NASCAR playoff field
A look at the NASCAR playoff qualifiers, with betting line provided by Green Valley Ranch and commentary by Penelope Pitstop, driver of the No. 5 Compact Pussycat in the old TV cartoon series “Wacky Racers.”
Best driver of which the average sports fan has never heard.
Second-best driver of which the average sports fan has never heard.
He’s Peter Perfect on the track, Dick Dastardly on Twitter.
Look out, Ant Hill Mob. Brad is back and driving a Bulletproof Bomb.
Remember when they counted him out around this time last year?
This guy reminds me of my old rival Rufus Buzzcut. Beware the Buzzwagon. The thinking man’s driver, a la Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-car. He’s 100-1, but Danica Patrick is still his girlfriend.
Like Dick Dastardly’s sidekick Muttley, he’s still learning how to wheeze and snicker.
Had the perfect name for The Chase before they started calling it playoffs.
Hello, Newman. Goodbye, title aspirations.
Remember the Slag Brothers, Rock and Gravel? He’s the Gravel of the Busch Brothers.
This Wacky Racer won the big one at Indianapolis but got fired anyway.
I’m told he likes to wear a big hat in victory lane. We probably won’t see it in Florida.
Excellent driver, soon to be unemployed. Might be a good fit for the Crimson Haybaler or the Army Surplus Special.
If the Arkansas Chugabug requires a relief driver, he’s the man.
Ron Kantowski Chicago suburbs, there’s a Cleveland Indians analogy to be made about the sudden turnaround of Kurt Busch and his No. 41 Stewart-haas Racing team.
“I wouldn’t exactly call us the Cleveland Indians, but we have turned a corner,” the 2004 Cup Series and reigning Daytona 500 champion from Las Vegas said via telephone Thursday as NASCAR continued gearing up for its second season.
“I felt like over the years teams save different things, aerodynamic and engine upgrades, before going into the playoffs. I said, ‘Let’s go to try to win this marquee race’ at Darlington.”
Busch, who will driving in his 11th NASCAR playoffs, finished third at Darlington and was fourth at Richmond last week in the final tuneup for stock car racing’s tiered playoffs. He said a lot of the top teams hold their cards close to the vest before the playoffs, but the No. 41 team was OK with laying theirs on the table.
“Let’s put everything into the car now,” Busch said of the mindset. “I’m very thankful to see results.”
Busch is a free agent for 2018 as sponsorship negotiations continue to play out. He said that while the NASCAR playoffs often are compared to those in other pro sports, they also borrow from NCAA’S March Madness with important early rounds in which therearenobyes.
And unlike in the stick-and-ball playoffs in which only two teams compete at once, there are 36 teams running on the same track for race wins within NASCAR’S complicated postseason system.
“You still gotta watch out for those Appalachian States,” Busch said.
Gragson not set yet
Kurt Busch isn’t the only NASCAR driver from Las Vegas with an uncertain future, as Noah Gragson said it hasn’t been determined if he’ll return to Kyle Busch’s Truck Series team in 2018.
Gragson, who won Saturday’s Super Late Models race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring on his off weekend, is ninth in points, but probably needs to win Friday night’s race in the Chicago suburbs to make the eight-team playoffs.
The 19-year-old might have to seek another Truck Series ride should Busch shutter the doors to his shop amid restrictions limiting Cup Series drivers from competing in lower divisions and sponsorship issues.
“I don’t think I’m ready for the Xfinity level now,” Gragson said of the steep NASCAR learning curve.
Two sides of Danica
Exhibit A about Danica Patrick not returning to Stewart-haas Racing in 2018, and her auto racing legacy — if, indeed, her auto racing legacy has run the course:
She won the pole for the 2013 Daytona 500; she won an Indycar race in 2008, she is the highest finishing female driver in Indianapolis 500