FanHouse Kurt Busch

Kasey Kahne might have had the only car to really challenge Jimmie Johnson on the longer runs Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway, but a late pit stop and a bad set of tires didn't let that situation play out.

"The tires we took on the last stop shook and didn't turn," said Kahne after the race in which he led 67 laps. "I guess that was our bad set for the night."

That didn't mean that Kahne was making excuses for coming up short with a third-place finish -- his best result since a win at Atlanta in September. Instead, he was stating the obvious.

"We were the best car at times, but the final run when it counted, we weren't," said Kahne. "Jimmie [Johnson] showed up and beat us all."

Where: Kansas Speedway
Time: Sunday 2:00 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: ABC, MRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mid-60s, Mostly Sunny
Distance: 267 laps (400.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson


Beware of the tar of death Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

No, it's not a pit behind turn three that's swallowing up race fans or an obstacle on the track (think Mario Kart), but rather, the 'tar of death' is what Kurt Busch has coined the asphalt sealant used on the seams of the race track in Kansas.

Where: Dover Int'l Speedway
Time: Sunday 2 p.m./EDT
TV/Radio: ESPN, Motor Racing Network
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: Mid-70s, Partly Cloudy, 40% rain
Distance: 400 laps (400 miles)
Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
2008 Winner: Greg Biffle


If you've caught any coverage of Sprint Cup practice or qualifying this weekend from Dover, the chance you didn't hear a driver complain about the new Goodyear tire compound was razor thin.

Where: Atlanta Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 7:47pm/EDT
TV/Radio: ESPN, PRN Radio
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: High 60s, Mostly Cloudy
Distance: 325 laps (500.5 miles)
Pole Winner: Martin Truex Jr.
2008 Winner: Carl Edwards
Sunday night's race might be a last ditch effort to ensure Atlanta Motor Speedway has a spot on the NASCAR schedule, much less two.

And judging by the optimism of AMS track president Ed Clark, the expected attendance is working in his favor.

Where: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Time: Sunday 2:00pm/EDT
TV/Radio: ESPN, IMS Radio Network
Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing
Forecast: 82 degrees, Partly Cloudy
Distance: 160 laps (400 miles)
Pole Winner: Mark Martin
2008 Winner: Jimmie Johnson

Fans have just voted Kasey Kahne's win in last year's Sprint All-Star Race the greatest moment in Lowe's Motor Speedway's storied history. After failing to qualify for the race, Kahne lined up on the starting grid thanks to the fans' popular vote, then promptly went out and snapped a 19-month winless streak.

Kahne's amazing effort that night, followed by a win a week later in the Coca-Cola 600, marked one of the best weeks of his Sprint Cup Series career.

The highlight reel has been considerably shorter for him since.

It took 97 races, nearly four years and lot of decision-making but 50-year-old Mark Martin is back in NASCAR Sprint Cup victory lane.

Martin led the most laps of the Subway Fresh Fit 500k -- he also started from the pole position -- to win Saturday night's 312-miler at Phoenix International Raceway during his first season back as a full-time driver with Hendrick Motorsports.

Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle rounded out Top-5 of the afternoon-to-evening event.

Gaye Busch has a very reasonable explanation for the simultaneous success of both her sons -- NASCAR's reigning super siblings Kurt and Kyle.

"We did everything as a family when they were growing up," Gaye Busch. "We just did things together."

And they still are. Only now the Busch family gatherings are happening every week in victory lane.

It wasn't a great week and change to be the assistant of Sprint Cup Series driver Kurt Busch after the Las Vegas native won the series' last outing two weeks ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Thanks to a nameless, peculiar victory lap Busch unveiled after the win by driving his No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge in reverse in the correct counter-clockwise fashion for a full lap, ideas poured from all corners of the NASCAR world on what the lap should be called.

And because, you know, that's what people in NASCAR do, Busch announced Friday that the lap's official title will be the "Unwind Lap".