NASCAR Cup Series

Gordon, who grew up in nearby Pittsboro, has four victories at the famed speedway including the inaugural event in 1994 plus wins in 1998, 2001 and 2004. He also has three poles, 11 top-fives - five more than any other driver - and 15 top-10's in 19 starts at the Indiana track.

This edition of NASCAR ‘Behind the Scenes’ focuses on driver Josh Wise, who instead of enjoying a rare weekend off, will be participating in a triathlon.

It has been quite a season so far. The Gen 6 car has brought so much more to the sport than just a new look of the car. It has revived passion and made for some of the most exciting racing we’ve seen since NASCAR’s heyday in the early 2000’s. With the action packed races comes many memorable ones.

Jimmie Johnson is without a doubt a great driver, but there remains the question of where Johnson ranks amongst the greatest drivers in our sport. Kyle Petty seems to think that Jimmie Johnson is "the greatest driver ever." Does Petty really mean that? His father won 200 races and 7 championships, but keep in mind that Johnson did not win his championships in the same manner than the greats that he is being compared to. Are we talking about a different ERA? I think we are in this case.

My magical weekend at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway had way more than I thought it would. For example, Sunday at the track was drastically better than I was expecting it to be. One tweet changed my day that morning. That was the tweet that gave me some unprecedented access to the garage area during the pre-race hours.

We all thought Kyle Busch had changed for the better and that he was going to be a mature man following his 2011 accident with Ron Hornaday at the Texas Motor Speedway in the Camping World Truck Series that left everyone seething. This accident with Hornaday also proceeded his speeding citation when Busch was busted going 128 mph. in a 45 mph. zone earlier in the year when he was supposedly test-driving his new Lexus LFA sports car and got "carried away."

When I left for the New Hampshire Motor Speedway last week, I had no idea what was to come. I was hoping for some good racing and to meet a few people. I really didn’t expect anything more than that, but what I ultimately left the track with were memories that would last a lifetime. These memories will forever be special to me and what’s special about them is that they all came as surprises.