Racin' With Russ
By Russell Schmidt

Toyota Sweeps ‘Monster' NASCAR Weekend
Monday, June 2, 2008

They don't call the Dover racetrack, "The Monster Mile" for nothing, as the opening laps of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup 400-miler clearly illustrated.

A 10-car wreck kicked off the day's racing with a resounding... bang. The lengthy red flag started at lap 22.

Polesitter Greg Biffle certainly showed the field the fast way around for the first half of the race, until electrical gremlins slowed his progress.

Carl Edwards led for a while as did Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon, but for the fourth time this year, the Toyota of Kyle Busch whooped up on the field, lapping all but the top six by races end.

Edwards wound up second with Biffle surviving to third and Kenseth and Gordon rounding out the top five finishers.

Busch's latest win extends his points lead over Jeff Burton by 142 and a staggering 271 over Dale Earnhardt Jr, the result of a 35th place finish by being caught up in the early race melee.

Notables on the day have to include early departures and/or bottom of the barrel finishes for Tony Stewart, Elliott Sadler, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Bobby Labonte and Scott Riggs.

Over on the Nationwide side, Denny Hamlin took the field to school in the Heluva Good! 200 where the Virginia driver beat Carl Edwards, David Stremme, David Reutimann and Biffle to the stripe in his No. 18 Toyota.

While Hamlin's Cup teammate Kyle Busch led for a while, he was taken out by his Nationwide teammate Jason Leffler for a sub-25 finish.

Hamlin had an easy time notching his latest win, this one, his second on the season. When the green flag dropped, many eyes were on 'newbee' Joey Lagano starting his first Nationwide race ever. The talented 18-year-old qualified ninth and finished sixth, certainly an impressive start and someone to keep an eye on. I still can't wait for the young upstart (driving a Toyota) to mix it up with the likes of Stewart, Busch or Harvick. He's got 17 other starts in the series slated for this year along with some ARCA races.

The Craftsman trucks took to the Monster Mile first on Friday afternoon with Kyle Busch leading early. The Toyota driver later pitted in a plume of mechanical problems, finishing many laps down, deep in the pack.

Ron Hornaday led for a while, but it was rookie and ex-F-1 pilot Scott Speed (great race car driver name, eh?) sweeping into the lead and staying there, the result of a gambled late two-tire stop.

The young and gracious Toyota winner took his first checkers in only his sixth start, certainly an important footnote.

The rest of the top five finishers included Jack Sprague, Ron Hornaday, Travis Kvapil and Matt Crafton.

Rick Crawford's ninth place finish coupled with points leader Todd Bodine's dismal 29th place finish (blown tire/crash), has him atop the points by only 20 over Crafton and 24 over Hornaday.

Note: Many race fans have written to ask why doesn't NASCAR do something about this Toyota domination in all three top divisions? After all, when the legendary Hemi engines kicked butt... NASCAR said, no more. When the large wings on the Chryslers dominated in the 70's, NASCAR stepped in to level the playing field.

I've seen less dominate situations cause owners to jump and down. Why haven't they? I don't have a good answer. To be so overpowering in most all stats such as wins, laps led, etc. and not have teams be more vocal is a mystery to me. I'll work on it.

From Rumorville
Some silly season stuff is ramping up into high gear, when it comes to driver's futures. Among the talk has Stewart, Montoya, Reed Sorensen among others losing or gaining rides. If Stewart was to leave Gibbs, could he be replaced with a disgruntled Montoya? With such a poor performance year for Sorensen, one way he may keep his job is if Montoya leaves. It'll get more complicated as we go.

In other driver job talks, it appears Biffle and Martin Truex Jr are about to ‘re-up' with their respective owners.

Open Wheel News
The Indy Racing League ran at the famed Milwaukee Mile on Sunday with youngsters Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal starting on the front row.

Andretti led for a while, until Penske protégé Ryan Briscoe took over, holding off points leader Scott Dixon under a yellow/checker finish.

Danica Patrick wound up ninth, third car down a lap, best lap time among the eighth worst... translated, never a factor. Is there a pattern here?

Did you know?
Out of the 35 races run this year among NASCAR's top three divisions, Toyota has won 20 times (10 of 14 in NNS), and racked up 13 poles. Mechanical advantage? Better drivers? Both? Neither? Drop me a line.

That's it for this week. Next week's RWR will discuss the results of NASCAR running at Pocono along with more racing news from around the globe.

Questions? Comments? Contact Russ