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Keeping Up With The Locals

SPRINT CUP PREVIEW: RACE NO. 15 - MICHIGAN

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By TONY FABRIZIO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 13, 2008

NASCAR doesn't race on Mother's Day (although there is now a race the Saturday night before), but Father's Day is always on the schedule. Once again, it's 2-mile Michigan International Speedway and Sunday's LifeLock 400. Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch were last year's winners at Michigan. Tribune motor sports writer Tony Fabrizio takes a look at what's topical this weekend.

Tony Stewart led 14 laps and looked like a contender to get his first victory of the season last week at Pocono. How did he end up 35th?

Stewart battled handling problems with his No. 20 Toyota much of the day, but he was running eighth when he made his final pit stop on the 171st of 200 laps. He was caught speeding on pit road, though, and received a stop-and-go penalty. That put Stewart a lap down, and there weren't enough laps remaining for him to get his lap back. He finished as the lead car one lap down.

Several NASCAR teams have taken on equity partners in recent years. What's so sad about Petty Enterprises selling controlling interest to the private equity firm Boston Ventures this week?

Petty Enterprises was one of the last true family-owned and run teams in NASCAR. Founded by patriarch Lee Petty in 1949, the team ruled the sport for decades, winning 268 races, including 198 with Richard Petty. The company now will be overseen by a board of directors, although Richard Petty will stay on as chairman emeritus and Robbie Loomis will continue as vice president of racing operations. The new CEO is David Zucker, a former executive at ESPN, Playboy Enterprises and Midway Games. At the very least, the Pettys have lost some of their independence and underdog charm.

Kasey Kahne has won two of the last three points races. Why could Sunday's race be another good one for him?

At least with the old car, Gillett Evernham Motorsports had a good setup for Michigan. Jeremy Mayfield won at Michigan in an Evernham car in August 2005, and Kahne won the June 2006 race. There's also the fact that Kahne, who in the last four weeks has won the all-star race, Coca-Cola 600 and Pocono 600, has tremendous momentum. After winning Sunday at Pocono, he admitted he "was leaving a little bit out there," meaning his confidence in his equipment was down and he wasn't pushing as hard as he needed to. Kahne has four top-five finishes in eight starts at Michigan, and he has a victory at California (2006), Michigan's sister track.

Is Kyle Busch jeopardizing his Sprint Cup championship prospects by running so many races in other series?

So far, Busch has run all 14 Sprint Cup races, all 15 Nationwide races and seven of the nine Craftsman Truck Series races. He says running all the extra races helps keep him sharp, and given that he has won a combined 10 races, it would be hard to argue with his results. That said, Busch may have overtaxed himself last week trying to run three races in three different regions of the country. Maybe it's mere coincidence, but he had a lousy weekend at Pocono, crashing in practice and crashing twice in the race.

With fourth- and third-place finishes the last two weeks, Zephyrhills' David Reutimann has climbed to second in the Nationwide Series, 166 points behind Clint Bowyer. He's actually ranked ahead of Kyle Busch, who has run every race and won four times but hasn't been as consistent.

This weekend, Reutimann will commute between Michigan and Kentucky to run the Cup and Nationwide races. Josh Wise will practice in his Nationwide car and help crew chief Jerry Baxter hone the setup, but Reutimann expects to make both qualifying sessions.

Thursday night, Reutimann and his father, Buzzie Reutimann, were scheduled to compete in the Night of NASCAR Stars II at Macon Speedway, a dirt track in Illinois. Tony Stewart, Kenny Wallace and Michael McDowell were among the other drivers entered.

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