TV Focused Too Much On Dale Earnhardt Jr.

[PressRoom-GFN]

By Ray Cooper

LOUDON, N.H. (Sept. 13, 2007) – The last few weeks Kurt Busch has made one of the most remarkable comebacks in stock car racing history, but you didn’t hear much about it on TV. The network was too busy telling everyone not to worry, that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would make the “Dirty Dozen”.

Busch won two of three races, at Pocono and Michigan, yet Junior seemed to get most of the headlines.

Junior didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in a pizza oven at Richmond of making the final 12, but TV didn’t give up on him until the bitter end.

Junior seemed bored answering all of the questions about why he didn’t make it. It’s simple. Twelve drivers scored more points than he did. Does that mean NASCAR will expand to 13 or 14 teams next season? Let’s hope not.

At least now the top 12 drivers can get a little attention. Perhaps. An article appeared Wednesday entitled “Non-chasers who could mean the most in the playoffs.” Naturally, Junior was No. 1 on that list, too.

Looks like it’s going to take a competitive Chase to make TV and the fans forget Junior for a few weeks. Busch, driver of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, is ready to do his part.

Busch isn’t sugar-coating anything. The 2004 champion is ecstatic that his quest for a second point title begins at Loudon since he won that inaugural Chase for the NEXTEL Cup at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Considering his absence from last year’s playoff format after two straight years in the mix, the Las Vegas resident is ready to gamble on Loudon as a re-launching pad to the top.

“I think the first few events of the Chase are very important,” said Busch, who starts Sunday’s Sylvania 300 [ABC, 2 p.m.] tied for fourth with Carl Edwards in the Chase [5,020 points] and behind defending champion Jimmie Johnson [5,060], Jeff Gordon [5,040] and Tony Stewart [5,030].

The other seven in the Chase are Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick, all with 5,010 points, as well as Clint Bowyer, in 12th with 5,000.

“To get off to a good start is key. I just feel that you’re not, I guess digging out of a hole so to speak,” Kurt Busch said. “So it’s great to start off on a good foot and I’m excited about New Hampshire and some of the success I’ve had in the past, and just getting the Chase under way. It’s been a hard-fought battle just to get into it, and we feel refreshed and ready to go. It’s almost like we pressed the reset button, and now we have got another 10 weeks where we have to charge hard.”
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Ray Cooper works for Clear!Blue Communications, which handles publicity for Dodge Motorsports.