Imagine leading a race under caution with just two laps to go, only to have to come down pit road to replace a flat tire. Now imagine that when you peel off the track you hear a roar from the crowd loud enough to nearly drown out your own engine, as if 40,000 Nelsons suddenly stood up, pointed at you and yelled, “Ha, ha!” Such was the plight of Kyle Busch in Saturday night’s Nationwide race at Darlington.

And how can we feel sorry for him? He’s cocky as hell, wins on most weekends, and when he doesn’t win he pouts out a hissy fit.

Boo, hoo… another one slipped out of his hands this past weekend. It’s just a Nationwide race — it’s not like he lost the Super Bowl. And one would think that the “greatest driver in the universe” would know better than to scrub his tires through a huge debris field along a crash scene. Oops. Like we say here in Jersey racing circles — “Sorry ’bout yer luck!”

So Busch’s big “protest” stunt these days seems to involve parking the car up pit road, climbing from his car, feigning outrage at the unfairness of it all, and then storming off to his hauler to leave the premises. He lets the crew members go down, pick up the car, and push it back to the garage themselves.

I’ll tell ya… I wish A.J. Foyt could run NASCAR for a day. Just one day. He would have sent a rollback over to the car, had the car loaded onto it, have it driven out of the track and over to that lake off turn four and then have it hoisted up and the chains released. And that’d be the last time Busch parked his car anywhere but in the garage.

We Need a New Division

NASCAR needs to really reconsider the fact that the Nationwide Series has become a total disaster. It is essentially “Cup Lite”. Just thinking about how Busch has won the past three million Nationwide races straight is evidence enough that changes need to be made. This is supposed to be a lesser series for lesser teams and lesser drivers. So why are the professionals consistently participating in the races, and even running for the championship? It completely takes away opportunities for drivers who need to bridge the gap of experience from short tracks to the Cup level.

Imagine if the New York Yankees announced that, in addition to their Major League Baseball commitments, they’ve also decided to play most of the AAA games. Does that sound ridiculous or what? (Well, okay… with the way the Yankees have been playing lately, maybe it doesn’t sound so one-sided.)

NASCAR needs to put a limit on Cup driver participation in its lower divisions.

Might as Well End Under Yellow

I’m not sure what’s worse… a race ending under yellow… or waiting around for a green, white, checkered finish only to have that end under yellow anyway. I’m seeing this more and more — a ton of late-race cautions interrupting any chance at a decent race for the win. And almost invariably the crashes involve back-markers driving like maniacs for 23rd place. How often do we see, say, the last 50 laps run under green anymore?

If we’re going to have all of these race-ending yellows then I think NASCAR should say, “Okay, if the caution comes out within ten laps to go, drivers can race back to the flag.” Re-starting a race under a green, white, checkered rule only to go immediately back to yellow and calling it a day is just pathetic.