FYI WIRZ: NASCAR Big 4 Power Pack of Weekly Topics

It’s rudimentary to say not every week is the same in the sporting world, but any typical racing week should garner at least three or four episodes that deserve focus. Still, some weeks have more impact moments than others.

This power pack series is meant to sort through a week or sometimes 10 days to pinpoint topics worthy of attention.      

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of motorsports topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com.  Quotes derived from team and sanction press releases.

National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) select topics for week 23, 2011:

No. 1 Episode: Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Altercation
 
The anger that erupted from Richard Childress and resulted in punches that tumbled Kyle Busch in the garage at Kansas had likely brewed over time. Multiple bumping incidents like after the Darlington race that brought about the Harvick vs. Busch pit-road altercation might have played a role as well.   

NASCAR has adhered to its "have at it" policy and penalized Childress for his actions. 

NASCAR statements: 

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"NASCAR has reviewed the incident involving Richard Childress and Kyle Busch after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday June 4 at Kansas Speedway.  

Richard Childress’s actions were not appropriate and fell far short of the standard we expect of owners in this sport.

Kyle Busch remains on probation with NASCAR and we continue to watch his actions carefully. However, we have determined that Kyle’s involvement in this incident does not violate his probation and no further action is required."

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NASCAR has fined owner Richard Childress $150,000 and placed him on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for violating Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing—involved in an altercation in the garage area) of the 2011 NASCAR rule book.

The probation includes all NASCAR-sanctioned events.

No. 2 Episode: Dale Earnhardt Jr. Was Nearly 1st Twice Recently

The crowd at Charlotte exhaled a huge sigh when Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car ran out of fuel in the final turn and went from a certain win to a seventh-place coasting. Junior Nation fans were hoping the same fate would plague Brad Keselowski at Kansas, but that was not to be as Earnhardt had to conserve fuel to roll into second place.  

Dale Earnhardt on his good finish:

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“Gave Steve the chance to play the strategy game where you gotta—when that caution came out that we came and got fuel. We put ourselves in a one-stop scenario where everybody else didn't pit. They can't give up the track position because it's so hard to pass.

So they stayed out there knowing they'd have to come down to pit road twice. And that was the game that we took, and the race could have went, could have had a caution and changed everybody's strategy, but it worked out for us and right to the end.

We had a good car. We just didn't have a second place car not at all, but we had a top 10 car.”

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No. 3 Episode: Brad Keselowski Was in the Dark During Race Day for the Win

Brad Keselowski did an excellent job of conserving fuel by applying his clutch to coast through turns for the final laps of the STP 400 at Kansas Speedway Sunday for the win. Keselowski was not aware that he was leading the race until there were only two agonizing laps to go.

Keselowski explained:

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“I didn't know I was leading until two laps to go. Kind of stretched my neck out, barely caught the scoring pile to see I was leading, I was instantly mad at my guys for not telling me, but you get over that pretty quick when you cross the start/finish line first.

 We'd been doing everything we could to save gas. It didn't really affect me whether I knew I was leading or not. It was probably really smart of them not to tell me that because I probably would have drove it really, really hard.

It all worked out at the end, and they talk about you when you're in victory lane, that's all that matters.”

 

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No. 4 Reality: Summer Heat Wave Already Taking a Toll

Unusually hot 94 degree weather in Kansas with high humidity took a bigger toll on drivers early as they get ready to roll into the expected hot summer weather. Heat is a bigger factor for drivers than some fans realize, even if they do swelter in the stands at times.  

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was surprised heat didn’t affect him during the race:

“About 60 laps in the race, I was real hot,” Earnhardt said. “I said—I'll be surprised if this heat don't really bother me by the end of this race. I felt fine until I got out.”

Denny Hamlin explained the reality of his race car:

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“Just sit in there for four hours. It's really, really hot. These cars, the exhaust is closer to the floorboard. So I mean we're sitting right on our exhaust that's a thousand degrees. All these cars are completely sealed off. We've got our window nets now to where they pretty much seal the left side of the car so there's no air getting in or out of the car.

So it's just extremely hot. Your feet are just boiling throughout the day. I mean, it's just, you know, sitting in a sauna for four hours and it's pretty much what you got.”

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Photo credit: Dwight Drum at Racetake.com