Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

Busch Snickers First Toyota Win
Monday, March 10th, 2008

It was only a matter of time.

Kyle Busch has been the talk of the pits both good and bad for weeks know, fast and successful in whatever he drove.

He started the weekend with a convincing win among the Craftsman truckers. Then, the 22-year-old driver led a good portion of the Nationwide race before succumbing to a right front flat and into the fence.

When the green flag fell on the high banks of Atlanta on Sunday, Jeff Gordon was leading, but it wasn't long before the Toyota of Busch led most of the laps before lightly smacking fence.

On a late race restart, the Snicker's Toyota left the pits first and went on to claim Toyota's very first NASCAR Cup race win. Not since 1954 has a foreign car maker taken the accolades of a NASCAR win. Al Keller in his Jaguar racer took the top spot at a racetrack in New Jersey.

I predicted months ago the youngest Gibbs driver would pick up their first Cup win, this one with teammate Tony Stewart's help coming in second and playing body guard over the final circuits.

You see Greg Biffle was among the fastest cars on the track during the final segment, only to seemingly be held up by Stewart while on his way to the front.

Capping the top five in this one were the cars of Dale Earnhardt Jr (led the early laps), Biffle and Jeff Gordon. Of notable interest were the runs by Clint Bowyer, who led for a while and finished behind Gordon with Brian Vickers Toyota finishing in ninth and sitting an amazing ninth in points. What a difference a year makes.

Carl Edwards appeared to be on his way to a three peat winning situation with a comfortable lead well in hand. This is all went up in smoke with 50 to go. Too bad. He drops out of the top ten to 17th.

Overall, not exactly a great race. The COT cars seem to be a handful to drive especially with rock hard tires on a cold day. The fix? I'm up for suggestions. Drop me a line.

Had it not been for a right front tire going down, Kyle Busch may have swept the top spots in all of NASCAR's premiere divisions. Instead, the ever-steady Matt Kenseth held off Kevin Harvick for his latest Nationwide win.

Jeff Burton, Carl Edwards and Bobby Labonte made up the rest of the top five finishers.

Harvick now leads Edwards by 25 with Busch, David Regan and Clint Bowyer topping the points charts.

The Craftsman truck race was dominated by Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday Jr. When the checkers fell, Busch nailed down his second win of the season and third top five.

Rounding out the top five included Hornaday, Mike Skinner, Matt Crafton and Chad McCumbee.

Busch leaves Georgia with a 72-point lead over Todd Bodine with Hornaday another 50 back of Bodine in third.

Formula One News
The world's fastest open wheelers begin their 2008 season this weekend in Australia. Reigning F-1 champion and Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen returns with teammate Felipe Massa in the Italian red rockets.

Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton is back with McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen replacing two-time champion Fernando Alonso.

Alonso is now back with Renault, the team he notched his two world titles, although he feels his car is about one second a lap slower right now with the McClarens and Ferrari's topping the pre-season testing charts.

The opening round is a twisty road course in Australia. Check your local Speed TV listings in your area starting with a Thursday night practice.

From Rumorville
Petty's out? Well not exactly, but have fallen victim to the high cost of racing by adding a partner to their operation. Petty follows suit akin to Roush and Evernham taking on business partners. You can expect more details this week with announcements from one of NASCAR's oldest teams. I understand one of the largest problems was coming up with a name agreeable to both sides and keeping alive the Petty name.

Look for Mike Skinner to drive in three more Cup races for team Red Bull and the No. 84 Toyota. A.J. Almendinger is still slated to be their driver after Skinner's four runs.

Did you know?
After struggling with his car for the past two weeks, Tony Stewart proclaimed in post-race interviews that he hates Goodyear so much that he is 'dismounting' any Goodyear's on his personal cars and switching them to Firestones. Funny stuff. No Christmas card from Goodyear to Tony this year.

That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will have the results from NASCAR in the Bristol battlegrounds, along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ