Kyle Busch, the Drama King, is in the limelight

Kyle Busch expected to be the center of attention at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he’s won four of the last five Sprint Cup races.
But it’s been a busy week even by Busch’s standards, beginning with the loss of his driver’s license Tuesday as punishment for his 128-mph speeding ticket back in May. Then came an on-track incident in Wednesday night’s Truck Series race that once again put him at odds with Kevin Harvick.
After Busch tangled with Elliott Sadler, who drives for Harvick in the Nationwide Series, he intentionally wrecked Sadler.
Busch indicated the incident stemmed from his problems with Harvick.
But Sadler wasn’t running for Kevin Harvick Inc. at the time. Asked Friday whether he’d spoken to Busch, Harvick went right into attack mode.
“He keeps running his mouth, he might get it whipped again off the track,” Harvick said.
And so it goes with Busch, the Sprint Cup Series points leader. He leads the series with four victories, and despite his 23rd-place qualifying effort Friday — Ryan Newman won the pole — has to be considered a threat to win tonight’s race.

But he’s once again in the center of the storm. Controversy can work for some drivers — it’s long been believed that two-time series champion Tony Stewart is at his best when surrounded by drama — but Busch isn’t so sure about the adversity.
“It can bring out the best and it can bring out the worst, certainly,” he said. “It’s about every day I’ve got something. I’m getting pretty used to it.”
The question becomes: Can Busch continue to keep up his pace while constantly facing a different drama?
Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon said he personally couldn’t produce but said it doesn’t seem to bother Busch or his older brother, Kurt.
“I couldn’t, but the Busch brothers seem to do it very well,” Gordon said. “I think it’s pretty well documented and clear that they get very excited and share their emotions over the radio quite often, and they’re still able to go to Victory Lane.”
The 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship is a different animal, though, and Busch has yet to make it through unscathed. He’s already considering the mental aspects of the upcoming stretch. There are just three races remaining until the Chase begins, and Busch doesn’t want much to change in how his Joe Gibbs Racing team is operating.
“It’s just about playing it smart,” Busch said. “For us, we just want to go out there and keep doing what we’ve been doing all year.”

Power Rankings: Down Hamlin already eyeing 2012

Denny Hamlin may not yet be out but he's sure down.
After suffering through another miserable day Sunday at Michigan that ended with a trip into the wall and a 35th-place finish in the Pure Michigan 400, Hamlin's chances of challenging for the Sprint Cup championship are bleak.
In fact, Hamlin himself says the odds of him even getting into the Chase to have a shot at the title are on life support.

"I don't know," Hamlin said, shaking his head after his dismal day in the Irish Hills. "I'm going to do everything I can -- to get better. It's tough. Trust me, it's going to be very, very tough on a realistic standpoint for us to just go out there and say, 'You know what? We'll suck it up the next three weeks.' There's more to it than that at this point. We've got to crawl first these next three races before we even think about what happens at Chicago."
Unless Hamlin can hang on to one of the two wild-card spots he currently holds, Chicago -- where the Chase begins in mid-September -- will be where his 2012 season begins.
Hamlin is at a point where he thinks that might not be the worst thing for the struggling Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team.
"Who knows, maybe missing the Chase would be the best thing for us for next year," he said. "We could spend 10 weeks screwing around and thinking of new ways to make our cars better and not have a points race for 10 weeks.
"I want to make the Chase. Trust me. [But] missing the Chase opens the door for communication, for us to take more chances and experiment with new things and if it makes us better next year, so be it."
It's hard to believe the driver who won eight races last season and went down to the wire in the championship race with Jimmie Johnson is talking about being a spectator for this year's Chase.
But with a rash of engine problems, assorted mechanical problems and a dash of bad luck thrown in for good measure, Hamlin's 2011 has been more of a nightmare than the dream he had hoped for after last season's success.
He still holds a ticket to the big dance in the form of a wild card, and despite his pessimistic attitude on Sunday he still plans on doing whatever he can to somehow right the ship and not just make the playoffs but be a presence when the Chase begins.
"We have three weeks to get ourselves back on track," Hamlin said. "I've got to get back to doing some of the stuff I did last year that made me successful, whether it be communicating more with [crew chief] Mike [Ford], whatever that is, I'm willing to do, whether it's Mike traveling with me to and from the race track every single week, we have to do whatever we have to do to get back to that."
He had better hurry.

Greg Biffle captures Sprint Cup pole position

Greg Biffle is still annoyed with Boris Said after their run-in at Watkins Glen.
That hasn't stopped him from focusing on this weekend's Sprint Cup race in Michigan.
Biffle won his first pole in over three years Friday at Michigan International Speedway, posting a qualifying lap of 190.345 m.p.h. in his No. 16 Ford. It was an important step in the right direction after he finished 31st at Watkins Glen on Monday, then confronted Said in the pits afterward and gave him a couple of quick hits while Said was still in his car.
Said had touched off a wild crash at the end of the road race.
“Our deal is over with,” Biffle said. “We had our differences on the race track, that one instance, I told him I wasn't happy with it on the race track and then I didn't go around him the rest of the day. We talked about that on the phone and it is over.”
Said is racing in Montreal this weekend, so he wasn't anywhere near Biffle during Sprint Cup qualifying.
“We've settled our differences,” Said explained. “I won't be going to Christmas dinner with him, that's for sure.”
Biffle is 13th in the points standings but without a win this year. A victory would be a significant boost to his hopes of reaching the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
He hasn't finished higher than fourth this year.
“We have to have a win to get in the Chase, that is obvious,” Biffle said. “Here, Bristol and Atlanta are good tracks for us. I think this is probably our best, and this may be our best opportunity — here or Atlanta. This is a huge deal for us and huge momentum for us going into Sunday.”
Matt Kenseth was second in qualifying, and Ryan Newman was third. Denny Hamlin, who held off Kenseth to win in Michigan in June, was fourth.
Kenseth will start in the top 10 for the sixth time this year. He's fifth in the points standings.
“We had a lot of speed, and honestly I wish I wouldn't have watched Greg's lap and saw his lap time,” Kenseth said. “If I hadn't tried so hard I might have had a shot at it. That is pretty fast.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified eighth, and points leader Kyle Busch was 17th.
Busch finished third here in June.
“Wish we would have had a better lap, but we will work on it tomorrow in race trim and hope we can run like we did here in June and have a shot to win,” Busch said.
Newman posted his ninth top-10 start of the season — and when he showed up for his news conference afterward, he couldn't avoid being dragged into the Biffle-Said dispute.
“I've never had an issue with Boris,” Newman said. “I read some of the things that he said. I don't think he's out of line in the things that he said, and I agree with some of the things that Biffle said as well. But, it's a competition out there, and it becomes a more sensitive issue when you have somebody who isn't full time in this series.”