It wasn't a bright and shiny day after all for Hendrick Motorsports Saturday at Kansas.Kyle Busch won Saturday's Busch race at Kansas Speedway over Matt Kenseth by about a car length in his No. 5 Chevrolet. While the victory was nice, it could turn out to haunt Busch for the rest of 2007 season in both the Busch and Nextel Cup series.
Busch's car failed post-race inspection in a major sort of way Saturday evening. And by major sort of way, I mean like Michael Waltrip-type way, not the Carl Edwards-type way.
The intake manifold on the No. 5's engine -- a piece long thought as one of the steepest of infractions when out of bounds -- was deemed illegal in the eyes of NASCAR. The sanctioning body has since taken the part into their possession.
This certainly isn't good news for anyone involved with Busch's Busch or Nextel Cup series efforts. Without a doubt, the penalty will be steep (as Busch Series penalties go) for Busch and Co. The significant "and Co." part of that equation includes the man who crew chiefs for Busch in both divisions, Alan Gustafson.
With such an infraction, it's a very real possibility that Gustafson will be banned from race tracks for the next few weeks as a result of the crew chief suspension penalty that NASCAR has become known for giving out.
That type of penalty applies to all tracks on all weekends no matter the division competing, potentially leaving Busch with a temporary crew chief for multiple races in his quest to win the Chase for the Championship.
Essentially, there isn't a worse time to change up the chemistry of a race team than in the Chase. Unfortunately for Busch, it could be a very real possibility in the early days of next week.
And to think, all of this for a win in the series that doesn't even matter the most.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-30-2007 @ 8:31AM
Mike said...
I find it interesting that the Busch series does not also have the chase format. I wonder how that whopping 696 point lead Carl Edwards has would fare under the Chase format. As he had a DNF I am sure he would not be in 1st at this point.
No surprise to me if there was an attempt to cheat on the manifold. Nascar is trying to make all the cars the same in both venues. While many complain and want the old style cars back that is not going to happen. They are doing exactly what they want, making all the cars the same in almost every way so that the real difference is in the pit crew being faster and the driver actually being better. I for one do not want to see a driver win because his CAR is better. I want to see the best driver with the best team winning. The ones that are not the best will have to cheat to try to win.
I agree with the person that said NASCAR should ban pits during yellow flags. Make them all pit under green and get rid of that lucky dog BS.
Look at the super speedway racing now with restrictor plates. The field takes off and runs laps until a yellow. Then the whole train comes in to pit row for gas and tires and leaves the station again. It goes on and on that way until the real race begins with 10-15 laps to go when they finally break the coupling and start to do something. The COT MAY change that and I for one want to see if it does but as it is now it is a boring thing to see. Make them pit under green, that will break up that choo choo train going around the track.
mke levan
damn, this post has ADD written all over it.
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9-30-2007 @ 9:52AM
Lacey said...
Why the doomand gloom? The 71 had a problem intake manifold in the Busch series this year and it was only $5,000-> That would b e substantially less than Carl Edwards.
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9-30-2007 @ 12:31PM
Tanner said...
The COT is a tank. The drivers cannot pass. It is BEYOND boring. It has the potential to end Nascar as a sport. If a COT is out front and there are 500 laps to go in the race. I think there is a strong potential of that car winning. Safety is great but you can't hardly harm this car. If you have clean air and you can keep that car out front...(which hasn't been to hard so far) then the show is virtually over. Clean air is key. Maybe I am wrong, however I do know what I enjoy watching. I don't like someone running away with the race. It's a team and drivers sport. I don't know what the crew can do to that tank though. So, I have to hope that the best driver/team wins. The driver should be involved in some way. It's called racing. Kyle and Matt raced for the win in Busch. COT races aren't even close to being that exciting. Maybe Nascar should not worry so much about the official pretzel of Nascar, or official soft drink of Nascar, or official telephone service of Nascar, or official power drink of Nascar, or official beer of Nascar. Maybe Brian France should STOP going to China to do God knows what with Nascar. China's imports to American have included how many lead based toys, contaminated leukemia medications, a LOT of little Chinese girls (because they do not want the girls), a significant amount of California pollution. Of course, if Nascar is still a factor then the market will be overwhelmed with Nascar merchandise and the price will drop due to all of the Chinese ripoffs. But watch out for the lead!!!
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9-30-2007 @ 12:34PM
rob said...
Stock car racing is great. Stock car drivers are great. Stock car team members are great. The people who run NASCAR suck.
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9-30-2007 @ 6:35PM
Don Emerson said...
Cheating has been around Nascar for years. Getting caught is just the price of doing business. The only problem I have with it is the uneven way Nascar hands out the penalties. Penalties should be the same for everyone, no matter who they are. End of sermon....
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9-30-2007 @ 7:14PM
Ken in Va said...
I won't hurt much at all. It's a Hendrick car. They're special and get special treatment.
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9-30-2007 @ 10:21PM
Shanna said...
Alan will probably not be suspended if the #5 Busch team gets penalize. The #5 busch teams actually list the crew chief of the car as Mike Bumgarner. They have 2 crew chiefs on that team Bumgarner who is the actully listed cc and the person responsible for setting the car up for Kyle. Alan just calls the race but is not listed as the offical cc on that car. This team has been penalize before and the crew chief getting the punishments is Bumgarner and not Alan. Bumgarner is the one that is going to be penalize if they are at all all.
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