For Two Drivers, the Upheavals Have Not Ended

With Sunday’s prestigious Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning the stretch run before September’s Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, the fortunes of two Nascar drivers connected by one team owner’s blockbuster decision have become a focal point of the season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., considered the sport’s most popular driver, is in the midst of a slump that has threatened his hopes of making the Chase. Kyle Busch, perhaps Nascar’s most riveting driver, has been alternately dominating and dumbfounding this year, but he is establishing himself as the top challenger to the five-time defending Sprint Cup champion, Jimmie Johnson.

Can Earnhardt finally be the contender his devoted fans have been waiting for ever since he joined the powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports in 2008? Is this the year Busch emerges as the next great Nascar champion, a destiny some predicted for him years ago even before he was unceremoniously dumped by the team’s owner, Rick Hendrick, to make room for Earnhardt?

Myriad issues have confronted Nascar this season, including annual concerns about attendance and ratings, and handwringing about race strategies. But the answers to questions about Earnhardt and Busch could ultimately define the year...

...On the track, Busch is far and away the leader in attracting attention to his race team. Joyce Julius and Associates, which places a dollar value on television exposure, calculated that Busch had generated more than $38 million for his team this year. That is $12 million more than Earnhardt, his nearest competitor.

Busch has been in the headlines seemingly every week. When he was not winning, Busch was deliberately wrecking Harvick’s racecar on pit road after a race. Or he was being punched by Harvick’s race team owner, Richard Childress, over another incident. Or he was drawing scorn for being caught driving 128 miles per hour in a 45-m.p.h zone in a small town north of Charlotte, N.C.

All of which once again raised the issue of Busch’s maturity. But he may be finally answering that question...