DFresh's Weekly Targets: Kyle Busch, Marco, Scheckter

Raise your hand if you jumped for joy after Kyle Busch’s 43rd-place finish at the Pocono 500? It makes me sick to my stomach when he takes those obnoxious bows after each race win, but I was grinning from ear to ear after he bowed out on the 95th lap. And to make the icing on the cake even sweeter, Busch’s 142-point cushion over Jeff Burton after Dover dwindled to a mere 21 points after Pocono. The once runaway leader has been grounded and now the series championship is up for grabs. Hopefully somebody with class and dignity can topple Busch and send him whining back to Las Vegas.

It was another solid Sunday drive for NASCAR’s trio of former Indy 500 champs. 2000 Indy winner Juan Pablo Montoya tangled with Clint Boyer on lap 46, but Montoya’s excitement did not end there. Montoya’s car coasted down the main straightaway and came to a stop at the end of pit road where it engulfed in flames. 2007 Indy champ Dario Franchitti’s day ended just six laps earlier when an accident sidelined the reigning IRL champion in his first race since his horrific crash at Talladega in April. Last but not least, 2006 winner Sam Hornish, Jr. brought home his Mobil 1 No. 77 machine home in 42nd-place when an accident ended his day after just 37 laps. All three Indy champs were eliminated in the span of nine laps. Which former Indy winner will be looking for a ride in the IRL next season? If I was a betting man – and last time I checked I was – I would bet a couple pretty pennies that at least one of the former Indy winners will be driving in the IRL in 2009. Montoya, Hornish, Jr. and Franchitti are not wise gambles for NASCAR. All three blossomed in open-wheel, which is where they belong. Dream scenario: Tony Stewart becomes a driver/owner in the IRL and hires one of the three as his teammate. When it comes to the Rushville Rocket, expect the unexpected.

What do Marco Andretti and Kyle Busch have in common? They are practically mirror images of one another. Both are arrogant. Both are cocky. Neither admits fault and are quick on the trigger to throwing fellow drivers under the bus. But, there is one facet in which they are vastly different: Kyle Busch wins. Busch spends the same amount of time in victory lane that Marco spends in the infield care center after yet another accident. Would Marco still be employed at AGR if he was not the son of team owner Michael Andretti? Probably not. How many cars does he have to wreck before he gets a pink slip? The pressure on Ryan Briscoe has ballooned and his future with Penske gets cloudier by the minute, but Marco deserves the same amount of heat, if not more. Marco and Briscoe each have one IndyCar victory, but both have more machines lying around in a scrap yard than a demolition derby. When Briscoe becomes bored during a race he tends to eliminate himself. On the other hand, Marco has the tendency to take out multiple cars with a quick turn of the wheel. Marco not only lacks the maturity to drive for AGR, but he lacks the skills and patience to be in the IRL altogether. He needs to spend another couple years in the Indy Lights Series and learn how to make clean passes and keep all four wheels on the track.

First, the IRL’s Kansas race was delayed due to an LPGA event in April. Strike one. Strike two occurred this past Saturday night when the already-tape-delayed Bombardier Learjet 550 from Texas was pushed back 30 minutes due to a NASCAR Nationwide event. It is apparent that NASCAR and all its proprieties generate more interest and revenue than the IRL, but ESPN – which broadcasted the Nationwide and IndyCar event – could have used better judgment to satisfy the open-wheel fans. At 10 p.m. – the scheduled start time for the IRL event – ESPN2 opted to continue their precious Nationwide event. On good ol’ ESPN, they broadcasted a college World Series game between Miami and LSU, which undoubtedly attracted minimal attention in the Indianapolis market. And, with all due respect, a rodeo event from the 1960s on ESPN Classic as a tribute to the late sports broadcaster and pioneer Jim McKay needs to be lower on the sports totem pole compared to an IRL event. IRL CEO Tony George and his marketing team need to get their act together. How does the IRL expect to retain current fans and win the trust and respect of new ones when they start a tape-delayed race at 10:30 p.m.? This is the year of unification; not disorientation. I digress.

Tomas Scheckter, winner of the Texas event in 2006, was a severe disappointment this past weekend. Scheckter was a popular pick by both the fans and media based on his impressive performance last month at Indy. While aspirations were high for the part-time Luczo Dragon race team, Scheckter’s race ended after contact on lap 56. Scheckter finished in an unflattering 25th place, which were three spots behind Marty Roth. Let me repeat that. Marty Roth finished ahead of Tomas Scheckter. If that will not enrage and motivate the 27-year-old South African then he needs to hang up the racing helmet today. Scheckter is persistently fast, but he lacks patience and common sense. Scheckter signed up to compete in four IndyCar events this season; thus far, he has 3 DNFs with the August 24 Sonoma event looming. DNFs and destroyed machines are no way to prove to the deep-pocketed owners that he is still worthy of a full-time ride. Scheckter, at his current pace, will retire as the most over-hyped, over-rated, and biggest waste of talent in the history of IndyCar.