In a limited sports environment, the sports that are running for real have the advantage. And running multiple times a week helps. NASCAR put together an aggressive "return from COVID" schedule that resulted in two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) races per week through the end of May, with lower series races on the other days to boot. And the TV viewership has been high. Enter one of their young stars, Chase Elliott. Chase can be a polarizing figure. Son of a champion racer Bill Elliott, some think he's too entitled. Others are craving a new generation of drivers to challenge ones they don't like. Like Kyle Busch. Either you love Kyle or hate him. The saga started with a major wreck to cost Chase a win in the Toyota 500 on Wednesday 5/20 in Darlington (Busch wrecked Chase so bad he actually apologized) and it was revenge time. Chase first exerted it in the Gander RV and Outdoor Truck Series which is raced predominantly by aspiring, younger drivers. But Kyle Busch has always flexes his muscle by racing and usually winning, what being a champion driver against much less experience. To the point that Kevin Harvick put together a fun bounty for any MENCS series driver willing to race Kyle and win, he'd pay them $100K. Then Chase did it (money went to charity). Chase avenged the 5/20 wreck to beat Kyle at the North Carolina Education 200 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Truck race on Tuesday 5/26. Then he went on to win the MENCS race two days later on Thursday 5/28 at the Alsco Uniforms 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (securing his playoff spot). All in all, had he won the wreck race (5/20), another race in which he had an ill advised pit strategy (5/24), and even the Sunday race this week in which he was running top 2 before a wreck (5/31), could have had 4 MENCS in a row not counting the Truck Series. As it was, he got his MENCS win, beat Kyle, and is our Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!
