FanHouse Autism Speaks 400

Since we're a little late on this week's edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes, we're gonna do both a rewind of last weekend's festivities at Dover and a bit on Wednesday night's Prelude to the Dream. Capisce? Capisce.

Prelude to the Twitter - Can't be in or around the booming metropolis that is Rossburg, Oh., (Pop: 224) for Wednesday night's Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway? No problem, FH has you covered with live twittering from the fourth row up behind the start/finish line just for you! Follow us here: www.twitter.com/FanHouseRacing

Rain, for the love of Pete, go away - What happens when you invite 20-plus NASCAR drivers to compete in a charity race at a half-mile dirt oval? Well, they bring rain -- just as they have for three of the past four NASCAR event weekends.

Sure, he didn't get the race win and he certainly didn't challenge for it. The No. 88 didn't finish in the Top-10 and it never led a lap.

But was Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Speedway a rousing improvement for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s, uh, lackluster season? Can we really say a 12th-place finish is a good thing for a Hendrick Motorsports driver?

Well, in this situation, your darn right we can -- even though driver No. 88 may not exactly agree.

A five-day span of NASCAR Sprint Cup racing couldn't have any better for David Reutimann and his suddenly surging Michael Waltrip Racing.

Friday afternoon, the driver of the No. 00 Toyota scored the pole for Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover International Raceway, just days after his Monday win in the rain-delayed and then shortened Coca-Cola 600.

And to hear Reutimann tell the story earlier this week, there was a time when this type of success for MWR was not only unexpected, but the whole operation of MWR appeared to on the brink of closure.

1. Jamie McMurray. A year ago, he missed the win by .787 seconds. This year, Crown Royal gave up millions worth of exposure to allow JMac to run a special autism paint scheme for the cause that is near and dear to his heart. The driver's firesuit and helmet will be worth more if they visit victory lane before being auctioned for The Jamie McMurray Foundation. No driver will be trying harder to get there.
2. Jeff Gordon. If Gordon's not in the delivery room, look for him to visit victory lane for the fifth time. Who is his backup driver this weekend?
3. Mark Martin. This is only Martin's third COT race and if we were talking about another driver, that might actually matter, but this one has found his way to victory lane in all three of NASCAR's premier series, so I don't guess it matters too much what he's driving.
4. Jimmie Johnson. What? You're tired of seeing Hendrick drivers dominate? Me too. But Johnson's already won two COT races, and they only account for half of his season wins to date. He's hardly finished with victory lane.
5. Matt Kenseth. The defending race champion is looking for the second win of the season for himself and Ford. If not for running out of gas in September, he'd have swept last year.
6. Jeff Burton. The defending track champion is also looking for his second win. Hopefully, he is also looking for AT&T paint scheme 2.0--the Cingular orange has got to go.
7. Denny Hamlin. Has led the most laps in the COT and has had five top 3 finishes this season, three of them in the COT. He's gonna get there one of these days.
Wildcard. Tony Stewart. He sucked here last year, but still has the best average finish among active drivers in the pre-COT era. Still, Smoke hasn't been able to close the deal yet this season despite trailing only his teammate for most laps led in the COT. If fate has even one lap in store for him in Dover I hope it's the last one. Nobody likes an unhappy Tony.