Three of Rick Hendrick’s four Sprint Cup teams are proving to be merely human. Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Mark Martin each have a pair of top ten finishes so far (both Gordon’s and Martin’s are actually top fives) and are in a solid position to make the Chase. Gordon is currently seventh, Earnhardt is tenth, and Martin is seventeenth. Hendrick’s “other” team however is leading the points, has won three of the six races run and has only Daytona’s 35th place finish to mar an otherwise excellent start to the season. Is it too early to be talking about a fifth straight championship for the 48 team? I’m just sayin’.
You all may remember Kyle Busch’s guitar smashing antics in Nashville’s Victory lane last year. It was in all the papers. So this past Friday night, there was some anticipation when Busch once again won the Camping World Truck race there. Would he smash another Sam Bass custom painted, Gibson guitar? Well, he didn’t of course, and one has to wonder; since this was his first win as an owner/driver, and he is engaged to be married, maybe ol’ Rowdy is growing up and getting a little less rowdy these days. I’m just sayin’.
Kevin Harvick also had a pretty good weekend in MusicCity. He finished second to Kyle Busch on Friday and won the Nationwide Series race on Saturday. In both races he was driving his own equipment. In addition, teammate Ron Hornaday finished third right behind the boss in the truck race. Harvick has now won two out the four truck races run so far this year and two out five Nationwide races. (Hornaday has two top fives so far in 2010.) One has to start thinking that when the day comes, and it surely will, for Kevin Harvick Racing to step up to the Sprint Cup level, that they will be a force to be reckoned with right there with teams like Joe Gibbs, Jack Roush, and RCR. I’m just sayin’.
Six races into the 2010 Sprint Cup season and as of yet no track has seen a sell-out crowd. Not even the Daytona 500. In almost any other business, when demand for the product is down inventories get reduced. Maybe it’s time to take some of the second dates away from a couple of the poorer performing tracks and reduce the schedule. Fewer races would make things easier on personnel, reduce expenses for the owners, and should increase demand for tickets. I’m just sayin’.
