Got a drought? Book ya some NASCAR. But for now, enjoy some Notes & Quotes.
Marcos Ambrose tried his best to make my prediction come true Sunday with a second-place finish. Tires and pit strategy, though, seemed to keep him from really battling Tony Stewart for the win.
Regardless, Ambrose may be ultra-talented on the road courses but look for his No. 47 to a be strong contender to make the Chase in 2010. Dude really is that good -- in everything he drives.
Surprisingly enough, Sunday's rainout at Watkins Glen was just the second time since 1986 that the Sprint Cup Series had a race affected by precipitation at that track. Kyle Petty won the 1992 event in shortened fashion when the race was called after 51 of the 90 laps.
Road course aces and Jeff Gordon have stepped aside, as the new sheriff in the NASCAR Sprint Cup road racing town has arrived and conquered.
Tony Stewart, of course, added to his sizable reputation on the lefts and rights of the mostly oval series Monday with his rain-postponed win at Watkins Glen International Raceway -- the eighth such win of his career on the twisty layouts.
And in doing so, Stewart erased all doubts that he's going to be the man to beat on the road courses for a long, long time.
Unlike the race sponsor, the weather at Watkins Glen International Raceway wasn't so Heluva Good! on Sunday.
Just seconds before NASCAR was to give the signal for drivers to start their engines, bolts of lightning across the sky northwest of the track changed those plans. With teams, drivers and spectators moved to cover, a relentless rain soon followed that eventually left the official word of a postponement being handed down around 4pm/ET.
The new race start time -- just like last week at Pocono -- will be 12 PM ET Monday.
Where: Watkins Glen Int'l Raceway Time: Monday 12:00pm/EDT TV/Radio: ESPN, Motor Racing Network Twitter: Updates @ FanHouseRacing Monday Forecast: 88 degrees, 40% Rain Distance: 90 laps (220.5 miles) Pole Winner:Jimmie Johnson 2008 Winner: Kyle Busch
The Storylines
We talked a little bit about Marcos Ambrose this week on FanHouse and how he appears to be a good pick to win his first race Sunday at Watkins Glen. Well, after practice, qualifying and Saturday's Nationwide race it's become obvious: you'd be crazy to not look at Marcos Ambrose as a favorite.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- A year ago Marcos Ambrose used pit strategy to win at Watkins Glen International. The second time around he used a little aggression.
The hard-charging Tasmanian passed series points leader Kyle Busch with a daring move through the chicane Saturday and won the Nationwide Zippo 200 for the second straight year for JTG-Daugherty Racing.
Heading to a road course as a solid pick -- possibly even a favorite -- isn't anything new for the former Australia V8 Supercar champion.
But to do it in the United States, as a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver in his first full year of competition and as a reigning support series winner at Watkins Glen International Raceway has to be quite the welcoming feeling for a guy who uprooted his whole family to chase a dream.
There's not a doubt in my mind that NASCAR's Watkins Glen International Raceway just picked up one of the most, uh, interesting race sponsorship titles.
As has been the norm for the past few years at the 11-turn road course in the upstate finger lakes region of New York, the title of the August event has taken many flavors -- from boating companies to computer products manufacturers.
This year, though, there's no Centurion, AMD or Sirius Satellite Radio involved, rather, folks there are looking to have a Heluva Good! time.
Kyle Petty got a little mad Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen. And as a result, he won't be racing Sunday at Michigan.
The heir-apparent to any new driving opportunity at Petty Enterprises, Chad McCumbee will instead take over.
Petty had surgery Tuesday on a broken right hand suffered after an incident on course at lap 69.
It sounds like self-contact was to blame for the injury:
Kyle Petty, driver of the No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge suffered a broken hand as a result of hitting the butt of his right hand on a door inside the hauler after a lap 69 incident in Sunday's Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International road course.
[...] He flew back to his home in North Carolina, where he was treated by a doctor who determined that the hand was broken.
Maybe it was just a ploy to get McCumbee in the car again? After all, the kid did a fantastic job at the first Pocono race and Petty has had nothing but praise for the driver on his rotational role with PRN's Fast Talk.
Or, most likely, Petty got mad and had a little bit of anger built up because his car didn't perform at all Sunday and because he had to fire a crew chief.
He's scheduled to be back for the breeze of a race that is Bristol. Right.
In case you missed the bajillion replays on SportsCenter and ESPN2's NASCAR Now, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kevin Harvick got into a little bit of a dust up in turn 1 at Watkins Glen on Sunday.
Here's the evidence, starting at about 0:54:
So, seeing that two drivers showed some emotion and that Kevin Harvick called Juan Pablo Montoya a slang term for a donkey, penalties are bound to come, right?
Despite his incredible point lead, Jeff Gordon doesn't have a bone in his body that is relaxing in his pursuit of his fifth championship.
That anxiety likely led to his spin with less than two laps to go, taking the No. 24 out of its tenth road course win and opening the door for a knocking Tony Stewart.
Gordon had less than a one second lead on lap 89 when he drove his Chevrolet Impala a little deep into Turn 1 and wheel-hopped the rear end. Seconds later, Gordon was back in the gas but sitting ninth.
"We gave up 20 [points] because I didn't get the 10 that would have kept him from getting the 10," Gordon said. "Had I won, I would have gained 10 points, so I would have been 20 points more ahead of him than I am now." [...] "Just stupid," Gordon said. "I knew I had to push. Tony was really good. I wanted that win really bad. ... I pushed and I pushed too far. What happened is the team deserved to win, and the driver didn't get it done."
For a guy who had just lost the race in a solo spin, the thoughts he offered the media afterwards were pretty darn classy.
If Gordon rallies back and picks up a win or two, his thoughts of mistake will deeply subside -- unless Tony takes the season title by 20 or less points.
Got a drought? Book ya some NASCAR. But for now, enjoy some Notes & Quotes.
Road course aces and 
Unlike the race sponsor, the weather at 
Race: Heluva Good! @ the Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) -- A year ago 
Marcos Ambrose
There's not a doubt in my mind that NASCAR's .jpg)
Kyle Petty got a little mad Sunday afternoon at Watkins Glen. And as a result, he won't be racing Sunday at Michigan.
Despite his incredible point lead, Jeff Gordon doesn't have a bone in his body that is relaxing in his pursuit of his fifth championship.
