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Jimmie Johnson: Johnson finished ninth in the Quaker State 400, recording his 13th top 10 of the year. “Junior’s wasn’t the only car that was ‘unstoppable,’” Johnson said. “Those Joe Gibbs Racing cars were as well, and it had nothing to do with brakes.

Austin Hill, a 21 year old driver from Georgia and member of the NASCAR Next Class of 2015, will be taking his next step by racing in New Hampshire in the K&N Pro Series East race this weekend. Hill is racing full time in that series, as well as competing for the championship in his family-owned team.

After dealing with inclement weather, qualifying cancellation due to rain, weepers on the track and a new aero package, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the Quaker State 400 Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway.

Seven races, two wins. Instead of sitting fifth in the standings, tucked in behind fellow two-race winners Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his brother, the Kentucky winner is left sitting 35th in the standings. Interestingly enough, he also sits just 87 points out of 30th and a place in the Chase, with eight events to go.

In a storied career that includes 92 wins and four championship titles, he has nothing left to prove. However, there is one accomplishment that would set him apart from any other driver in NASCAR history. A victory at Kentucky Speedway Saturday night would give Gordon a win at every track on the current Sprint Cup circuit.

For the second race in the span of four days, a driver has gotten up into the catchfence at a race track.

The thrills and the moments of dread of Daytona are behind us. Kentucky is next on the agenda, yet something tells me it arrives with not quite the same sense of anticipation. It still is racing, there is still a measure of danger attached to it, but it is not the same thing. Some think that is a good thing.

Long time readers of my columns know that I am not a fan of restrictor-plate racing. It’s not for the reasons that most think of after this week’s chaos at the end of the Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway last Monday morning (that’s another story, for another day).

Even with only one top-five in four starts at Kentucky Speedway, Carl Edwards admits that he is a fan of Kentucky Speedway and hopes that he can have a good run on Saturday night after crashing out of the past two events.

Ever wonder about those engineers atop the pit box next to the crew chiefs working away on their computers during the race? This week’s NASCAR Behind the Scenes focuses on one such engineer, Tom Gray, who works with Jeff Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports Team 24.