2012 Shootout

Since the schedule for my new job will soon have me working every Sunday, watching last night's Bud Shootout will be the only Nascar I get to watch for awhile, thus blog about.
I very much enjoyed the race.  I have been a fan of the pack racing, though I believe this particular reincarnation needs some tinkering.  Is pack racing safer than tandem racing?  The safety issues in my mind with tandem racing are two -- the closing rate and speed disparity of the different tandems but perhaps the bigger issue was the fact that the pusher couldn't see ANYTHING except for the bumper of the car he was pushing.  The safety issues with pack racing are obvious -- sometimes 43 cars all in one big pack, unable to separate from each other; thus, no matter how great these drivers are, someone else's mistake or lack of judgment will eventually collect several cars in a track-blocking melee.  And given the rule change that has lowered the spoiler in these cars (in an attempt to get away from the tandem racing), the rear ends of these cars are very, very unstable.  Hopefully an adjustment can be made to make them more stable but still make it difficult to hook up in a tandem.
Enough of that boring stuff and on to a little talk about the race itself.  I am no fan of Kyle Busch.  We all know the reasons why someone would not be a fan, so I don't need to go into that.  But if you didn't already think he was the best wheelman in the sport, you need look no further than not one but two saves he made last night that I dare say no one else in the sport could have made.

Look at the angle of sidewaysness (made that up for fun) of his car in the above photo.  Tell me another driver who could have saved his car at 180 plus mph in that position; and his car was in this position twice, not once, during this "wreck," say nothing about the fact that he's going from the 30 degrees of banking to the flatter infield.  One of the very best saves I've ever seen and he had another save very much like it later in the race.  Somehow after saving his car twice, with some damage, he was able to push Tony Stewart to the front on the last lap and then pass Stewart by a bumper at the finish line for the win.
Very entertaining, white knuckle racing last night.  I'm wicked bummed I won't get to see the 500.  Kudos go out to Marcos Ambrose in the Richard Petty Motorsports #9 car, who finished 3rd.  The Tasmanian Devil is looking like he's taking well to this style of racing.  I think if Kyle Busch had tried to pass Tony Stewart 100 or so feet sooner, this race would have fallen to Ambrose.