Today’s Nationwide and truck races at Dover were studies in… well, something. In the case of the former, it was a study in why one should always place oneself in the best possible place during the race as you never quite know what the people in front of you will do. Example is Brad Keselowski. He made solid if unspectacular progress throughout the event, in the end finding himself third behind Kyle Busch and Joey Logano who until that point had been treating Dover like a personal playground. Here’s the restart. Uh oh, here’s Busch feeling a tire going down. Here’s Logano punting Busch. Here’s Keselowski saying thank you very much en route to victory. Here’s a whole lotta people really, really happy because 1) Keselowski, by dint of driving for JR Motorsports, can pretty much count on the support of every member of the Junior Nation; 2) despite the continued efforts of most every broadcaster out there — as the race wound down it seemed like there were ten laps straight of nothing but singing Kyle Busch’s glorious praises by those wacky kids at ESPN — the massive roar when Logano sent Busch up the track should have sent a signal so clear even the media could pick it up Shrub isn’t exactly a fan favorite.
An issue during the race and even more so during the subsequent truck race, won by Brian Scott, was how many right side tires tired prematurely to the point of saying let’s blow this joint. Literally. Considering that Scott’s win came via making a call to stay on the track with worn tires when most everyone else came in late and got new ones, his win is all the more remarkable. Goodyear swears it won’t happen during the Cup race tomorrow, but with the amount of stress said cars put on tires I’m not exactly brimming with confidence Miles won’t be constantly picking up car parts scattered across the track from accidents not of the driver’s doing.
