Saturday's Pepsi 300 from Nashville Superspeedway provided fans a racing fix for a weekend when the Craftsman Truck Series and the Sprint Cup Series had off. Despite the rare weekend off, some of the Cup drivers still decided to run the Nationwide race. Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, David Reutimann, David Ragan and Denny Hamlin all ran on Saturday. Despite all the Cup drivers in the field, Scott Wimmer was able to take his #29 Holiday Inn Chevy to victory lane. Here are some observations I made during the race:
- Scott Wimmer has been one of the stronger non-cup drivers in the Nationwide Series, yet he had been unable to secure a win since 2003. In a prerace interview, Wimmer had stated that he knew that the team could get to victory lane, and that he wanted nothing more than to get a win for the #29 team. He did just that by passing Richard Childress Racing teammate Clint Bowyer in the final laps and taking the victory. Wimmer has a lot of talent and it will not surprise me if he gets another win this season.
- Kyle Busch has dominated the Cup and Truck standings since the beginning of the season, but he can't catch a break in the Nationwide Series. Whether it is mechanical failure, getting caught up in a wreck, or spinning himself out, Busch can't avoid trouble. He was clearly upset with himself after the race on Saturday.
- The lack of the "Insurance Frauds" (previously known as the Busch Whackers) allowed many other drivers to get seat time and to showcase their talent. What I saw on Saturday was what I expect from the Nationwide Series: young talented drivers looking for a shot to advance their career within the series or even at the Cup level. I think it is time, once again, to start the conversation about limiting Cup drivers in the Nationwide Series.
- Speaking of young talent, I could not help but notice that Brad Keslowski has been getting better and better in the last few races. His fourth place finish was his second in as many weeks. Keslowski is just what JR Motorsports needed in order to be a successful and competitive race team. There is no doubt in my mind that Keslowski will be a factor for the Nationwide Championship and that he will be making his way over to Cup soon, perhaps replacing Casey Mears at Hendrick Motorsports.
Set as favorite
Share This
Email This
Comments (0)
Subscribe to this comment's feedWrite comment
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
