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Is Kyle Busch the Best Driver in NASCAR?

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

April 20, 2008 11:18 pm CDT 13 Comments

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The Shrub, won his third straight Nationwide Series race Sunday at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez outside Mexico City. In order to pull that off, Rowdy Busch had to pass Scott Pruett, one of America’s very best, veteran road racers.

And don’t tell yourself that Pruett has a habit of getting passed at the end of these things. He doesn’t. He usually wins. Sure, Juan Pablo Montoya bumped past Scott in this very same event, at a similar stage of the race last year. But Juan Pablo is an acknowledged, world class, road course master. There is no shame in being passed by JPM.

Scott Pruett is 48 and has had a long successful career in just about anything with wheels. Juan Pablo is an Indy 500 and Formula One Grand Prix winner. Kyle Busch, at something like 22, is already a 27 time winner in NASCAR’s top three series. That’s amazing!

This latest win was Kyle The Younger’s first ever on a road course too. AP has this quote….

“It’s fun to be able to win on a road course because there’s only certain guys that tend to be able to do it,” Busch said. “My first year, first year and a half … I was terrible. I sort of picked up on it a little bit, somehow.”

Yeah, I guess. So now Kurt’s little brother leads the Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series and sits an ominous second in the Sprint Cup Race to the Chase. Is he the best of the NASCAR best?

He might be. Sure, equipment plays a big part in success on the track. But to get a chance to drive the best cars - for the best teams - you have to be one of the most talented drivers. Kyle is.

Many vaunted athletes have been put in what appeared to be the perfect circumstances in which to thrive. Plenty have choked. Tiger Woods didn’t. Kyle Busch hasn’t.

After finishing second at this year’s Masters, Woods will have to wait until next year to make another attempt at Pro Golf’s Grand Slam. I hope Rowdy will decide to run the whole schedule of NASCAR’s majors. Taking the NASCAR Grand Slam would leave no doubt in my mind who the best in NASCAR was.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Filed under: Chase for the Cup, Craftsman Truck Series, Formula One, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, Nationwide Series, Sprint Cup Series, The Busch Bros

Tagged with: blog, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kyle Busch, motorsports, NASCAR, Nationwide Series, Scott Pruett, Tiger Woods

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The Cruel Sport

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

December 4, 2007 1:07 pm CST 3 Comments

As outside observers of the NASCAR racing scene, we guess a lot. We watch and read and mostly put our own spin on what we have watched and read. But we don’t know what’s going on for the most part. You can get closer to the truth by talking and listening to others who are nearer to the action but rarely will you get the real, whole truth.

Scene Daily has this headline on one of it’s posts today:

Junior not sure how he’ll fit in with teammates

It’s another attempt by those that cover the sport to find the "Kumbaya" moments in the story of a racecar driver. Here’s the lead in;

Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t expect too many big bonding sessions between him and his new Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Casey Mears.

My favorite racing film is the John Frankenheimer directed Grand Prix that came out in 1966. The movie is based upon the Robert Daley book, The Cruel Sport. The sub-title of the book is Grand Prix racing 1959-1957 and it is Daley’s chronicle in words and pictures of those seasons from a very up close perspective. It is a fascinating read and I don’t feel qualified to write a proper review. If you have any interest in auto racing and the people who drive the cars, read it.

One of Daley’s many profiles is of America’s first World Champion, Phil Hill. Hill is portrayed as "a gentle man in a profession devoid of gentleness." But when asked why he was not very friendly with other drivers he says:

"How can you be friends with a racing driver? You try to beat them all day on the circuit, and then at night you’re supposed to forget all that? I think all racing drivers secretly hate each other anyway."

I believe that attitude is probably closer to reality than any notion of real closeness among teammates. People seemed shocked that, during his last seasons with Penske, Rusty Wallace couldn’t seem to get along with Ryan Newman. Rusty was a guest ON PIT ROW last week. I wish I had asked him the same question that Daley asked Hill.

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Formula One, Hendrick Motorsports

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ON PIT ROW–your live, local look at NASCAR

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

November 2, 2007 8:39 am CDT 6 Comments

More changes are in the works for ON PIT ROW–the radio show, which may necessitate changing that local only angle.

It was just announced this week that our long time home radio station, and flagship, WCWA-1230 in Toledo, OH will become the flagship station for the Toledo Mud Hens AAA baseball team. With most of their games starting at 6:30 or 7:00 pm; when you figure in their pre-game show, it pretty much ruins our 5-7 pm live broadcast time. We’ll see what WCWA has to say during a meeting with us on Monday, November 5. The other sports station in town is committed to the Detroit Tigers and a third quasi-sports/news station is set to air Cleveland Indians games.

ON PIT ROW may be looking to break out of the live on-air constraints of local radio. We will be looking at a bunch of alternatives before the baseball season starts in April. Including a new non-sports flagship; possibly a local country station that is part of the MRN and PRN networks. Anyone from WCKY-FM looking at this? There is also the live netcast streaming alternative, which we will look into and give over the air stations a chance to play the show whenever they want.

There have been plenty of changes in our show over the past few months and there are many more to come as we look to expand and grow Bench Racing Productions, which itself is a new venture for us. A couple of months ago we changed from a three person show to just Charlie and me. So far reviews have been favorable.

Everyone always says the thing about a door closing and another opening. We’ll see if they are correct. One thing is for sure Charlie and I have put too much time and energy into this deal for us not to keep going–no matter what.

Stay tuned for updated news and hopefully an exciting announcement about a new, additional racing show from us coming soon.

PRN, MRN, Sirius–we’d be glad to sit down and talk about adding ON PIT ROW to your lineups.

Picture credit: BethAnne Heisler - ON PIT ROW

Filed under: ARCA Remax Series, Busch Series, Craftsman Truck Series, Diversity and NASCAR, Formula One, It's Only Cheating if You Get Caught, NASCAR & the Media, NASCAR Rumors, Nextel Cup Series, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, The Daily Bugle, The Fast Lap, Toledo Speedway, Warren Wallace

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Edwards “flippin’ sweet” at the new Bristol

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

August 26, 2007 11:43 pm CDT 5 Comments

It looked for much of the night like Kasey Kahne would pull off the double win at Bristol.

Carl Edwards used a pick from Micheal Waltrip to pass Kahne with 166 laps to go in the race to post his second win of the 2007 season. Edwards picked up 10 more bonus points to begin the Chase for the Championship in three weeks. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was only able to gain five points in his quest to make the Chase.

Bristols new concrete coupled with the new banking configuration led to much side by side racing. More so than ever there were three distinct grooves for the cars to utilize.

The Buzz ON PIT ROW is:

Did the resurfacing of Bristol ruin or enhance the racing?

The Fast Lap this week asks:

1) Will a Mark Martin/Aric Almirola tag team effort keep the fans from booing the #8 next year?

2) Jacques Villeneuve will most likely join Juan Pablo as non-US born drivers in Cup cars in 2008. Is this what NASCAR had in mind with its diversity program?

3) Should NASCAR come up with an appeals process during a race to keep from making mistakes like happened to Rowdy in the Busch race?

4) Will there be any changes to the top 12 with 2 races to go or are we set?

Let us know how you feel; about these questions, or anything else that happened during the short week at Thunder Valley. If we like your comments, whether we agree or not, we could use them on the air during Tuesday’s ON PIT ROW. Leave us a comment on the blog or call the show–toll free at 1-877-502-8255 between 5-7pm edt on Tuesdays.

photo: BethAnne Heisler–ON PIT ROW

Filed under: Car of Tomorrow, Carl Edwards, Chase for the Cup, Diversity and NASCAR, Formula One, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR Rumors, The Busch Bros

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Pre-Juan Gurney and Clark did it all

by Charlie Turner

I'm Charlie Turner co-host of the syndicated, mostly NASCAR radio show On Pit Row. Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. Oh yeah, Steve is an idiot.

March 16, 2007 10:50 pm CDT No Comments

Juan Pablo Montoya has captured much of the available facination so far in NASCAR 2007. JP is a remarkable driver. Indy 500 champion, multi-time winner in Formula One and already this year a Daytona 24 hour and NASCAR Busch Series winner.

The 2007 F1 season kicks off this weekend in Australia. Great drivers compete here. As I watch and scan the driver rosters I don’t see the likes of Juan though. His cross platform, cross series, not to mention cross continental , driver for all seasons career path is pretty unique today.

Forty years ago I followed two of my heroes as they drove everything, it seems, with four wheels.

Jimmy Clark and Dan Gurney are two of the greatest race car drivers to ever live. They too drove, and won in F1, sports cars, USAC Championship (later Champ/Indy Cars) and NASCAR cup cars. Clark won a couple world championships in F1, 25 Championship Grands Prix, The Indianapolis 500 and countless sports car and saloon car events.

Dan was my man. Though he didn’t win as often as Jimmy (no one did) he did win in F1. In fact he won in the only American built Formula One car to ever win a modern Grand Prix, at Spa in 1967. The beautiful painting of the start of that race the following year is by Rob Ijbeme from his Car a Day Fast Painting site and it was his painting that inspired this post. That era of auto racing is my favorite. It was difficult to find any timely racing news then. Print media coverage was spotty and TV/Radio nearly non-existent.

I do remember be awakened by a radio sports report announcing the death of Jim Clark, in a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim, that 1967 season. I’d never heard of Hockenheim. Formula 2 was probably equivalent to the Busch series. I lay in bed for a long time that morning. It’s funny, but I think about that day when I hear Don Mclain’s "American Pie". I heard it tonight. Another spark to write this.

Dan Gurney designed and built the Gurney All American Eagle/Westlake that won that 1967 F1 race at Spa. It is the most beautiful racer ever built. He teamed with AJ Foyt, in a Ford GT MkIV, to win the 24 Hours of Lemans that same year. Daytona 24 Hours, USAC Champ Car and Can Am Challenge races; been there, won those.

Riverside International Raceway belonged to Gurney. The original road course ringer won six NASCAR Cup races at the California track.

Jimmy Clark never won a NASCAR race. He did drive a Holman-Moody Ford at Rockingham. Finished 30th with a blown engine. I wish I could have seen it. For real.

Filed under: Formula One, Nascar Legends

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