for the short-trackers, Phoenix. Between the West and the East Series, which use the same types of cars now, Logano won two of his next three starts and a total of 7 of 16 races ... oh yeah, and the East championship, plus the Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale CA in the fall (a past winner of the Showdown: David Gilliland).

Last weekend young Joey added another big line to his resume. He kicked everybody's rear end in the ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Rockingham. The grand reopening of the Rock offered the largest purse in the 60-year history of ARCA, and Logano pulled away from the field like they were all dragging anchors. At one point Joey lapped everyone except second place; only lucky-dog passes under three late cautions added some more cars to the lead lap.

And another perk is that Logano is a personable kid, with a big smile and a lot to say, which potential sponsors will love. By 2010 Joey will probably be in Sprint Cup. But you heard it here first: he's the next temporary superstar in the Buschonwide series.


SOMEONE REALLY DESERVES DRAG RACING'S SPOTLIGHT

I suppose I'm as big a John Force fan as anyone. He's the greatest Funny Car driver in NHRA history, with 14 championships including 10 straight from 1993-2002. He has 125 Wallys and 1000 round wins in his pro career. And from 1991-2006 he never failed to qualify for a national event. Last season he captivated the emotion of the drag racing world after coming back to the track after an October crash in Dallas, and returning to the seat this February.

His daughter Ashley made just as many headlines (including last week's Green Flag), after moving to the Funny Car points lead for a couple of weeks and winning her first national event at Atlanta/Commerce. She deserves all of what she's getting as well, including the spot as a media darling.

But nobody's talking about Tim Wilkerson, and they should be.

Wilkerson won last week's NHRA event in Madison IL, just across the river from St. Louis and (as Braves announcer Skip Caray calls it) the world's largest croquet wicket. In the process he moved ahead of Ashley Force for the FC points lead, overcoming first-round losses in the first two of seven races this year. It's Tim's first points lead of his career, in any pro or amateur class in the NHRA. St. Louis was Wilkerson's second win this season; before that his most recent wins were in 2004. In 2006 Wilkerson DNQed at 7 of the 23 national events, so this is one amazing comeback. This season has also found Tim as the #1 qualifier four times; he'd had just one of those since 2004.

John Force Racing has four teams and the most outstanding technology in the sport. Don Schumacher Racing also fields four Funny Cars and can match Force part for part. There are one or two other two-car teams in the FC ranks, such as brothers Tony and Cruz Pedregon.

But Team Wilkerson has always been a one-car operation. Tim's biggest sponsor, in fact his only consistent backer, has been computer technology company Levi, Ray & Shoup, and most likely the reason LRS has had its logo on Wilkerson's car is that they're based in the same town, Springfield IL. Wilkerson still owns a garage in Springfield to supplement his income and provide the extra support for his drag racing.

Wilkerson and his five full-time crew members just keep on keepin' on. Good for them.

Let's see if we can keep on keepin' on with next week's column.

---Jim