Sep 7

Written by: The Commish
9/7/2010 9:28 AM 

Tony Stewart kept his Cup Series annual winning streak alive Sunday night at Atlanta in holding off Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson to finally, mercifully get a trophy this season.  Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch were fourth and fifth followed by Kurt in the Blue Deuce, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Juan Pablo Montoya and Marcos Ambrose.  Matt Kenseth was 11th, Jeff Gordon 13th, Mark Martin 21st and Dale Jr. one spot behind the as-lousy-as-he-was No. 5.  Kasey Kahne (32nd) was a contenda until he cut a tire, Kevin Harvick had all kinds of issues to come home 33rd; ditto Greg Biffle in 36th after a crash and polesitter Denny Hamlin "done blowed up" to earn first guy out honors.

Jamie McMurray drove Dale Jr's No. 88 Chevy to a tough win over Kyle and Carl in the Nationwide race on Saturday with Kevin Harvick, Matt Kenseth (in the occasionally driven/crashed by Colin Braun No. 16), Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fourth through 10th.  Brad Keselowski was 12th, polesitter Kasey Kahne was 19th and I still haven't decided if I'm looking forward to seeing the 2011 COT cars again or dreading it because I like the looks of the old 'Busch" cars so much.

Todd Bodine had a big spin just past halfway during the truck race at Kentucky but the misfortune turned out okay as the Onion got fuel along with fresh tires after the incident -- which occurred within the same on track space he was sharing with Shrub -- held on to win a mileage race as the rest of the field had to pit for just a little more Sunoco.  Johnny Sauter, Aric Almirola, Jason White and Ricky Carmichael filled out the top five, Kyle was seventh, polesitter Austin Dillon was ninth and Matt Crafton was 10th.  Ron Hornaday had handling issues and then a flat tire that dropped him to 29th at the end.

But the fun came when Bodine was being interviewed in Victory Lane, after he told the TV audience that he had to thank Kyle for driving dirty, which led to his spin, which led to his getting more fuel so he didn't have to make another pit stop, which led to the win.

Kyle was already back in his motorhome when he heard and saw Bodine's credit statement.  He immediately got up and moseyed on down to confront Todd and explain how he didn't appreciate being called a dirty driver.

All we viewers saw was the back of a clean and showered and ready-to-fly-back-home Kyle Busch talking to Bodine, with no sparks or wild gestures, no threatened punches or chest shoves, but it was definitely clear that Busch was speaking with purpose and clarity -- as if that was going to make a difference.  With seven more truck races to go and Kyle scheduled for a few of them you just have to know that Todd and Rowdy will have on track differences again.  I'm guessing as soon as Bodine clinches the title. 

Helio Castroneves won the Kentucky IndyCar race by conserving fuel and turning lemons into lemonade as the Penske driver was never in the hunt, a mid-packer all night, but took advantage of misfortune (a botched pit stop) to make another stop to get more fuel so he could go the distance where almost everyone else could not.  Clever guys.

Panther teammates Ed Carpenter and Dan Wheldon took second and third followed by TK, Dario, Marco, Scott Dixon, Will Power, Danica and the famous Bertand Baguette. Ryan Briscoe got caught up in a Vitor Meira/Simona de Silverstro skirmish to finish 24th.

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