Observations from the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway

By Mike Smith (contact)

Sunday, July 13, 2008 | 10:42 a.m.

Does Toyota have an unfair advantage over other manufacturers in this sport as some people claim? Yes. And its name is Kyle Busch.

Kyle Petty was exactly right in stating that Kyle Busch’s dramatic pass at the end was “all driver.”

It took about 6 or 7 laps after the green flag for the cars to fall into a single-file formation. It usually took about the same number of laps after each caution flag for the field to fan out once again. NASCAR can sing the praises of the COT all it wants, but the new car still hasn’t done a lot to change the complexion of the racing on the cookie-cutter tracks. It’s a good thing this race was only 400 miles.

What was TNT thinking? Even though most of the racing wasn’t that exciting, I would still rather watch Kyle Busch lead every lap than have to sit through another one of Larry McReynolds’ feeble attempts at doing a David Copperfield impersonation. Keep your day job, Larry.

Kevin Harvick had to drive the entire race with a steering wheel that was too close for comfort. Seems his crew made an improper adjustment after Harvick had requested the steering wheel be moved a little farther away from his chest. Despite this, he finished third and didn’t mention anything about the steering wheel in his post race interview. But I’m sure it bothered him. Heck, I don’t even like driving around the block with the seat and the steering wheel in the wrong positions.

I think it was Kyle Petty who wondered if people were getting tired of watching Kyle Busch run out front almost every week. That’s a good question? I’d like to hear from some of this blog’s readers as to whether or not Kyle Busch’s dominance is turning you off.

Finally, why was there a picture of Bozo the Clown behind Bill Weber and Wally Dallenbach in the broadcast booth? If anyone has the answer to this please clue me in.

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