What was a bit of a snoozer to begin with at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday night ended in a fashion that was anything but.
In a three-lap sequence of events starting on lap 250 of the 267 lap race, the race lead switched three times between the guy who had dominated the second half of the race, a guy looking for his first win since 2006 and the guy who dominated the first half of the event.
And that's not even the beginning of how crazy the pack was just behind them, all thanks to NASCAR's recently-implemented double-file restart rules.
It's that time of year again. Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway officially kicks off the "Race to the Chase," the 10-race stretch for a shot at the championship.
While there have been several surprises in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series this year, one of the biggest shocks as we close in on the Chase for the Sprint Cup is the absence of a clear-cut favorite for the championship. Last year's dominant teams at this time of the season were the 99 and 18, and the 24 and 48 in 2007, but we really don't have one in 2009, which bodes well for the sport.
Somewhat coherent Notes & Quotes to wrap up NASCAR's first trip to Michigan in 2009:
What will NASCAR learn from Pardo's brutal crash and tragic death?
The death of NASCAR Mexico driver and champion Carlos Pardo in a horrific crash during the final laps of a race on Sunday is certainly tragic. However, the fact that his car was able to make such violent contact with the end of a temporary wall is just as shocking.
Let's hope NASCAR makes sure such an angle of impact can never happen again.
The pre-race buzz is understandably high for the double-file re-starts NASCAR is implementing in the Sprint Cup Series Sunday at Pocono, Pa.
But the real story isn't so much the exciting midseason change in format, but NASCAR's willingness to make a midseason change in format.
Say what you want about stock car's benevolent dictatorship, but in the last few years, the hard-line has been replaced with the open-line. And NASCAR's willingness to adapt -- in the name of more exciting competition -- may be the very thing that keeps it relevant and afloat in these tricky economic times.
Where:Bristol Motor Speedway Time: Sunday 2pm/EDT TV/Radio: FOX Sports, PRN Radio Forecast: Sunny, 68 Distance: 500 laps (266.5 miles) Pole Winner:Mark Martin 2008 Winner:Jeff Burton
The Storylines
If you need a better idea of how racing is being impacted by the economy look no further than Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol. For 13 straight years, the 165,000-seat facility in quiet, rolling hills of east Tennessee has been mecca for race fans -- and sold out each of its two Sprint Cup events without batting an eye.
Since taking the reins from Billy Donovan as Orlando's head coach, Stan Van Gundy has been busy calling all of his players, trying to get to know them and get their input on their expectations for this coming season. One player he spoke with is J.J. Redick, who barely played as a rookie. From the Orlando Sentinel:
"I like what I heard from Coach [Van Gundy]," said Magic guard J.J. Redick, who was at the RDV Sportplex doing a promotion with NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Jeff Burton. "He told me he wanted offense. He wanted shooters on the floor. I told him all I want this season is an opportunity, a fair shake to earn playing time."
Redick and Burton played a promotional game of H-O-R-S-E, trying to drum up support for next month's race at the Daytona International Speedway. Burton finished 13th Sunday in the rain-shortened Pocono 500 in Pennsylvania.
Did they say Redick and Burton played H-O-R-S-E? Lies! They actually played D-A-Y-T-O-N-A, which is actually exactly the same as H-O-R-S-E, except, you know, uses different letters and stuff. But according to The Sports Oasis, Burton was allowed to use former Magic player (and current front office guy) Dennis Scott as a pinch-hitter for dunks and three-pointers, which, if you ask me, kind of takes most of the difficulty out of playing a shooting game with a professional basketball player.
In any case, Brian Hill got canned in part because he failed to develop his young players, including Redick, who was the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft. With that in mind, you have to figure that Van Gundy was told coming into the job that the team wanted to see the kid get a chance to play. Even so, Redick has always had legitimate NBA range, and putting a pure shooter like him on the floor might help space the floor and prevent Dwight Howard from having three defenders hanging onto him every time he touches the ball in the paint.
A few weeks ago, you could find each of these drivers in the Top 10 in NASCAR Nextel Cup Standings. For two of them, that is no more, and for one, two more weeks of horrendous finishes would make the three 3 for 3. Here's how it happened -- and cue the Tom Petty.
Jeff Burton Following his win four races ago at Texas, Burton sat just 8 points behind point leader Jeff Gordon and looking poised to continue his surge to the top. The next week at Phoenix, Burton's team never got a good handle on his Impala, but managed a 13th-place finish. At Talladega, a crash took Burton out of the race after qualifying 42nd and then Sunday at Richmond, the team blew a motor.
Result: Burton now sits 5th in points, 339 points behind Gordon.
Talladega. The sound of it is enough to make any NASCAR fan's heart race. 500 miles of full-throttle three-wide racing. What's not to like? Jimmie Johnson won last year's edition, taking the first race of the Hendrick sweep at Talladega in 2006. Choosing a victor at Talladega is like eating healthy at McDonald's -- there's too much that can happen to get in the way of it. Anyways, here goes.
1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Talladega is always a great place for Dale Jr. to bounce back into thick of things. Big Red was on his way to a victory last fall until Brian Vickers showed up. He'll do it on his Daddy's birthday
2. Jeff Gordon - Gordon will undoubtedly have a strong car, but Talladega could be the place where something else could derail this magical start to a season.
3. Jimmie Johnson - Bad day at Texas, could never get all the way to the front at Phoenix, and last year at 'Dega, contact from Brian Vickers kept him from making it 3 of 4 in restrictor plate racing. He'll be strong.
Jeff Burton didn't wear the cowboy hat in victory lane Sunday after the winning the Samsung 500 during the FOX broadcast. Needless to say, I was disappointed.
Because most winners at Texas make it a point to wear the cowboy hat in victory lane, I was ready to let Jeff Burton know that he should just wear the stinkin' hat. After all, nothing is as priceless as seeing Ryan Newman in a cowboy hat (do they make one big enough?) or enjoying shots of Helio Castroneves playing with two six-shooters in victory lane.
However, Burton didn't let us down as our friends at Getty Images showed.
Congrats, Burton, for the win, and thanks for obliging to wear the hat.
Check out a gallery of past Texas winners wearing the five-gallon-hat. I gotta give Tony Stewart credit, he pulls off the look pretty well. Sorry, No Photos
Jeff Burton got by Matt Kenseth on the final lap in turn 2 to take his first victory of the season today at Texas Motor Speedway. Burton only led one lap -- the most important one.
Other contenders including Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked very strong at points during the day, but ended up getting taken out or faltering late in the race.
In one of the more surprising and dumb moves of the season, Tony Stewart spun around after going a few laps down while trying to pass the leader Kurt Busch around lap 252. Stewart didn't hit anything, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. got slammed in the rear by Kyle Busch in the smoke cloud, effectively ending their day.
Jeff Gordon looked like the shoe-in to win after winning the race off pit road with 35 laps to go, and spread his lead to over 2 seconds. However, the DuPont Chevy slid up and nailed the turn 4 wall while in the lead. Gordon, who led a race-high 172 laps, continued but the handling went away and Kenseth, Burton, and Mark Martin all passed him.
Jimmie Johnson ran as high as 2nd before dropping a cylinder and then was collected in Tony Stewart's first incident of the day after contact with Juan Pablo Montoya.
Jamie McMurray scored his first top 5 of the year in 5th place and David Stremme scored his first top 10 of the year in 10th.
What was a bit of a snoozer to begin with at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday night ended in a fashion that was anything but.
Somewhat coherent Notes & Quotes to wrap up NASCAR's first trip to Michigan in 2009:
The pre-race buzz is understandably high for the double-file re-starts 
Race: 
Since taking the reins from Billy Donovan as Orlando's head coach, Stan Van Gundy has been busy calling all of his players, trying to get to know them and get their input on their expectations for this coming season. One player he spoke with is J.J. Redick, who barely played as a rookie. From the 
A few weeks ago, you could find each of these drivers in the Top 10 in NASCAR Nextel Cup Standings. For two of them, that is no more, and for one, two more weeks of horrendous finishes would make the three 3 for 3. Here's how it happened -- and cue the Tom Petty.
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