When will Kyle Busch grow up?

It was a long day of great racing Sunday between the Monaco Grand Prix -- Ferrari's first win in 16 years behind Sebastian Vettel -- Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola.

It was great to see Kimi Raikkonen make headway as Vettel's teammate, leading some laps early before finishing second. It left my heart in my throat at times when Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves duked it out at 230 mph in the closing laps for the win at Indy.

And my heart sank when I saw Kyle Busch's reactions to finishing second at a very late hour in the 600. Maybe it's living by the Ricky Bobby mantra of "second place is the first loser." Maybe he needed a nap.

But if you judge how Busch felt finishing second based on how abruptly his media availability ended at Charlotte Motor Speedway, you'd have thought the sky was falling on him.

Of course, it wasn't. It was short, bitter and painful to watch him spit on everyone again.

If we had a paid translator, he'd probably interpret what Kyle said Sunday night like this:

"Waah! I lost again. I need a blankie."

Maybe not quite like that, but you get the point. Same garbage, different day.

Please stop and look at this objectively for a minute. In what was a complete 180-degree opposite of Busch, Castroneves had some emotion in his voice when he was interviewed on the grid after finishing second to Sato, but answered the questions to the ABC cameras with dignity and class.

No "nothing surprises me anymore" and tossing the microphone aside crap. Just salute the guy who beat you to the line, smile as best you can, and move on to next week.

That's Helio. He's got a resume as impressive as Kyle's, and will join the four-win club at Indianapolis -- which still has only three drivers -- sooner than later.

We're only one-third of the way through the 2017 season. Who knew Richard Childress Racing drivers would have more wins (two) than Joe Gibbs (none)? Certainly not me.

Also of note: Dillon led exactly two laps all night, the most important ones. Jimmie Johnson's fuel cell ran dry at lap 398, and Dillon made sure the No. 3 would return to Victory Lane for the first time since Dale Earnhardt put it there in 2000.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took to Twitter later Sunday night and defended Busch's reaction to the loss, saying drivers need to be allowed to let more of their individuality out.

Point taken, but what's so hard for Busch to recognize that his fans have a right to understand what happened and what went wrong straight from the source? The conspiracy theories are certainly making the rounds on social media today.

And all the while, Kyle Busch will be back.

Let's get this last point out of the way. Busch will be in Victory Lane before the end of this season, probably more than once. He'll bow to the fans from the door of his 18 car on the track, then celebrate his win like nothing else ever happened.

Being a gracious winner is one thing. For Kyle Busch, lessons in how to lose with at least a tiny degreee of grace may officially be a lost cause.

Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @TlommyZee81 ore email tominator19@yahoo.com

Round of 8 set...where did the competition go?

The Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday was a typical Chase race -- Halloween theme not withstanding. We knew there would be four more drivers eliminated, and some of them ended up being serious surprises.

Brad Keselowski looked like he drove for all he was worth. The No. 2 led 90 of the 188 laps, but didn't count on the engine collapsing under the weight of the Chase and the expectations that come with it.
The car didn't perform, so BK's dreams of a second Sprint Cup went away with it. He finished 38th.
Martin Truex Jr. -- he of the on-fire mode with two wins in the first round (Chicago, Dover) -- never had a chance to advance when his engine quit at lap 41.
Any thought of contention vanished after that as Truex would finish 40th.
Such is life in the Chase. Some go all out, others just stay out and survive. All four Joe Gibbs Racing cars did what they had to do and moved one step closer to turning Homestead-Miami Speedway into their own backyard brawl.
Denny Hamlin was the best finisher at Talladega, and his third-place run was just barely good enough to grab the final transfer spot to the round of 8. He ended up tied with Austin Dillon (who finished ninth) and won out on the basis of his Talladega finish. Dillon's best of the second round was a sixth at Kansas, so his dreams are done,
Matt Kenseth had more than enough cushion to advance and did so in spite of finishing 28th on Sunday. He was 10 points ahead of Dillon and Hamlin.
Kyle Busch was even worse in 30th, but he was good enough to get by as well. His final margin came in at plus-6.
And Carl Edwards -- still without Twitter -- was sandwiched between his teammates in 29th. He was four points clear in the end and will continue his quest for the crown.
As things shook out, NASCAR did not penalize any of the JGR cars for the "100 percent effort" rule. Apparently, they did enough and earned their participation pass to the Round of 8.
-What in the world is Kevin Harvick thinking? Post-race pictures from Talladega appeared to show him going after teammate Kurt Busch following their runs Sunday. Harvick already had his win at Kansas to get him through to the next round, and Busch ended up fourth, good enough to finish second in the standings, one point behind Jimmie Johnson.
But apparently Harvick had an issue with a post-race bump Busch gave him on track. It carried over to pit road, and let's just say things will be interesting going forward.
Harvick and Busch are the only other multiple drivers for one team in the Round of 8. Joey Logano -- Sunday's race winner -- and Jimmie Johnson are on their own as they go after the title.
Onward and upward.
-As for the other race of the weekend at Talladega, the Camping World Truck Series had its first elimination of two drivers after the Fred's 250. There were no surprises.
Non-Chaser Grant Enfinger won the race, and Timothy Peters was the highest-finishing Chaser in third. Daniel Hemric and John Hunter Nemechek were in must-win mode, but didn't come close.
Hemric finished 11th whilie Nemechek lost an engine after just 13 laps and ended up dead last in 32nd.
William Byron was the only Chaser to win a race in the Round of 8 (New Hampshire), and he'll be joined by teammate Christopher Bell (Kyle Busch Motorsports), Peters, Ben Kennedy, Johnny Sauter and Matt Crafton.
Crafton already has two championships on his resume in the truck series, but he knows full well getting No. 3 in the bag will be a wholly different experience.
Will he need to win to advance to Homestead? It will be nice, but pushing too much onto the plate too soon can backfire.
Just ask Keselowski and Truex on the Cup side what that's like. It's certainly not pretty, but that's why this system works.
Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @TommyZee81 or @Tomzsports. Email tominator19@yahoo.com. He'll be heading to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the NHRA Toyota Nationals final eliminations this Sunday.
THIS WEEK'S RACES
Martinsville Speedway (.526-mile oval), Martinsville, Virginia.
-SPRINT CUP: Goody's Fast Relief 500, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 500 laps, 263 miles.
2015 champion: Jeff Gordon
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Alpha Energy Solutions 200, Saturday, 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 200 laps, 105.2 miles
2015 champion: Matt Crafton
-XFINITY SERIES: Off until Nov. 5 for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

While we were away...

Yeah, it's been two weeks since something's been posted on this blog. Between my high-school class reunion and real-life, gotta-get-paid-somehow responsibility (such a concept...I know), I've been a total slacker around here for you, the race fan. That sucks.

Time to get the car out of the garage from its repairs and get back in the game. Here's what I missed.
On the Sprint Cup side of the ledger, the Round of 12 opened with Jimmie Johnson -- you remember him, right? Mr. Six-time Champ? -- winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Bank of America 500, which became a daytime race due to the Hurricane Matthew rainout.
Johnson won for the 78th time in his career and earned his spot in the Round of 8 for the first time. In his quest to join Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt with title No. 7, the "new" Chase has been his undoing in the last two years.
In 2014, Johnson was 40th at Kansas, 17th at Charlotte, and 24th at Talladega and was gone in Round 2.
Last year, Johnson was gone after the opening round thanks to a 41st-place finish at Dover.
There are no worries now. So far, with the Chase halfway done, Johnson has been 12th, eighth, seventh, first at Charlotte (for the first time since the 2014 Coca-Cola 600) and fourth at Kansas.
Everything will start from zero at Martinsville next weekend, but there seems to be a sense that Johnson has finally gotten his Chase groove back. Be watchful of him the rest of the way.
Kevin Harvick is the second driver to join Johnson in the "semifinal" round of the Chase after he held on to win at Kansas.
In the weirdest of coincidence, both Johnson and Harvick qualified 11th and came away with victories. If it happens again Sunday at Talladega, we can say Halloween came a full week early because NASCAR's biggest track carries enough weirdness in it already.
Among those on the bubble, Joey Logano and Austin Dillon are in a flat-footed tie for the final transfer spot. Denny Hamlin is only six points behind and Brad Keselowski sits seven off the pace.
Will any of them break through and advance? I can honestly say I have no idea.
Logano, Hamlin and Keselowski all have wins at Talladega. If Dillon breaks through, the ghost of Dale Sr. will certainly rejoice.
And as for Chase Elliott, it's Victory Lane or bust. He's 25 points behind.
For the XFINITY Series, they're on a three-week break with the Chase field already down to the Round of 8.
The first two races had actual series regulars earn victories -- Elliott Sadler at Kentucky and Daniel Suarez at Dover -- but Cup regulars have won the last two since. Logano ruled Charlotte and Kyle Busch (yawn) dominated again at Kansas.
For the season, the owner of 85 wins in the No. 2 series has nine this season in 16 starts. Here are some more stats that have fans up in arms and thumbing their noses at Saturday races.
Busch has started from the pole in seven of the nine races he's won in 2016. He's led a mind-blowing 67 percent of the laps he's run -- 1,862 out of a possible 2,795.
In total, Sprint Cup regulars have won 19 of the 30 XFINITY races on the season.
While it's nice that no Cup regulars will be allowed to compete in the season finale at Homestead, NASCAR is taking a much harder look at how it can limit the number of XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series races they can compete in starting in 2017.
As NASCAR vice president Steve O'Donnell said on SiriusXM radio Monday, "We’ve heard the fans … They like seeing those drivers come up through the ranks and it’s our job to make sure that Xfinity is the name where names are made."
It's about time it's being addressed. O'Donnell added an announcement on any potential changes is still to come.
Kansas was the first race of the Round of 8 in the XFINITY Chase, and Sadler and Suarez are tied for the top spot. We'll talk about the rest of the field in greater depth after they run at Texas.
The Camping World Truck Series has been idle since Tyler Reddick denied BK Racing teammate Daniel Hemric and won at Las Vegas. Heading to Talladega, Hemric is in absolute must-win mode as he sits 15 points behind Johnny Sauter for the last transfer spot to the Round of 6.
John Hunter Nemechek is tied with Hemric, but the task isn't quite as daunting as it may seem. The distance to fourth-place Ben Kennedy is only 18 points, and it's 25 to second-place Christopher Bell.
The right moves will make all the difference. The wrong ones will lead to the end of a championship dream.
Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @TommyZee81 or @Tomzsports. Email tominator19@yahoo.com.
THIS WEEK'S RACES
Talladega Superspeedway (2.66-mile D-shaped oval), Talladega, Alabama
-SPRINT CUP: Alabama 500, Sunday, 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 500 miles, 188 laps.
2015 champion: Joey Logano
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Fred's 250 powered by Coca-Cola, Saturday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, Fox. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.
Race distance: 250 miles, 94 laps.
2015 champion: Timothy Peters.
-XFINITY SERIES: Off until Nov. 5 for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

Truex wins again, first four eliminated

After all the rain fell at Dover International Speedway over the course of the weekend, the first elimination race of the 2016 Chase had the look and feel of ... mystery.

With a green track, it didn't give off a clear advantage to one particular team, especially with limited practice time.

When the Sprint Cup race -- the Citizen Soldier 400 -- rolled around, Martin Truex Jr. sounded off loud and clear his championship aspirations.

Truex won for the second time in his career at his "home" track -- he calls Mayetta, N.J. home -- and won for the second time in the first round of the Chase.

The results speak volumes how the one-car team with the Joe Gibbs Racing technical alliance is planning on being a major factor.

In picking up his fourth win of the year (matching Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch at the top of the charts), Truex led 187 laps, including 106 of the final 114.

Chase time is definitely winning time, and Truex is getting pretty good at giving himself a chance as a title contender. Last year, he won at Pocono and stayed consistent to reach the Championship Four. As we head to Round 2 this week, who knows how many more races the 78 will win?

We're heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway, where Truex absolutely demoralized the rest of the field, leading 392 of the 400 laps to win the Coca-Cola 600. It's 100 miles less this time around, but there's no reason to think a repeat performance -- or something very close -- isn't in the cards again.

And with the third Chase race in the books, the first four who had title hopes saw them come to an end. We nearly had a stunning development along the way.

Kevin Harvick, who won the first elimination-style Chase in its debut two years ago, was nearly eliminated after Dover. He had early issues in the No. 4, went to the garage for repairs, and ended up 37th, 46 laps down. It was his second-worst finish of the season and third in the 30s since July (39th at Daytona 2 and 32nd at Watkins Glen, but both of those were with crashes).

When the brake dust finally settled, Harvick ended up as the 12th and last driver to advance to the second round. The final margin: One measly point in front of Tony Stewart, who was 13th at Dover. Crew chief Rodney Childers and the No. 4 team know it does matter how much you get in by, as long as you get in.

The feeling ended up even worse for Kyle Larson and the No. 42 Target Chevrolet team. He had the final transfer spot by five points heading to Sunday, but ended up two points outside after finishing 25th.

Jamie McMurray was done early at Dover as he lost an engine and finished 40th, while Chris Buescher went as expected, finishing 23rd as the fourth driver eliminated.

Among the surprise advancers was Austin Dillon, who started the day tied with McMurray but turned in an eighth-place finish at the Monster Mile to end up 11th for the round, 10 points in front of Harvick.

Now everything resets once more and the next cutoff at Talladega awaits.

-After being delayed to Sunday due to heavy rains, Daniel Suarez cruised to the victory at the XFINITY Drive Sober 200 at Dover, joining Elliott Sadler in the second round of the Chase.

Four drivers will be eliminated from the first Chase in NASCAR's No. 2 series, and it's anyone's guess who will hang on. From fourth-place Brendan Gaughan to 10th-place Erik Jones, the separation between seven drivers is exactly 15 points.

Heck, even Ryan Sieg has a realistic shot from 11th. He's only 10 points behind Brennan Poole, who has the last transfer spot at the moment.

Some will be desperate for a win, others will be in search of ways to survive and advance. That's why the Chase has been, and will always be, worth watching.

Tom Zulewski will post a separate entry on the Camping World Truck Series race from Las Vegas later today. Follow him on Twitter @Tomzsports or @TommyZee81 and email tominator19@yahoo.com.

NEXT WEEK'S RACES

Charlotte Motor Speedway (1.5-mile D-shaped oval), Concord, North Carolina.

-SPRINT CUP: Bank of America 500, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, NBC. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN affiliate.

Race distance: 501 miles, 334 laps.

2015 champion: Joey Logano

-XFINITY SERIES: Drive for the Cure 300, Friday, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN affiliate.

Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps.

2015 champion: Austin Dillon.

-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Off until Oct. 22 for the Fred's 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Talladega Superspeedway.

High-drag race package was drag at Indy

Let’s get the essential preliminaries out of the way first. Kyle Busch dominated at the Brickyard. He swept the weekend with a last-lap pass that beat Ryan Blaney and gave him the XFINITY Series victory in the Lilly Diabetes 250, then raised the restart to an art form over the closing laps as he won the Jeff Kyle 400.
Busch has four wins in the last five weeks and became the first driver to win three straight races since Jimmie Johnson did it in 2007 on the way to his second of six Sprint Cup titles.
But after the essential, well-deserved platitudes for Busch – who may bust my previous prediction of making the top 30 in points by Bristol on Aug. 22 a lot sooner now – there was a deeper issue for those who raced and those who watched.
The new high-drag race package for Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a drag on the joy and the emotion of what’s supposed to be the second-most popular race of the Sprint Cup season.
Look no further than the closing laps for the best case why. Despite the field’s best efforts, no one could complete a pass on anyone who was in the lead. A total of six drivers led at Indianapolis on Sunday.
The more clean air the driver had, the better the car behaved. Less clean air, the only real passing zones were at the exits of the corners. It’s back to the drawing board – not only for the tech geeks in NASCAR, but for the non-fans of the driver of the No. 18.
Busch is a Rembrandt when it comes to restarts. When the win was on the line, he proved it to perfection Sunday. But if you read the Facebook posts from various pages discussing his win, the respect is nowhere close to being there, not even in begrudging form.
“NASCAR handed him another one,” cried one poster.
“NASCAR will make sure he gets (in the Chase), one way or another,” howled a second.
And there’s this gem that’s so ridiculous, you can’t help but laugh.
“Anybody who says Kyle Busch is doing a good job is in denial. He's getting a lot of help from NASCAR, that's why nobody's coming to the races.”
The stands looked pretty empty at Indy, but suffering a broken leg and fractured bone in a foot and trying to heal from it as fast as possible doesn’t matter, I guess.
It certainly does to Busch. Through all the pain, all the physical therapy, all the weeks watching David Ragan run as the relief driver of the M&Ms Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, getting back to doing what he loved was all that mattered.
News flash: Busch returned to the 18 in the space of exactly three months. He raced in the All-Star Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway, then raced for points for the first time in Cup in 2015 at the Coca-Cola 600.
To borrow a line from one Sprint Cup sponsor, that’s freaky fast. Even freaky faster, Busch was in Victory Lane at Sonoma just five races later.
And the momentum hasn’t stopped.
Bottom line here: Even with this seriously on-fire streak, Busch is still not in the top 30 in points. Bad news for those who’d rather not be a fan of the 18: All of the winning is cutting up the deficit like a machete through a tire. With six races still to run before the Chase, Busch is only 23 points behind Justin Allgaier, who sits in the cutoff spot.
And like it or not, Busch will make the top 30 and could very easily do it after this weekend’s race at Pocono.
I am not a fan of particular drivers, but I am a fan of a good story. Busch’s run of success is one of the best stories we’ve seen in NASCAR in a long, long time.
It’s time for those who choose to hate to embrace and respect what we’re seeing or find something else to spend the emotion on.

Tom Zulewski is passionate about auto racing and welcomes new followers and comments on Twitter @Tomzsports.

NEXT WEEK'S RACES

Pocono Raceway (2.5-mile tri-oval), Long Pond, Pa.

SPRINT CUP: Windows 10 400, Sunday, 1:30 p.m. ET/10:30 a.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 400 miles, 160 laps.

2014 champion: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Pocono Mountains 150, Saturday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 150 miles, 60 laps

2014 champion: Austin Dillon

XFINITY SERIES: US Cellular 250 presented by New Holland, Iowa Speedway (.875-mile oval), Newton, Iowa, Saturday, 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, NBC Sports Network. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local MRN Radio affiliate.

Race distance: 250 laps, 218.75 miles

2014 champion: Brad Keselowski.

Earnhardt's popularity even shinier now

Sure, it was almost 3 a.m. when the Coke Zero 400 finally finished early Monday morning at Daytona International Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his second July race at the World Center of Racing, but any form of celebration was the last thing on his mind.

As cars were wrecking behind him coming to the finish line, the No. 3 driven by Austin Dillon went airborne and turned the catch fence into tattered, twisted and mangled steel.

The in-car audio spoken by Earnhardt and spotter T.J. Majors ended up being a statement to why fans have voted him NASCAR's most popular driver for more than a decade. If you heard it live during the late-night broadcast or caught up with it on social media after a good night's sleep, there was real, legitimate emotional impact.

But don't just take it from me. Give a listen to what Junior had to say after the race when he spoke to NBC. If you weren't a fan of the No. 88 before, you should be now. There's an undeniable maturation that's happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr., and what happened at Daytona is another important step in the process.

He's engaged to Amy Reimann. He's got six wins in the last 53 races after needing more than 10 years to get his previous six. And he's second in points with nine races left until the Chase.

Yup, it's good to be Junior right about now. Not just for the racing, but for the person he's become.

Daddy Dale is certainly showing his approval from heaven.

One striking thing that came from the Daytona wreck involved the pit crew for the No. 88. Every last one of them ran out to Dillon's upside-down car to make sure he was OK.

NASCAR mandated that only the safety crews were allowed on the track after the Tony Stewart-Kevin Ward incident from last August, but other than a stern lecture (probably) from the powers that be, no penalties will be forthcoming.

And there shouldn't be, either. A racer's humanity means there will always be concern for their own whenever a life goes flashing before their eyes.

Thank goodness this one was only a flash.

Tom Zulewski believes Dale Earnhardt Jr. will find championship karma as the 2015 season unfolds. Feel free to share this post and follow him on Twitter @Tomzsports.