Joseph Shelton

As NASCAR fans, we'll forever hold the candle for abandoned race tracks like Rockingham and Nashville Superspeedway, but we somehow seem to hold a bigger candle for North Wilkesboro Speedway. As race fans, this is the sort of thing that tugs at our heartstrings regarding how the track just sits there sadly, falling into disrepair.

So to come to Charlotte, win the pole for the Coca-Cola 600, then set a race record by leading 392 of 400 on the way to victory, there's no doubt that Truex and the No. 78 crew truly deserved a visit to Victory Lane, especially after all that they've gone through.

In the last couple of weeks, Kyle Larson has been showing some much needed results. He finished second in a spirited battle with Matt Kenseth at Dover, then followed it up with an aggressive win the the Sprint Showdown, the last-chance qualifier for the Sprint All-Star event at Charlotte.

It took him five starts, but at Kansas on Saturday, he managed to hold off two-time series champion Matt Crafton for his first series win. With that win, Byron validated KBM owner Kyle Busch's decision to sign him, and Byron became another shining star on the rise in NASCAR.

How much has Koch grown? After eight events he holds two top-10s and sits 13th in points. He's had the speed in his No. 11 Camaro, as shown at Bristol where he posted the fastest speed in practice.

This week in NASCAR, the biggest story in the news isn't Carl Edwards dominating Bristol on Sunday, or Kyle Busch's bad luck early in the Food City 500, or even the fan who was almost turned into a speed bump by Busch. Instead, the biggest story was a true feel-good story in NASCAR, a rare one of the underdog's hard work paying off: Matt DiBenedetto's hard-fought sixth-place finish.

Despite not having set foot in a stock car since 2008, Kyle Petty still remains a huge part of the NASCAR scene as an NBC Sports analyst as well as a renowned humanitarian.

DiBenedetto's interview just goes to show what's great about NASCAR. While it may seem like the front is always the same guys day in and day out, and it may seem like old hat for drivers and fans, every so often one of the little guys who will work just as hard as his crew will have a good day.

After several weeks of unhappy fans, lackluster racing, and multiple Sprint Cup regulars winning all of the XFINITY Series events, Saturday's Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300 provided a much-needed shot in the arm for a division struggling with credibility.

With a fifth-place run at Saturday's Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, Chase Elliott, and his No. 24 crew have proved that the 2016 Rookie of the Year competition is in their favor. Not only was it his first career top-five, it was also his fourth top-10 in seven races.