NASCAR Cup Series

Mention last spring’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway to Ryan Newman and you’ll surely get to see one of his sly grins.

It was Mission Accomplished for Mission 18 on Sunday afternoon at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., as Kyle Busch dominated and won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Auto Club 400. But the victory wasn’t nearly as easy as it appeared.

JJ Yeley's weekend to the Golden State started off great, adding on an additional race with sponsor Accell Construction Inc. Prior to the weekend Yeley was still in search of sponsorship for the weekend, however, impressed with the team and driver, Accell added on early in the week.

Going into this weekend at Fontana, California, Dave Blaney and the No. 7 SANY America Chevy SS, knew that the long race that awaited at Auto Club Speedway would be a challenge. After last week's disappointing end to Bristol, the goal was simple - finish the race. By that mark, Dave Blaney overachieved.

FAS Lane Racing and rookie driver Timmy Hill entered the Auto Club 400 riding momentum with a new sponsor on board and coming off a strong finish last week at Bristol with former champion Terry Labonte.

With all due respects to college basketball's annual super tournament, that takes weeks to complete, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series displayed their own version of "March Madness", at the Auto Club Speedway, that contained far more excitement and it only took two hours, 57 minutes and 19 seconds, during the course of a single Sunday afternoon, to complete.

All last year, folks commented that the racing in NASCAR’s top series was boring. Most of them pointed to the late-race action at Martinsville Speedway last April. On Sunday, at near 200 mph, they saw more of the same. This time it was Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, fresh off a dustup at Bristol Motor Speedway where both drivers pointed fingers.

While Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart stole the headlines, lost in it all was the fact that ‘Rowdy’ Busch was able to steal the victory.

Last week I wrote that California wasn't your daddy's NASCAR venue. I was wrong. It turned out to be not only your daddy's but your grandpappy's as well. Both would have loved what they saw, be it from a 1953, 1983, or 2013 perspective.

There are as many opinions as there are fans as to whether or not Joey Logano is at fault for the late-race wreck on Sunday at Fontana that sent driver Denny Hamlin to the hospital.