A 50-race winless streak may well have been 500 for Denny Hamlin.
Fuel pump issues, late-race passes and even a transmission that broke so violently that the shifter split in half while he was holding it have been the chapters of Denny Hamlin's long, harrowing and extremely frustrating Sprint Cup novel since March of 2008.
But the Virginia driver sped to his fifth career win Monday at Pocono Raceway to dispatch of those demons while he had some "angels" by his side.
If Kyle Busch was hoping to avoid sounding sour about the finish of last Saturday's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona by not talking to the media after the event, he failed in his mission with his comments Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway.
In his weekly media visit, Busch revealed that he felt "dumped" by Tony Stewart, that he doesn't have feelings and that drivers that cause last-lap wrecks for the win should be penalized.
Of course, the comments about his incident with Stewart rang the loudest -- especially after Stewart said Wednesday that the two had talked about the last-lap crash that took the win from Busch and gave it to Stewart.
Mopping up from a wet finish, here's this week's teenage wasteland edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes. They're Logano-rific!
No. No. No. Rain Tires. No.
Because this is the third time in 2009 that a Sprint Cup race has been halted by rain [congrats, Lincoln Log-ano!], the thoughts of "Why can't NASCAR use rain tires?" are creeping back again.
Well, you want the answer? It's way too simple: the racing would plain suck.
If I had said this six months ago, you would have insisted that I'd lost my last marble. But now the notion doesn't seem so crazy, does it? I pick Tony Stewart to win the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
That's right - my money's on "Smoke" and I'm feeling pretty confident given the way he's behaving lately. Taking the point lead at Dover, and winning for the first time as a car owner a week later at Pocono, sealed the deal for me, but let me point out that six months ago I was in the minority who believed in the notion that Stewart-Haas Racing would actually succeed.
Saturday night at Nashville Superspeedway, Kyle Busch handled the coveted guitar trophy in a manner that about 99.931 percent of the world would never think to do.
Yet, when we're thinking about the most dominant driver in the sport in terms of race wins over the past year and a half, a little more thought could have almost anticipated seeing Busch doing exactly what he did in smashing that custom-painted Gibson Les Paul into the victory lane concrete.
Whether or not you found the "celebration" to be a complete slap in the face to numerous people or just another much-heralded "Kyle being Kyle" moment, there remains a stirring question: Is this 24-year-old polarizer making NASCAR into a sport that is better or worse?
Kyle Busch celebrated his 24th birthday Saturday night with his third win in Richmond. Here's a look at it from a feature we like to call Sprint Cup Numbers:
2.751 - Kyle Busch's margin of victory in seconds over Tony Stewart, the largest of the 2009 season
3 - Wins Kyle Busch had over the weekend after also taking the Nationwide Series race and a Denny Hamlin charity race
4.895 - Average running position, behind Jeff Gordon (4.198) and teammate Denny Hamlin (3.510)
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.
Just a year and change after NASCAR's most popular driver vacated the No. 8 seat, that team is suspending operations thanks to a lack of sponsorship.
Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing will not be taking Aric Almirola and his Chevrolet team any further in the 2009 season after a dismal start has failed to yield more sponsorship dollars, though the team is still actively -- and probably hopelessly -- searching for more backers.
For Almirola, though, it's just a continuation of a string of bad lack in his climb to NASCAR's highest ranks.
The NASCAR season truly kicks in Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway when the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup begins. From now through Friday, FanHouse will preview each of the 12-drivers and evaluate their championship chances.
A 50-race winless streak may well have been 500 for Denny Hamlin.
If 
Mopping up from a wet finish, here's this week's teenage wasteland edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes. They're Logano-rific!
Saturday night at 
Kyle Busch
On the 
Just a year and change after NASCAR's most popular driver vacated the No. 8 seat, that team is suspending operations thanks to a lack of sponsorship.
