
Jeff Burton made a valiant effort to catch Kyle Busch at the end of Friday night's Nationwide Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway but came up short.
Saturday night, the rest of the Sprint Cup field was coming up short on a gambling Jeff Burton.

Regan Smith may drive for the race team that Dale Earnhardt Jr. left in 2007, but that didn't keep the now-Hendrick Motorsports driver from taking Smith's side after last week's controversial finish at Talladega Superspeedway."In my opinion, the 01 (Smith) was forced below the line," Earnhardt Jr. said on Friday at Lowe's Motor Speedway.And can you argue with Earnhardt Jr.? His statement further exemplifies how confused drivers were on NASCAR's rule, and how they remain to be confused now even after NASCAR tried to clarify the rule this week.
"The two did make contact – (Smith) was on the inside of Tony and he had no choice other than to move away from Tony and that sends him below the line and in my opinion, the 01 wins the race. I feel like Tony did what he had to do. In the car, everyone would have done what Tony did, everyone would have done what the 01 did. Neither one of them were wrong or right.
"What's curious is when are you forced? Show me some video. I want to know what's forced and what's not. I felt like that was being forced."
It's no outlandish statement to say that Kyle Busch could use a change in his Chase for the Sprint Cup fortunes.
It was a marathon affair, but Kyle Busch finally took home the second half of a Lowe's Motor Speedway Nationwide Series sweep early Saturday morning.
Amid the hullabaloo -- now that's a fun word -- of Thursday's off-track activity at Lowe's Motor Speedway between Carl Edwards and Kevin Harvick, Sprint Cup series qualifying for Sunday night's Bank of America 500 was canceled.
Carl Edwards is a witty guy.Witnesses said the incident started in the garage stall where Harvick's No. 33 Chevrolet was parked. Edwards had walked over from his area, two stalls down. The conversation appeared to start amicably, but soon heated words were exchanged, the witnesses said.The confrontation ended quickly after Edwards had been placed in a headlock (a headlock! Awesome!) by Harvick's hauler driver and then the two were separated.
At one point, Harvick appeared to turn away from Edwards, who then reached for Harvick's shoulder, as if to turn him back around. Harvick responded by shoving Edwards, who landed on the No. 33 Chevrolet, denting the right-front section of the hood.

Red Bull Racing Team and driver AJ Allmendinger have agreed to part ways for the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Allmendinger is in his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season driving the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota, which currently sits 34th in owners' points.That last line -- "we wish him nothing but the best" -- just seems to have a certain Jay Frye-is-totally-BS'ing-us ring to it, doesn't it?
"AJ is a talented driver and we really enjoyed working with him," said RBRT Vice President and General Manager Jay Frye. "He's come a long way in just two years and we wish him nothing but the best."
Casey Mears is officially leaving Hendrick Motorsports, effective at the end of 2008.
So how does a "Top-5" car run in the middle of the pack for nearly an entire race?"...When we got up front there and got our lap back, I thought hey, you know, we've got a pretty decent car. We just need track position," said Gordon after the race. "Once we got our lap back, we were back in the back again and there were cars all over the place."As a race fan, I'm not particularly fond of a driver saying "you can't pass anybody".
"You just can't go anywhere and you can't pass anybody."
They probably knew it was coming, but probably not to this extent.