Kyle Busch on pole for playoff opener
JOLIET, Ill. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. is playing out the string in his final NASCAR season, leaving a mammoth opening for some driver to capture the sport’s attention and become its next most popular star.
Junior had some advice on how the new generation can win fans — and it had more to with Brooklyn and Nashville filters on Instagram than taking checkered flags at Dover or Kansas.
“I think the young guys are really, really crafty for social media and I think that’s a great direction for them,” he said.
Sure enough, it was social media that again got NASCAR talking — typing? — and not over a fun debate on who will win the playoff opener.
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski, who have long tussled with each other, poked each other some more Friday on Twitter — where else? — over Toyota’s recent run of success. Led by Busch, Toyota took the top four spots in practice at Chicagoland Speedway, prompting Ford driver Keselowski to tweet, “Haven’t seen NASCAR let a manufacturer get this far ahead since the 70s.” Busch retorted with a crying emoji and wrote, “STFU.” Keselowski then accused Busch of name-calling.
Get to your corners, guys!
OK, McGregor-Mayweather trash talk, this was not.
But the grade school back-and-forth perked up a few ears on a quiet Friday at the track for a sport that could use hot finishes and new stars to try and snap out of its funk.
Busch later opened his bid for a second Cup championship with a lap of 187.963 mph to win the pole Friday night.
Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin will start on the front row and fellow Toyota driver Martin Truex Jr. was third. Truex has four wins and the Furniture Row Racing driver is considered the favorite to win his first career Cup title.
NASCAR playoff drivers Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson had the next three spots.
Top 10 spots for other drivers racing for the championship over the final 10 races include: Chase Elliott eighth, Austin Dillon ninth, and Matt Kenseth 10th. Jamie McMurray has the worst starting spot among the 16 drivers in 19th.
Hamlin also joined in the Twitter battle and Toyota crew chief Cole Pearn chimed in on the debate. Keselowski spurred the Twitter chain, then dismissed a question about stirring the pot before he qualified for Sunday’s race.
Busch piled on before his run.
“I feel like all he’s doing right now is slapping his people across the face,” Busch said.
Catching up hours after the Twitter clash, Earnhardt simply tipped his cap toward JGR’s season.
“I got on a bike after practice and rode 40 miles with Jimmie [Johnson], which is a terrible idea. So I missed the whole debate,” Chevrolet driver Earnhardt said Friday. “I think that Joe Gibbs and that whole organization have done an incredible job of getting four teams to work very closely together. And, I’ve never seen it done any better, where one organization literally has four cars that seem almost equal every week.”