KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- That horrific barrel roll at Dover, the one that looked more like a scene from "Talladega Nights" than a real NASCAR wreck?
Turns out it gave Joey Logano confidence, not fear.
Passing points leader Kyle Busch with three laps left, Logano won at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, pulling out his fifth Nationwide victory less than a week after that spectacular crash during a Sprint Cup race.
Welcome back to another edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes, where even Noah couldn't keep his boat afloat after the non-stop rain at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Are you one of those lonely souls mad that David Reutimann snookered 'em -- yep, that's the first recorded use of that word on FH -- to win his first career race Monday afternoon?
If so, get over it. First time winners are fun to see, and when the race officially ended he was the car leading everyone else. Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and the rest of the field didn't have to pit, but they did -- and that's just the way it goes.
I'd still like an explanation as to why NASCAR decided on a start time of 12 p.m./EDT for the Monday make-up of its longest race.
I'm not sure who makes the final call on the All-Star race format, but Saturday night's version is about as a good as it gets. That 10-lap finale? Adjectives don't describe that, but honorary race director Ric Flair's trademark "Woooooo!" does.
'Woooooo!' Part Deux
The single funniest moment of the night? Joey Logano's Ric Flair imitation after being announced as the fan vote winner. [Watch here at 1:16]
Yellow Fever - Despite 60 years of racing and 106 Sprint Cup Series events at Darlington Raceway, never had the field combined to create as many caution flags as it did Saturday night. The yellow waved 17 times for 73 laps, upping the previous record from 15 cautions.
The number of caution flags wasn't a record though as a race in 1995 had 12 cautions for 94 laps, a race in 1977 had 6 cautions for 93 laps, and one in 1974 with 11 cautions for 101 laps.
Logano, a full-time driver in both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and the Nationwide Series, won Saturday's Nashville 300 at Gladeville, Tenn.'s 1.5-mile Nashville Superspeedway after passing teammate Kyle Busch with just 8 laps to go.
While the Joe Gibbs Racing teammates dominated much of the day, the biggest story might be a restoration of Logano's confidence in a race car.
Are television viewers more important than full races? I think its a very valid question to wonder why NASCAR is so willing to push the snooze button later and later on Sunday afternoons with the start times of its Sprint Cup Series races.
It was just eight years ago that the Daytona 500 started at 12:30pm local time, while Sunday, it started after 3:40pm local time. The reason? Television ratings and commercial advertising rates go up the later in the day thanks to West Coast viewers and the "prime time" effect kicking in on the East Coast.
Where:Daytona Int'l Speedway Time: 3:00 PM/EDT (Green: 3:40pm) TV/Radio: FOX Sports, MRN Radio Forecast: Rain, Clouds, High of 68 Distance: 200 laps (500 miles) Pole Sitter:Martin Truex Jr. '08 Winner:Ryan Newman
The Storylines
Starting the season with the Super Bowl looks like an incredibly smart idea at the moment. Thanks to an economy that has forced the NASCAR world to talk about the economy, NASCAR racing needed to come back strong from an offseason mired with questions.
And now, your co-hosts of this little portion of the internet blogosphere -- motorsports veteran Holly Cain and myself -- are now both trackside for NASCAR's season-opening Daytona 500.
"Winner, winner chicken dinner!" might be what you're thinking, but wait! There's more!
Joey Logano should be getting ready to graduate from high school, be filling out college applications or otherwise doing things a typical 18-year-old kid does at this point in life. But Logano isn't exactly any other kid.
Instead of worrying about homework, Logano has his eyes set on becoming the youngest driver in history to start the Daytona 500 on Sunday after taking over the reigns left vacant by Tony Stewart of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. 2009 will mark Logano's first full season in the highest form of NASCAR racing.
Last week, I had a chance to catch up Logano to talk about the upcoming season, the new NASCAR Kart Racing game for Nintendo Wii and a little on-track skirmish he had in January.
Mark Martin's invigorated. Jeff Gordon's motivated and Jimmie Johnson's confident. Such was Thursday's annual Media Day -- the kick-off event for Daytona International Speedway, which hosts NASCAR's Daytona 500 on Feb. 15.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- That horrific barrel roll at Dover, the one that looked more like a scene from "Talladega Nights" than a real NASCAR wreck?
Welcome back to another edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes, where even Noah couldn't keep his boat afloat after the non-stop rain at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Musings, rumblings and ramblings from Geoffrey Miller after Saturday night's Sprint All-Star Challenge
Here's a quick-hitting rewind on all of the happenings from Saturday night's Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
On the Nationwide Series' first venture of 2009 away from the shadow of the Sprint Cup Series, Joey Logano spoiled the show.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Here's a few rumblings and bumblings from a soggy evening at Daytona:
It's been a darn good week to be a NASCAR FanHouser.
Joey Logano should be getting ready to graduate from high school, be filling out college applications or otherwise doing things a typical 18-year-old kid does at this point in life. But Logano isn't exactly any other kid.
Race: 51st 
