Kyle Busch dies at age 41

Kyle Busch passed away yesterday at age 41.  A complete shock.  He's my favorite driver in in the sport today.  I've been a fan of his since early on in his career.  The sport has lost one of the greats and lost someone who meant a lot to others including fellow drivers, fans, and all those associated with the sport which is evident by the outpouring of thoughts and emotions we've already seen.  Just nothing you can say when someone passes this early in life.  I pray for his young family.

As a driver he was a 2X NASCAR Cup Champion in 2015 and 2019.  He won 63 Cup races, which puts him 9th all-time.  He won a combined 234 Cup, O'Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series races which was best in the sport all-time.  He was in the twilight of his career and had been, and still was cantankerous but that was part of his "charm".  Just a great competitor.  In my mind I'll always see him in an M&M's racing suit or car.

RIP Kyle

Joey Logano Wins the 2018 NASCAR Championship

Joey Logano won the 2018 NASCARChampionship yesterday beating out Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and KyleBusch.  Those four drivers had qualified to race for the championship Sunday by way of the playoffs.  Logano is a deserved champion.  This season Logano was in the top four of racers in wins (3), top 10 finishes (26), top 5 finishes (13) and average finish (10.7).  Sunday’s race played out as it should have – those contending for the title battling each other out.  I don’t think it has ever worked out that way before.  The four drivers going for the championship were at or near the top the entire race.  In the end those four finished 1 through 4 and battled it out down the stretch.  Logano had the better car and had no issues outdistancing Truex Jr. on the last restart having no real challenge in the final laps of the race.  Congratulations to Joey Logano on his first NASCAR Championship.

My favorite driver is Kyle Busch, who like Lagano, tends to be played as a villain, a moniker he earned as a younger driver.  He placed 4^th the race and standings this year and had a great year with eight wins, tied with Kevin Harvick.  While he was near the top all day he just didn’t have the car to win.  Busch does have one championship from 2015 and he has finished top five in the standings in six different seasons.  He is only 33 and seems poised to contend for years to come in the M&M’s #18 so I have nothing to complain about.  William “Bubba” Wallace Jr. is the rookie I was rooting for this year as he drove the #43 Air Force car.  He finished 28^th.  I still have hopes he’ll become a better driver in the near future.  This was a fun NASCAR season for me.  I followed along more than I had in the last few years and enjoyed calling my pop near the end of the races so we could talk during the final laps.    

Cards are from the 2017 Panini Donruss NASCAR Set