Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver Kurt Busch claimed his third consecutive Coors Light Pole Award last Saturday at Michigan International Speedway. Busch heads into Infineon Raceway for this weekend’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 hoping to make it four-in-a-row. “We seem to have the qualifying end of the equation figured out pretty good,” said Busch. “We just have to start turning those great performances on pole day into success on race day. It’d be really cool and would be a feather in our cap if we could keep that pole streak going out on the road course this weekend.”

If Busch does make it four consecutive poles, it should not come as a great surprise. He won the pole there for the 2006 race and has started in the top-six in seven of the 10 Cup races he has started there. Busch started third in last year’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

The top-three qualifiers for the 2010 Toyota/Save Mart 350: 1st-Kasey Kahne (76.300 seconds/93.893 mph); 2nd-Jimmie Johnson (76.368 seconds/93.809 mph); 3rd-Kurt Busch (76.556 seconds/93.579 mph)

Before Shell-Pennzoil Dodge driver Kurt Busch claimed his third consecutive Coors Light Pole at Michigan, the last driver to win three consecutive poles was former Penske Racing teammate Ryan Newman, who recorded the streak in 2007. Newman drove a Penske Racing No. 12 Dodge to consecutive poles at Charlotte, Dover and Pocono.

So when was the last time a driver won four consecutive pole positions? Stats “guru” Mike Forde (NASCAR PR) says it was back in 2004, when Newman won consecutive front-row starts from Charlotte, to Martinsville, to Atlanta & Phoenix…those poles also coming in a No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge.

Guest Column By Cathy Elliott

I’m not saying my running buddies and I are shallow, but I’ll admit that we aren’t generally given to a great deal of philosophical discourse. As result, when someone does utter a pronouncement of any import, it is worth remembering.

Case in point: Over lunch during a recent trip to Savannah, somewhere between debating the relative merits of shrimp versus crab legs and wondering who might win “The Voice,” my friend Stephanie remarked, “You know, just because you have a job doesn’t really mean you go to work.”

This comment, which seemed nothing more than an idle, albeit true, observation at the time, popped into my head as I watched Denny Hamlin celebrate his first win of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season at Michigan on June 19.

I’m pretty sure I speak for the group when I say we all have those days when we go to our jobs, but we don’t really work. We are tired, or personal issues occupy our thoughts, or the weather is so gorgeous that it distracts us from the keyboard or the cash register. The body is there, but the work ethic has temporarily left the building.

Hamlin is well known for being one of the most talented and competitive drivers in the garage. For him, enduring 14 points-paying races before getting that all-important checkered flag must have resembled a situation where the world’s fattest rib eye is hung just out of a hungry dog’s reach. Not a pretty picture.

The travails of Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano have been well documented this season. They have been plagued by engine trouble. Busch has a couple of wins to his credit, but his controversial behavior has generated more off-the-track headlines – most of them less than loving — than his often brilliant performances during races. Logano, who many predicted would have a breakout season, has barely cracked the Top 25 in the driver standings.

To make matters worse, NASCAR slapped the “Unapproved” stamp on the oil pans of all three JGR cars during pre-race inspection at Michigan. This cost the three crew chiefs $50,000 each and earned them a seat on NASCAR’s probation list until the end of the year. Talk about some bitter icing on the JGR frustration cake.

But in true NASCAR fashion, the No. 11 team did its job … and went to work. Instead of looking at the situation as the end of the meal and hoping for better luck next week, they picked their forks back up and dug in.

Hamlin admitted it was slow going at first.

“We weren’t super-fast in practice, and we weren’t super-fast in qualifying; we were just kind of average in a lot of different areas,” he said. “For three-quarters of the race, we were average. But we stepped up there at the end.”

The team not only stepped up, but also climbed up, all the way to a tie with Clint Bowyer for ninth place in the driver standings.

Albert Einstein, who rumor has it was a pretty smart guy, left us this list of the three rules of work: “Out of clutter find simplicity. From discord find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

We see these rules successfully applied week after week at the racetrack. Amid the clutter of cars all madly circling the same brass ring, only one finds a way to simply grab it. Guys sometimes at odds both verbally and physically unite as one in that moment when they all become gentlemen starting their engines. The difficulties presented by penalties and problems don’t have to be the end of the journey; they can be the beginning of an entirely new route.

Einstein must have been a race fan, since he noted many years ago what today we all know to be true. NASCAR really knows how to go to work, and it is doing a great job.

Rivalries Sparked At Infineon

Tight confines lead to tight racing at Infineon.

But it also leads to hot tempers. To pass at Infineon, drivers often have to resort to a little fender bending. Infineon is famous for the nudge, then the pass.

But sometimes a tap gets rough and drivers get angry.

Jeff Gordon made few enemies for his aggressive style last year. The list included Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler, Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch.

Expect similar feistiness this time around.

A Road Course Tradition: The Ringers

A race at a road course always brings some new blood into the series. They are known as the “road course ringers.”

Experts at the style, these drivers – namely Boris Said, P.J. Jones – often contend for wins at both Infineon and Watkins Glen.

But a victory rarely happens. The last time a “road course ringer” won a NASCAR Sprint Cup race was 1973 when Mark Donohue won at Riverside International Raceway.

There are five notable “road course ringers” on this year’s preliminary entry list – Tony Ave, Andy Pilgrim, Brian Simo, Said and Jones.

Top 10 Battle Tightens Up

Denny Hamlin’s first win of 2011 at Michigan caused a standings shakeup – and a virtual dead heat around the all-important top-10 spot.

Those in the top 10 after Richmond earn Chase berths, but also get three bonus points for each win during the 26-race regular season.

Hamlin, with the victory, launched three spots to ninth. Tony Stewart, despite a solid seventh-place finish at Michigan, dropped two spots to 11th.

But those standings positions are separated by a microscopic margin.

Just two points separate eighth-place Ryan Newman and 11th-place Stewart.