This much we know: They sure get everybody's attention.
After Kyle Busch gathered much of the controversy over his speeding ticket and his infamous dust-up with Kevin Harvick earlier this season, older brother Kurt figured he needed to step up his game.
He found a worthy adversary in Jimmie Johnson at Pocono. Jockeying for a Top Five finish, the drivers traded paint in the closing laps. Johnson – who had made a clean pass at Busch – didn't appreciate Busch's side bump to win back his track position.
If you are old-school NASCAR fan, there is nothing wrong with what Busch did. Just a little rubber 'n racin. On the flip side, the reason Johnson has won the Sprint Cup championship five consecutive years is that he avoids the petty shenanigans and races people clean. He rarely finishes at the end of the line after wrecking his car in a payback move.
Fellas, can't we all just get along?
"We got into each other, or he got into me off of turn two and complained that I was trying to not leave him room or something ridiculous," Johnson said after the race. "I spent the entire fuel run running him down. Had a few chances to play dirty and I didn't. And I finally got by him clean, fair and square, and then he drives into my door off of two. Frustration. It's not like I'm going to go wreck race cars. But I'm going to get out of the race car and speak my mind. We've had enough over the years and he's pretty much a smart ass who wants to run his mouth, so I've got to go over there and say something."
Busch: "Man, it was good. It was just a great battle. We knew we had a loose race car. I was just fighting an uphill battle to hang on for that spot. He (Johnson) got by us down the front straightaway. We drove into (turn) one even. Coming off of one, the car settled and I felt him swerve over into us and I'm like, 'That's over the line,' so we're coming back at him. That's great racing. Our fans want to see that. They want to see doors with donuts on it coming down to the checkered flag and both of us crossed the line third and fourth. It wasn't like somebody got wrecked. Times when he's bump-drafted me in the past, let's just push that aside. Times when he's wrecked us, let's just push that aside. Times when I've raced him clean, let's talk about that."
Bottom line: Whoever you are rooting for, it's good for business.
And stay tuned. Speaking of business, it appears to be unfinished between Busch and Johnson.
"I just keep filing things away," Johnson said. "I'll remember this stuff. There's a couple of other guys out there that have been pushing their luck, too."
Notes
When it comes to athletes who are polarizing, Danica Patrick and Tim Tebow are probably in a love 'em-hate 'em category all onto themselves.
So it's not surprising that not everyone in NASCAR is smitten by the news that Patrick is expected to run a full 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series and partial Cup Series schedule next season. She would run a full-time Nationwide Series schedule with JR Motorsports and a handful of Sprint Cup races with the team owned by Tony Stewart.
"She is not ready for Cup," SPEED analyst Kyle Petty said " End of the conversation. The first year she ran, it was all marketing all the time. This year she has made a tremendous improvement. I give her kudos for the races she has run and how she's done. She has made a huge jump from year one to year two.
"She still hasn't beaten Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch and Joey Logano and guys like that. When you get to the Cup level, that's the guys that are there. You've got to race against those guys week-in and week-out…"
Keselowski's sweet ride: The NASCAR season keeps delivering wonderful story lines every weekend. At Pocono, it was Brad Keselowski, racing with a brace on his ankle and fighting through the pain to get the victory.
He immediately thanked the 30 American service members who died after their helicopter was shot down in eastern Afghanistan recently. It was a sincere appreciation, and not a PC-ploy for the cameras.
One of the servicemen who died was a friend of Keselowski's cousin.
"I might not be feeling great, but those are the guys that are really making sacrifices," Keselowski said. "Whenever I got in the car and felt like, man, this really hurts, it was good inspiration as to what it takes to 'man up' and make it happen."
Keselowski put in a full day of work on Sunday despite crashing head-on into a wall during a test session at Road Atlanta on Wednesday, breaking his left ankle.
Gordon is road king: Since the gang is off to a road course this weekend at Watkins Glen, here's something worth noting: Jeff Gordon set the all-time NASCAR Sprint Cup record for road-course victories, with seven, after winning at Watkins Glen in 2001.. He has since won two more races, both at Infineon Raceway, giving him a career total of nine.
With a victory, two runner-up finishes and seven finishes of 11th or better in the eight races since the halfway point of the Chase, Gordon has moved up from 13th to seventh in the Cup standings and is now 52 points behind leader Carl Edwards.
gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz's blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego
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