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March 27, 2007

Tomorrow Finally Comes
Making the Grade-Bristol Spring Races
By Dennis Michelsen
They came, they saw, and they seemed to hate it. Such was the almost universal reaction of drivers and fans after the Car of Tomorrow made its debut at Bristol this weekend. The introduction of the new car design didn't affect Busch Whacking on Saturday one bit with twenty Cup regulars in the race. Perhaps the sponsors are hooked on Cup drivers and the teams will not let go of that extra revenue stream! Since the Car of Tomorrow was the Car of Yesterday can we come up with a better nickname by next week? I like calling this the "Wing" car versus the "Spoiler" car. The big question is if the Bristol of Next August will be better or worse of the Bristol of Yesterday. Now on to this week's grades.

Busch Race-Bristol Motor Speedway

1. Carl Edwards
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Kyle Busch
4. Ryan Newman
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr
7. Greg Biffle
8. Kevin Harvick
9. Scott Wimmer
10. Mike Bliss

F for Steve Wallace
Patience is something this talented youngster better learn about real soon. Each and every week he seems to be in the middle of a wreck big or small. While many of the wrecks have not been his fault when you are always in the area it looks bad. In order to finish first you must first finish!

D for Kyle Krisiloff
Kyle has had more crashes (3) than top twenty finishes (2) in his short Busch career. This is another guy that seems to get into trouble almost every week! In his brief Craftsman Truck career he was never able to post a top fifteen finish in twelve tries in good equipment.

C for Danny O'Quinn Jr
It's great to see last season's Rookie of the Year winner back in the Busch series. O'Quinn soldiered home to a twenty-first place finish with a team that is not funded as well as most of the Cup supported teams. Hopefully this talented youngster can show there is talent in the Busch ranks that doesn't race on Sunday too!

B for Scott Wimmer
Scott was the top finishing non-Cup driver in Saturday's Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It's a shame this talented driver isn't getting a full time shot at this great RCR team. But look for Wimmer to find his way to Victory Lane at least once this season.

A for Carl Edwards
The race was not a great display of the talent in the Busch series with twelve caution flags chewing up just over a third of the 300 laps. But Carl Edwards rallied for the late race pass to get the win and do his usual flip.

Nextel Cup Series-Bristol Motor Speedway

1. Kyle Busch
2. Jeff Burton
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Kevin Harvick
5. Greg Biffle
6. Jeff Green
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr
8. Clint Bowyer
9. Jamie McMurray
10. Casey Mears

F for Michael Waltrip Racing
It is getting painful to watch this team slowly slide from mediocre to pathetic over the last few weeks. Dale Jarrett has used up four of his six past champion provisionals and came up short hitting the top thirty-five. David Reutimann and Michael Waltrip missed the race again. How many past champions will be used by MWR in 2007?

D for Rookie at Bristol
The rookie class was seen spinning or hitting the wall quite often on Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya or David Ragan might do great on some tracks, but every rookie struggles at places like Bristol and Darlington!

C for Kenny Wallace
This team can be proud that they have qualified for more races on time than Michael Waltrip Racing! When you are one of the independents in a field of mega-teams it is an accomplishment just to make the show. Coming up one spot short of a top twenty shows just how fantastic a driver Kenny Wallace is at this level!

B for Jeff Green
Jeff Burton would be the logical choice for the runner up grade this week and quite deserving but Jeff Green gets the nod from me this week. Jeff Green stayed out of trouble all day and deserved much more credit on the Fox broadcast than he received!

A for Kyle Busch
Kyle earns extra credit for speaking his mind about the Car of Tomorrow also. He showed that you don't have to love your car in order to drive it to a win! There is no doubt about this talented youngster's ability to drive anything.