NASCAR Cup Series

Usually we care about the big names, the pied pipers leading the way. At Bristol, there was some excitement as Matt Kenseth held off two-time winner Kasey Kahne to win his fifth of the season and locked a spot in the Chase. It was an exciting finish, but in the scheme of things as to what is most meaningful at the moment, not so much.

Michael Waltrip Racing announced today Scott Miller, its vice-president of competition, will oversee the crew chief duties on No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota for the remainder of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

The start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup is still three weeks away. The Goody’s™ Headache Relief Shot™ 500 Powered by Kroger, the seventh race in the chase, is two months away.

On this opening weekend of college football, Jeff Gordon's weekend kicks off at the University of Georgia on Thursday. But game day for the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion is not until Sunday night in the AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The following quote is attributed to Joe Garone, general manager of Furniture Row Racing in regards to Kurt Busch's decision not to continue as the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet after the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

From NASCAR children National Anthem singing to cars colliding and tempers flaring, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 53rd annual IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Dale Jarrett this week suggested that the All-Star Race be moved from Charlotte Motor Speedway to Bristol. Stating that these drivers have all grown up on short tracks, I’m assuming he isn’t taking into account Danica Patrick or Juan Puablo Montoya, who both have not ever thought about driving short track or dirt track cars.

Richard Childress Racing teammates finished sixth (Paul Menard), 13th (Jeff Burton) and 34th (Kevin Harvick) in the IRWIN Tools Night Race.

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 FARMERS INSURANCE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED SECOND - ON HIS RUN: “We had a really good Farmers Insurance Chevrolet. We were fast. Kenny (Francis, crew chief) made a great call to get the tires and not worry about fuel and I just didn’t get it done. I didn’t win. I had the better car. The guys did a great job in the pits and I feel bad I didn’t win. We needed this. I would have been big for us. But, we ended up second. It was still a good point’s day and we’ll try to get one in Atlanta.”

CARL EDWARDS – No. 99 Fastenal Ford Fusion – WE HEARD IT WAS THE ENGINE. HOW MUCH WARNING DID YOU HAVE? “I didn’t have any warning. I’ve just got to thank all the guys. That’s the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a long time. Jimmy did a great job. The car was almost perfect and the engine ran awesome until it broke. We had great pit stops and I think we’ve got some good things to get forward to. This is what we needed, a race like this – with the engine aside – I think we were the dominant car here tonight. We’ve got some good races coming up.”