Busch can't afford another bad weekend

There are four elements required for a championship racing season: Driving talent, good equipment, a great team, and luck.

Last week in New Hampshire, the Joe Gibbs Racing number 18 team ran out of luck. Kyle Busch has had a remarkable season, but luck has played a big part up until now. After experiencing a malfunctioning sway bar (whether a broken part or a mistake by a crewman is still being debated), and losing two laps, the team just could not recover. Their 34th place finish could have been a lot worse, if other people hadn't also experienced difficulties in the race. Dropping from first place in the Chase for the Championship to eighth is a blow, but not insurmountable. Another performance like Sunday's however, and he can pretty well kiss the championship goodbye.

As for the rest of the Chasers, I was certain that Jimmie Johnson had the race in the bag until Greg Biffle blew by him in the closing laps. Biffle and teammate Carl Edwards both looked really strong last Sunday, as did Johnson and Little E.

Not to make too close a comparison to Formula 1, where only two teams (and sometimes three) have a chance to win any given race, but you will note that only Roush-Fenway cars, Hendrick cars, Gibbs cars and Childress cars made the Chase. Edwards, who won at the Monster Mile in Dover last year, is my pick to take the checkered flag in Sunday's race.

There is not a Dodge in sight in this year's Chase, which gives credence to the rumors that Gillett-Evernham Motorsports may take over the Bill Davis Toyota franchise in 2009. After an agreement to acquire Robby Gordon's team fell through, with lawsuits now filed, GEM has its sights set on the Davis operation, which reportedly will concentrate strictly on the Nationwide and Truck series in 2009. Dodge Motorsports Manager Mike Delehanty acknowledged that GEM is looking to field a fourth car, but vehemently denies that the team is looking to switch from Dodge, characterizing the rumors as "pure speculation." Delehanty also said that Dodge is in Sprint Cup for the long term, despite the manufacturer's plans to end its support of Craftsman Truck series teams.

I don't know if you witnessed the pit-clearing brawl on pit lane following the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race last weekend, but it was pretty ugly. NASCAR officials, attempting to break up the melee, ended up on the ground as well as some of the participants. In the wake of the altercation, three truck series teams have been penalized for "actions detrimental to stock car racing." The number 30 team, the number 11 team, and the number 9 team have all been placed on probation until Dec. 31. In addition, three crew members, including Todd Bodine's crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., a Bodine crew member, Mark Hillman, and David Starr crew member William Divel, have been suspended from NASCAR until Sept. 24 and put on probation until Dec. 31. Mike Hillman also was fined $2,500, while Divel and Mark Hillman each received a $1,500 fine. Fines and probation were also levied on Jason Overstreet, crew chief of David Reutimann's number 30 truck, while David Starr, driver of the number 11 truck was fined $10,000.

I was somewhat amused by an e-mail sent to Dave Despain on his "Wind Tunnel" show last Sunday night, bemoaning the psychological damage done to children who watched the fight. Despain put it into perspective by comparing this rather rare occurrence to the much more frequent altercations that take place in professional baseball, football, basket ball and ... oh, yes " hockey!

Monday is the scheduled appeals hearing for the penalty levied on Formula 1 points leader Lewis Hamilton for his alleged passing infraction at the Belgian Grand Prix two weeks ago. Given the hatred Formula 1 chief Max Mosley holds for McLaren boss Ron Dennis, I don't expect the appeals committee to reverse the stewards' decision. Unfortunately, politics has ruined one of the best F1 race finishes in recent years, but I think this setback will just give Hamilton greater incentive to win at Singapore next weekend in the first-ever night race for Formula 1.