NASCAR's Big Names, Big Weekend, and Big Disappointments

So I sat after the race Sunday trying to figure out: was it worth it? Did he really hurt his Chase chances? Did he just make winning the cup even harder, and is it really the end? And as you are reading this, these questions can apply to a myriad of drivers, all of which have been somewhat disappointing for different reasons.

First off, Smoke. Now I picked him actually as my runner up this year. And not because he couldn't win the cup, but because I thought another driver to win. This year for him seems a little off, I am not sure if it's the contract talks or the fact that he's had so many almosts and too many, "how did that happen?" moments.

He seemed to have the 600 at hand, with great pit strategy and great stops. It was all but sealed a win before the summer heats up, but a flat tire deflated that chance. At Dover an accident that was not of his making derailed him, but that's racing and that's how it goes. And he settled for a 41st finish.

At Long Pond, he had a good car, his crew worked on it all day. Great pit stops  and on the final one, a mistake he will admit was all him, speeding relegated this former champ to a 35th-place finish, and more importantly left him clinging to 12th place in the standings—not where you want to be with less then half of the regular season left.

We know this driver can heat up, but I think this year will be different. There is too much talk of contracts, in the end losing focus on what they need to be doing this year, winning races and positioning themselves.

Should Tony have to make a choice about where he will drive in 2010? No. He has to fulfill his contract with Gibbs, otherwise it's going to cost him big time.  But these apparent leaks to the media are unacceptable, and Tony is playing with the media. Holding media sessions at the track to discuss something like this is ridiculous.

The choice will come and I doubt that choice will be made public to the media anytime soon. He needs strong finishes now, and he needs to position himself into the Chase. Even without wins he's a threat. But he has to make the Chase first.

Now my pick to win the whole thing is Gordon. And I say is with great hesitation. I don't doubt this team can rattle off wins, but you first have to win one to start rattling them off.

They have a great pit crew and they have been perfect on pit stops, but the car just won't drive the way Gordon likes it to and that is the problem. They have been testing like crazy and trying to find something, and lately they have been driving better and seeing results, but Sunday's final pit call really hurt them. LeTarte pulled him down because they didn't run well on old tires. Well, everyone else had basically old tires.

So why force him to come down and get mired back in traffic when he could have finished with at least a top 10 if not a top five? We will never know what would happened if he had stayed out. He might have finished exactly in the same spot but when you are struggling like they have been you gotta take a shot.

This team can run better and expects to run better.

But something needs to change, something needs to happen with the 24 for them to realize they are running out of chances to just get top 15, top 10 finishes. They are Chase contenders for now, but something's gonna have to happen...

Now I think Kyle Busch is an amazing talent, but this weekend's trifecta was boneheaded. I read all the articles claiming that he is young and let him do it, he has nothing to lose. If he is able to do it why not?

Why not?  Because even though everyone wants to say running in three different states didn't affect him at all in the cup, he never was higher than 17th place on Sunday. And that's not because of poor quals, it's because he crashes his car in the final two minutes of practice.

Limited amount of sleep can lead to lack of focus. Yes, he got some sleep, but traveling can take its toll on any person—with multiple flights in less than 48 hours did you expect something different?

Yes, you did, all wins in all three series, but when you are driving a 3400-pound car at speeds well over 150 mph limited amounts of sleep has its toll on your focus. Right now it cost him points, and when the Chase starts he will be a higher seed, but even so his focus needs to be on cup.

He is the given favorite to win the whole thing, but it's early enough in the season that races like Sunday can change a lot, especially when all three series are in three different states. Where's the leadership? He might have a lot of talent, but he is still a 23 year old. 

Look, it's only race 14, and there's plenty of racing to be done. I think the players in right now will change. I said it early in the season—the drivers who were running so well early on like the Ryan Newmans and Kurt Buschs and Clint Boywers will come back, and that's what happened.

It comes in cycles, and I know Smoke and Gordon will each score more than one win and will be real threats come September. But first they gotta figure out what happened.