Kurt Busch ignores the controversies roaring through the NASCAR garage and wins the pole for Sunday's Michigan 400

  Kurt Busch: Steve Addington is giving him good smoke (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   BROOKLYN, Mich.
   One week it's Kyle Busch; the next week, it's older brother Kurt.
   Last week it was Kyle; this week it's Kurt.
   And Kurt Busch and new crew chief Steve Addington seem to be a perfect combination, in a remarkably smooth and quick transition.
   Friday Kurt and Addington added the Michigan 400 pole to this season's impressive resume, that has been highlighted by wins at Atlanta and two at Charlotte. They've got five top-fives in their first 14 races, and considering how dominant they were at Atlanta (leading 129 laps) and Charlotte (252 laps), looks like they've got a great shot getting another Sprint Cup tour win right here.
   Kurt Busch, clocked at a sizzling 189.894 mph, just edged Jamie McMurray and Jimmie Johnson. And McMurray, who is off to the best start of his career, was a bit surprised that Busch knocked him off the pole. McMurray got an early run, cool weather (after rain), "and I really didn't think anybody was going to beat that," because the afternoon quickly turned hot and muggy. McMurray was second to Kurt at Charlotte.
    One of the hot stories this week is the Kevin Harvick-Joey Logano flap, with all its overtones.
   Kurt Busch – the 'new' Kurt Busch – can now look back to his early years on the tour, when he got caught up in stuff like that, with bemusement.
   Remember here that run-in between Jimmy Spencer and Kurt a few years back....and how they had to call up the cops to straighten it out.
    "Being a new guy, you don't necessarily know how to handle all the situations," Kurt Busch says dryly. "And when you're a new guy, you don't get the benefit of the doubt. 
     "That's where I'm at a mix with this whole scenario (with Logano and Harvick).
     "I raced Jimmy Spencer early on in my career, and I wasn't supposed to be lipping off and sticking my neck out
    "Now it seems okay for somebody to do that. 
     "It's amazing what 10 years in this sport can do....Not just on my side of it, but on how everything gets viewed.
      "I don't think that Harvick did anything terribly wrong (at Pocono, with Logano).  He was a veteran teaching a young kid a little bit of the ways of the world. 
      "That's what a veteran did to me early on in my career...and it helped to elevate my game pretty quick."
    
     Another of the top stories  this week has been the latest round of meetings NASCAR is holding with drivers and crew chiefs, to toss around ideas for improving the sport. Few here want to talk about any specifics which might come out of the meetings.
   But Jeff Gordon says "I just like the trend that they're setting" in talking about possible changes.
   "I think that's the direction I think they're going in, and I think they saw a lot of value in going about those meetings (from last year and again earlier this year) -- trying to get as much input from the teams, car owners, and drivers....
    "And crew chiefs -- if they're not in those meetings, there are other meetings with them that they're getting information from as well.
    "It's good business. It's valuable for everybody to see where their thought process is currently and where the sport is.
     "They've got a lot of data that none of us have access to.
     "So updating us on where the sport is, and what kind of feedback they're getting from the fans and from the media....it's good to get updated, as well as having open conversation about some ideas that they have coming along in the future.
     "What's nice about it is you feel like you're in a forum where you can be open and honest and tell them what you really feel about it, and that it doesn't go any further than that. And let them continue to make their decisions based on gathering that information.
    "It's just another way to gather information from as many drivers and car owners and crew chiefs as they possibly can.
     "I'm a big fan of it.
      "It doesn't mean I always like what I hear in those meetings. There's always a bit of a surprise that comes to you...and you don't know where they're going to go with something, whether it gets implemented or not.
    "They're certainly thinking about a lot of things. Some are in the box and some are outside the box.
    "That, in my opinion, is what you want them to be doing."
    Some of the topics are obvious: "Testing," says Gordon. "Open testing (versus) not-open testing.
     "Chase formats.
    "The top-35 in points (getting effectively 'franchised' into the field weekly with guaranteed starting spots.
    "The racing.
     "Where we're at at Talladega, Daytona, and other places.
     "And the spoiler.
     "All the things you'd think they would want to talk about. Everything really across the board."
     And why, pray tell? After all the action this season has been some of the best action in years, and drivers have really taken the 'boys, have at it' to heart, with weekly 'feuds' and personality clashes.
     In part to keep that momentum, with triple Green-White-Checkered finishes, double-file restarts, things like that.
     In part to keep pushing for better TV ratings and bigger crowds, which have both been off, despite the markedly improved quality of racing.
     "I tell you, it was intense last week," Gordon said of Pocono. "When you get cars side-by-side on one of those long straightaways at Pocono, it really allows for that slipstream, to make it three and four-wide.
    "And you go into the tunnel turn two-wide and three-wide, and everybody's on the brakes hard and it gets just crazy.
    "I had restarts where I was in the right lane with the momentum, and I'd drive by guys and gain three or four spots. And then I was in the one where I lost 10 spots.
    "The intensity is so strong at the end of those closing laps...and on restarts...that you just are trying to gain as many positions -- and not lose any positions. And you've got to be extremely aggressive, and that means bump-drafting, that means going three and four-wide...
    "That's what creates some of those situations you see at the end of the race.
     "It's not fun...but it's exciting for an outsider.
     "I don't really know what the heck happened there with Joey and Kevin; I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to what their past is and what the issues are.
     "But I'm just basing it on a young guy coming in --- if you're competitive, and you're battling up-front, that earns respect...especially when you do it on a consistent basis. You give and take when you're in the heat of the battle, especially when you're 15th or 20th...and just wait for your days.
    "If you put up a big fight -- and if a guy, a veteran driver like Kevin Harvick, feels like every time he gets to you it's a big fight....Or every time Joey is behind him he gets up on his bumper and is getting him loose instead of actually trying to pass him...those are what create these rivalries.
    "Man, it's awesome! I love it. Let's keep it going, and let's keep talking about it.
     "This has been an exciting season so far in our sport, and we need that.
     "I hope they continue to happen. I don't necessarily want to be a part of it, but if it happens to be me, then okay.
     "And I don't know if our time out of that spotlight is done yet this year (remember Gordon versus Jimmie Johnson, and Gordon versus Matt Kenseth), because I want to be battling for some more wins, and may do some things that we did at Texas and some other tracks.
    "But I don't get the long-term rivalries (in NASCAR history, like Earnhardt versus Wallace, and Petty versus Allison, and Yarborough versus Waltrip), and how guys won championships.
    "Maybe you had a lot more engines blowing up and cars failing to finish. Or maybe you just had such a bigger gap in competition that you could get away with it.
     "But if you build a rivalry with a guy, and every week you're messing with him and he's messing with you, it's taking away your chance to win the race.
    "If you get into a rivalry that's so heated you're wrecking one another, you're probably not even going to be in the chase, let alone have a shot at the championship -- because if you tick a guy off enough, he's going to make sure you don't win that championship.
    "I get into a battle with a guy, I want to patch things up (quickly) because I don't want it to linger -- because I don't want it to affect me at a time when it's crucial for us to win a race or battle for the championship.
     "While it's great for the show, it's not great for you as a competitor."
 
               

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The qualifying results Friday for Sunday's Michigan 400