Kyle Busch’s marvelous resilience after crash worthy of Chase berth

Kyle Busch belongs in the Chase.

No one needs to have a roundtable discussion or fret about perception or bring the case before Judge Judy.

Busch, despite missing 11 of the first 19 races because of severe leg injuries from a crash at Daytona, has won three races. Do the math. That’s three victories in eight starts. Phenomenal. He is only second in victories behind Jimmie Johnson.

But here’s the asterisk: NASCAR has given Busch a waiver to qualify for the field of 16 drivers in the postseason Chase as long as he slides into the top 30 in points by the cutoff race in Richmond. That should be a layup for Busch, who is currently in 33rd place.

Consider that Busch once faced a deficit of 179 points to be Chase eligible. He is now just 58 points behind with seven races left.

“It’s certainly doable,” Busch said after winning at New Hampshire this past weekend.

And incredible. Consider his odds after Busch suffered a compound fracture in his lower right leg and also fractured his left foot competing in an Xfinity race the day before the Daytona 500. NASCAR did the right thing in May when it gave Busch a waiver regarding the rule that requires a driver to compete in each race of the season. But NASCAR did not waive its the top-30 rule, setting up the shot-clock drama for the last half of the season.

Bravo, Mr. Busch.

But there has been some pushback from those who think Busch is getting a free pass. Some of his fellow competitors, including Tony Stewart, are ambivalent about the situation.

“I feel like no matter what I say on this, it’s going to put me in a bad spot,” Stewart said. “I think Kyle’s done an awesome job. I think he’s come back, he’s put 100 percent into it. But there’s rules, there’s boundaries. That’s the way it is in life for everything. I mean, is every situation fair? Not necessarily. Are there rules in place? Do you have to put rules in place? Absolutely.”

Stewart’s conflicting emotions are curious because NASCAR granted him a waiver last year when he missed three consecutive races after striking and killing Kevin Ward Jr. in a dirt-track sprint-car race Aug. 9. The stipulation was that Stewart win one of the two races before the Chase cutoff.

He failed to do that, but the opportunity — rightfully so because of the extenuating circumstances — was there.

NASCAR isn’t like the stick-and-ball sports, so there’s no use making comparisons. NASCAR officials, like in Stewart’s and Busch’s case, use their discretionary powers to do what they think is right. Think back to all the shenanigans in Richmond in 2013, and how Jeff Gordon got added onto the field of 12 at the time.

Busch missed a ton of time because of an injury that, on top of everything else, was on NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway for not properly securing an inside wall with a SAFER protective barrier.

There should be no asterisk involved in Busch’s playoff run. Unless you want to put the word “amazing” in the fine print.

gdiaz@tribune.com Read George Diaz’s blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/enfuego

Kahne and the sharks

As shark-mania continued over the recent incident with surfer Mick Fanning in South Africa, Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne took a much more pleasant plunge involving a shark encounter last month.

As part of his sponsorship with Great Clips, he went down under in the Bahamas in conjunction with the “Shark Week” experience on the Discovery Channel. Kahne, although he isn’t certified, took a resort course that covers the basics. He also had two experienced divers by his side as the dipped in the water for a dedicated shark dive.

“I’m not super-scared but I’m definitely unsure of what’s going to happen,” Kahne said before he took the plunge.

Kahne hung out on a sandy bottom, about 35 feet below the surface, as sharks hovered and swam by him. The experienced divers used a pole with bait on the end to lure the sharks into a controlled feeding frenzy. Kahne even got to “pet” one of the Caribbean reef sharks.

“I had a blast,” he said. “So much different than I expected to be right in the middle of a pool of sharks.”

Not sure if this a good thing or bad thing for the sharks, given the bad pub they get from humans topside. A writer from ESPN.com tagged along for the experience. “We’re going to die today,” he wrote before the dive.

They all lived to tell the tale, despite the hysteria and the hyperbole.

Gordon’s bumpy ride

Jeff Gordon‘s quirky last-dance season continued in New Hampshire when Clint Bowyer‘s car and Gordon’s No. 24 Chevy made contact in the garage area. Though both parties acknowledged it was unintentional, the circumstances of two drivers with bad history drew considerable interest.

“There’s so many people in [the garage],” Bowyer said. “Just a bad deal … the damndest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a wonder it doesn’t happen more often.”

“I don’t want to say it can’t get worse, but I know it can,” Gordon said after the incident.

Despite the craziness and Gordon’s car suffering significant damage, he finished ninth and remained in strong position to qualify for the Chase despite not winning a race. He is 10th in points.

“We’ve got some catch-up to do there, but my gosh, one thing we’re not lacking is determination and just the ability to overcome adversity,” he said. “I’m really proud of that.”

It’s likely the incident won’t lead to any of the anger-management scenarios that evolved in 2012 when Gordon intentionally crashed into Bowyer in Phoenix in retaliation for an earlier incident during the race and a wreck that had cost Gordon a shot at victory at Martinsville. Bowyer then ran into the Phoenix garage area, chasing after Gordon, resulting in a no-harm no-foul garage brawl.

Safety employee passes

In a sad postscript to the eye-catching incident involving Juan Pablo Montoya‘s car hitting a jet dryer in the 2012 Daytona 500, the safety employee involved in the explosion died this week. Longtime Michigan International Speedway employee Duane Barnes was 55.

Barnes was driving a jet dryer under caution when Montoya’s car malfunctioned. It went careering into Barnes’ truck. The collision caused a huge inferno from which Barnes escaped.