Nice to see the kids rule N'wide Series in Nashville

If you like turning over new leaves, you had to love the results of Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Nashville. Starting with winner Joey Logano, the kids ruled, as 11 of the top-15 finishers in the race were relative newcomers.

Logano was maybe the biggest breath of fresh air, as he took on his overwhelming Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, and put him in his pocket when it counted.

Back to form

Things looked bleak for Brad Keselowski after the first three Nationwide races of the season. But back-to-back thirds have him fifth in points and ready to challenge for a title.

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They raced cleanly and confidently and, despite the way Logano has struggled in the Cup Series -- and to some degree will continue to struggle, though he's showing significant progress -- it proves his great comfort level in the Nationwide car, not to mention JGR crew chief Dave Rogers and his crew, will continue to equal top results.

Expect a victory out of Brad Keselowski sooner rather than later. Much is being made out of the decisions that have to be made about Keselowski's future, but trust me, the crappy luck that he's experienced earlier this season won't have any effect on them.

For one thing, Keselowski himself has shown plenty of maturity in realizing the strong position he's in and he's not paying lip service to any of the idle rumors swirling around, as well as making the most of the strong cars his JR Motorsports team gives him, week in and week out. Expect him to continue to be a threat for top-fives and, by natural progression, wins.

How about Kelly Bires? The most interesting aspect of his fourth-place finish -- aside from the fact that he handled Carl Edwards and David Ragan -- will be whether or not he's able to harvest any more rides out of it.

It appears Bires' seat in JTG Daugherty Racing's No. 47 Toyota has been bought out from under him -- though you have to give Michael McDowell credit for posting at least a couple good starting spots and some solid runs that were derailed by mechanical issues. But in just three starts, two in cars that suspiciously looked like start and parks, Bires has qualified well and has a top-five in his only legitimate race.

Ragan continues to be probably the most enigmatic figure in the sport, in that you shake your head wondering how much he has to run around the top five before he scores that first victory. The most fascinating thing with Ragan is, when he finally does win, will the proverbial floodgates be kicked open?

You got to love Steve Wallace. His father, team owner Rusty Wallace, brought in a veteran teammate, though a Nationwide rookie in Brendan Gaughan, and right off the bat this season said he was thinking about taking his team to the Cup level.

The younger Wallace kept his head down and kept turning in solid results that belie the evil reputation many observers give him. He was taken out by a "dive bomber" attack at Daytona and other than that, has three top-10s in five races, including tough venues like Bristol and Nashville. In the process, he's coming forward in the standings to provide a solid one-two punch with Gaughan, who's been a little up-and-down as he learns the Nationwide routine.

One of the strongest "undercover" marches this season has been that of Scott Lagasse Jr. After finishing last at Daytona, he's uncorked a quiet string of five consecutive top-16 finishes, which advanced him and CJM Racing into the top 10 in the standings. He out-ran Richard Childress Racing development driver Stephen Leicht in the last two laps at Nashville to finish 10th, only his second career top-10 in 20 career Nationwide starts. Don't expect the streak to end.

Respect us

Kyle Busch doesn't mind signing autographs for the fans, but when they go overboard, that's when he has a problem.

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With Leicht, Burney Lamar, Shelby Howard, McDowell, John Wes Townley and Michael Annett also figuring prominently in Saturday's top 20, youth was well-served at Nashville.

Where are the fans?

The most troubling aspect of that continues to be attendance, or lack of it as appeared to be the case on Saturday at Nashville. Of course, devastating weather that swept through the area the day before probably had something to do with that.

The race track, as many facilities have done this season, tried some twists to get people in the house. Its "All Access" ticket package, which included "cold" access to the garage area, plus access to the pre-race grid and drivers' meeting, is a cool element for fans to take advantage of.

On the one hand, that's something tracks could look at to drive ticket traffic, but you have to wonder if it's only something to be considered at stand-alone Nationwide or Camping World Truck Series events.

The question becomes how fans interact with the team members, who are in the midst of the serious business of trying to prepare for a race, as well as how seriously the athletes themselves buy into the program.

Grand-Am has mandated driver autograph sessions that enable interaction between fans and its athletes. Without being in Nashville, I have no idea how successful any fan was in being able to maneuver through their accessible areas and interacting with any drivers, but this access becomes a critical test of an integral piece of the puzzle.

That is, at what point does a man or woman who is about to engage in a very high-speed game of chess deserve to be left to gather their thoughts and focus on what they're about to do.

Another cool thing that Nashville did was conduct driver introductions from the middle of its grandstand, rather than on a restricted, isolated stage.

Again, that exposure, while unique, was still restricted to those fans in the immediate area of the exit ramp from beneath the stands.

In most stick-and-ball sports, pre-game access to the athletes is just not available, and obviously there's a lot less at stake for them -- not to minimize the importance of their games and their efforts in them.

But at some point, some kind of compromise might need to be drawn to promote fan access and with it, more potential ticket revenue, and keeping the athletes' preparation time as sacred as it needs to be.

Kyle Busch Victory Watch

Despite Busch's stunning 2008 NASCAR record for victories in a season, nothing he's done so far this season makes this writer think Busch in 2009 won't eclipse his total of 21 wins (8 Cup, 10 Nationwide, 3 Truck).

After Nashville, it's 6 down (2 Cup, 2 Nationwide, 2 Truck), 16 to go. His 2008 win total at this point was 4: 1 Cup, 1 Nationwide, 2 Truck. At Phoenix last year, Busch was only one-for-five, but "one" for him means he was in the ballpark, which means he can win.