Spencer Neff
Twitter: @NeffOnSports11

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

1. Kyle Busch pulled away late to win at New Hampshire on Sunday, his third win in eight races since coming back from a broken leg and broken foot in February at Daytona. Despite missing the first 11 races, Busch has made the case for his presence in the Chase and is less than 60 points from getting into the top 30 as mandated by NASCAR. After seeing how much a new rules package helped last week at Kentucky, it may be time for NASCAR to make some changes for the short tracks.

Many fans and others in the sport always say that not every race can be exciting, but I think it is time some changes be made to inject some excitement into the racing. The short tracks have not had the same level of intensity as they once did and it is time for NASCAR to look into some remedies.

2. Ryan Hunter-Reay won at Iowa on Saturday night for his third win in four races at the track. It was a 1-2-34 finish for American drivers, with Josef Newgarden, Sage Karam and Graham Rahal rounding out the top four. Aside from Hunter-Reay shaking off a rough start to the year, another headline was the struggles for Team Penske and Ganassi.

The powerhouses had just one of each of their drivers in the top 10. The struggles for Penske and Ganassi allowed for Graham Rahal to move into second in points. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver is just 42 points behind points leader Juan Pablo Montoya with three races to go (and double points at the August 30 finale in Sonoma).

3. I am sure many of you who are racing fans have heard by now, but I did want to address the death of Jules Bianchi. Bianchi, who was injured in a tragic collision with a crane at the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, passed away Friday night after spending over nine months in a coma. Ever since the death of Dan Wheldon, there has been an ongoing debate about closed cockpits.

Many fans and people in the sport have expressed their displeasure with the idea and I don’t know how viable a retractable bubble (sort of combining a closed cockpit with the roof flaps utilized in NASCAR) would be. Regardless, the open-wheel series do need to look into giving the drivers as much cockpit protection as possible. Racing can never be completely void of danger. We do however, owe it to the drivers, teams and fans to be as proactive in implementing safety measures as we possibly can.

Have a great week and see you soon