Mar 14

Written by: The Commish
3/14/2011 10:36 AM 

Kasey Kahne has raced in four NASCAR truck races and won thrice. He ran Dodges twice in 2004 for the first two wins, finished second in Kyle Busch's Toyota at Pocono last year and won this weekend at Darlington in the same No. 18 Tundra.

So I wonder.  If Kasey were to sub in another truck, say a Vison or Rick Ware or Eddie Sharp or Express Motorsports Toyota, would he be every bit as studly?  What would he do in a Thorsport Chevy, or Parker Kligerman's Ram, or the No. 10 Ford truck?

I'd like to see that.

Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, Matt Crafton and James Buescher were next ahead of Timothy Peters and Elliott Sadler.  Rookie Cole Whitt started on pole, led genuinely and finished eigth after he had a problem while pitting and then an engine issue.

Johnny Sauter was ninth, Parker Kilgerman was 14th and first Mopar for 33 mfr points and the only F150 (the truck, not the 2011 Ferrari F1 car), that No. 10 entry driven by Chase Mattioli was 34th.  Ricky Carmichael, Johanna Long, Nelson Piquet Jr., Jason White, Justin Johnson and Brad Sweet were also among the DNFs due to crash damage.

IndyCar got some dynamite news this week after learning that Firestone was leaving the series effective the end of this season.  The news was things had changed.  The IndyCar owners united and essentially told Randy and Co. Firestone's product, support and services were too good to lose.  They didn't force the sanctioning body to accept Firestone's last proposal including a price increase and the end of their sponsorship of the Indy Lights division; the owners simply volunteered unanimous acceptance and the willingness to write bigger checks if that's what it took.

What a nice win-win result and peace of mind, at least through 2013.  The series, spectators, teams and drivers are all better off because we don't have to worry about safety, quality or performance problems, not to mention the startup costs associated with a new tire supplier.  

So I think the next time I need tires I'll find the best deal I can on Bridgestones or Firestones.

Kurt Busch scratched his drag racing itch by qualifying a Pro Stock Dodge at the NHRA National at Gainesville, no small feat since that class is probably the most competitive among all four pro car classes.  He lost in the first round to Erica Enders but he didn't embarass himself on Sunday, getting that out of the way earlier when he stumbled off the line on his first qualifying attempt and then ran out of time to stage in another.

Well done, Kurt.  And good for

I like the Busch boys; they seem to have the same right stuff the Mario, Gurney, Foyt, Unser -type legends I grew up idolizing for their desire and ability to race almost anything, anywhere.  John Andretti raced a Top Fueler in between NASCAR and IndyCar rides and I'd like to see Kurt match that mark.  Common sense and snowball's chance in hell likelihood aside I'd like to see Kurt racing at the IndyCar finale at Las Vegas this November and then both he and Kyle at Indy when they put that $20 million dollar bounty in writing.

Copyright ©2011 The Commish