Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Kevin Harvick: With 72 laps remaining at Atlanta, Harvick suffered a flat left-front tire, which eventually shredded before he could reach the pits, severely damaging the left fender of the No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevy. Harvick eventually finished 33rd, 16 laps behind, but maintains a sizeable lead in the point standings, with a 219 cushion over Jeff Gordon.

“I may be a favorite for the Cup title,” Harvick said, “but it remains to be seen whether my regular season magic carries over into the Chase. I’m sure the magic will be there Saturday night at Richmond, when after the race, I’ll make my points lead vanish into thin air.”

2. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson officially clinched a spot in the Chase with a third in the Emory Healthcare 500, capturing his ninth top-5 finish of the year. Johnson is now seventh in the Sprint Cup point standings, and with five wins this year, will likely start the Chase tied with Denny Hamlin on top.

“We still have plenty of work to do if I’m to claim my fifth consecutive Cup championship,” Johnson said. “But we’re not afraid of work. Obviously, with four consecutive Cup titles, what we’ve done in the past ‘works.’

“I reiterated my belief that Kevin Harvick is the favorite to take home the Sprint Cup. By saying that, I place all the pressure on Harvick and none on myself. So, I like my chances. Everybody knows that Jimmie Johnson is hard to beat under pressure.”

3. Tony Stewart: Stewart took charge on the final restart and pulled away from Carl Edwards, validating a dominating day at Atlanta with the win in the Emory Healthcare 500. Stewart led 176 of 325 laps, and claimed his first win since October 2009 at Kansas. He improved two places in the point standings to fourth, and trails Kevin Harvick by 283.

“Now, when discussion centers on my last win,” Stewart said, “it’s safe to say ‘we’re not in Kansas anymore.’”

“Now it seems that I’m everyone’s favorite to win the Cup. That’s after one win that came 25 races into the season. It’s all hard for me to digest and comprehend, because I’ve never been anyone’s favorite anything.”

4. Kyle Busch: Busch overcame an early pit road speeding penalty to finish fifth at Atlanta, his seventh top-5 result of the year. Nabbed by NASCAR on lap 49, Busch was sent to the rear of the field. Not long after, a troubling vibration sent him to the pits, from which he emerged 34th, one lap down. Later, with one of the fastest cars on the track, Busch roared back for a solid finish and clinched his spot in the Chase.

“The only thing more satisfying to me than ‘punching a ticket,’” Busch said, “is punching Brad Keselowski. I should consider it. A wise man once told me that a true rivalry in NASCAR is borne of an exchange of punches, not punchlines.”

5. Carl Edwards: Edwards continued his recent surge (seven top 10’s in his last eight races) with a runner-up in the Emory Healthcare 500. Edwards led 32 laps in the No. 99 Aflac Fusion, but ultimately was no match for Tony Stewart, who pulled away on the final restart for the convincing victory.

“Although victory has eluded me,” Edwards said, “these solid finishes are a clear indication that we’ll see victory soon enough. So, you could say we’re ‘peeking’ at the right time.”

“I like our chances to win the championship. Sure, with no wins, we’ll be starting at the bottom of the field, but as someone who has seen his share of probations, I know what it’s like starting in a hole.”

6. Jeff Gordon: After running as high as fourth at Atlanta, Gordon faded to a disappointing finish of 13th, derailed by poor-handling and shaky restarts. He remains second in the Sprint Cup point standings, and trails Kevin Harvick by 219.

“We’ve got one more shot for victory before the Chase starts in New Hampshire,” Gordon said. “We’ve been nothing more than average this year, and with no wins thus far, we’ve truly put the ‘regular’ in ‘regular season.’”

7. Denny Hamlin: Hamlin started from the pole and led 74 laps early at Atlanta, but a blown engine on lap 143 ended his day. Three of Hamlin’s last four finishes have been 34th or worse, and although he’s clinched a spot in the Chase For The Cup, there is doubt that he can rekindle the momentum from an earlier stretch that saw him win five times in ten races.

“For someone who’s likely to be in the lead when the Chase commences,” Hamlin said, “we haven’t been very impressive lately. But, after finishing 43rd on Sunday, you could say we made a ‘last’-ing impression.”

“The No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota was fast early, but ultimately, our day was like a bad haircut—not long enough.”

8. Jeff Burton: Burton finished fourth at Atlanta, taking advantage of a late caution to change four tires, thus allowing him to charge through the field. It was Burton’s fifth top-5 finish of the year, and he improved one place in the point standings to sixth, 324 behind Kevin Harvick.

“I owe a lot of credit to my pit crew,” Burton said. “With the pressure on, they came through with quick stops and timely adjustments. In times past, when we’ve beaten ourselves in the pits, I haven’t been so complimentary. On those occasions, the No. 31 team was living proof that, like a true feline, a ‘Cat’ can lick itself.”

9. Kurt Busch: After missing the setup for Sunday’s race in Atlanta, Busch and the No. 2 Miller Lite team struggled with handling for a majority of the race. But constant adjustments throughout the night, as well as a key decision to stay on the track during a lap 265 caution, finally paid off with track position. Busch finished sixth, his 15th top-10 result of the year, and officially locked up a spot in the Chase.

“It’s one thing to be earmarked for purely cosmetic reasons,” Busch said. “But another to be earmarked for the Chase For The Cup. I’m two for two in the ‘2.’”

“But I have just as good of a chance to win this thing as the next guy, assuming, by ‘next guy,’ you’re referring to Jeff Burton. He’s a threat, for sure, but only to behave like a true gentleman.”

10. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer, in the No. 33 BB&T Chevrolet, posted a solid seventh-place finish at Atlanta, one place ahead of Ryan Newman, his closest pursuer for the 12th and final spot in the Chase. Barring a major catastrophe, Bowyer will lock up the final Chase spot at Richmond.

“It’s a safe bet to say I’ll make the Chase,” Bowyer said, “so bet the farm. If disaster strikes and I fail to qualify, then I will have bought the farm.”

Over the previous weekend we watched Tony Stewart “smoke” up Atlanta-Georgia following Sunday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. In Nationwide Series action we watched a popular driver, crew chief and team owner return to victory lane. Meanwhile in the truck brigade an “onion” returned to victory lane only to get attacked by a “rowdy Busch.” With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

HOORAH to Tony Stewart for an outstanding driving performance while winning Sunday’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta. “Smoke” led this race eight times, for a race high 176 laps, and returned to victory lane for the first time since the Kansas race last October which was 31 races ago. The win was Stewart’s first of the season, third at Atlanta and 38th career win. Stewart’s win streak also remains intact. He’s won at least one race in every year of his time spent in the Sprint Cup Series which began 12 years ago. It also moved him from sixth to fourth in the championship standings and officially clinched a starting berth in the 2010 Chase For The Championship.

HOORAH to the Darrien Grubb led Stewart Haas Racing Team for their outstanding performance on pit road. With tire management being such a critical factor in this race, there were a lot of pit stops. The vast majority of these stops for the #14 team were in the low 12 second range.

On the subject of the team’s pit stops, HOORAH to the race winner’s dad, Nelson Stewart, who helped his son out by shining a bright flash light up and down the pit stall so his driver could find his stopping point on a heavily congested, hard to see, pit road.

WAZZUP with some of those restarts? Stewart clearly had a rhythm problem on some of the double file restarts and it often cost him track position. There were times when he actually came over the radio and apologized to his team for the results. But Stewart redeemed himself during the final restart when it mattered the most. With 25 laps left he came in for his final stop for tires and fuel. His team responded with another outstanding pit stop that placed him on the front row. Stewart relocated his restart rhythm and ran away during the final laps for the win.

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WAZZUP with the lap 153 incident that is going to force Greg Biffle to wait one more week to clinch his Chase berth? Some brief contact from Ryan Newman sent Biffle sliding into Elliot Sadler who went front bumper first into the wall. The entire front end of Biffle’s Ford was severely damaged and had to go behind the wall.

That leads to a HOORAH for his team, as well as members of other Roush Fenway Racing teams, who did an outstanding job completely restoring the front of this race car. Biffle returned to the track 71 laps down, but that return elevated him from a 40th place finish to 36th. He now needs to finish 43d next week in Richmond to clinch his Chase berth.

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WAZZUP with Ryan Newman being involved with yet another major incident in this race? At lap 302 Newman made a three wide move that accidentally led to contact with Kasey Kahne. That hit sent Kahne’s Ford into the side of Kurt Busch’s Dodge. The impact forced Kahne to make an unscheduled trip to the garage due to a flat tire and a broken water tank. Prior to that incident Kahne was a major player in this race and led 16 laps. He wound up 32nd and 15 laps down.

Kahne also wound up very angry at Newman and retaliated during the waning moments of the race. He gave Newman a shove that almost turned him sideways. At the time Newman was listed as 13th in the points and was attempting to gain some ground on Clint Bowyer, in 12th, in an effort to find some way to sneak into the Chase line up via the back door. The hit from Kahne allowed Bowyer to pass Newman for position. Newman finished the race 117 points away from 12th and will now require a surprise miracle next week at Richmond to make the Chase.

Kahne and Newman were caught on camera exchanging some angry words on pit road after the race. But don’t be looking for the “F” word from that incident: (I was referring to the word feud, what word were you thinking about?)

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Speaking of Clint Bowyer: he deserves a HOORAH for a rock steady driving performance in the Atlanta race that led to a seventh place finish. He now needs at least a 28th finish at Richmond next week to clinch a Chase berth.

Carl Edwards also gets a HOORAH for his Atlanta driving performance and his second place finish. Many race observers noted that this effort resembled the days of old when Edwards and Roush Fenway Racing were such a strong force in the Cup series.

WAZZUP with the uncharacteristic performance of the Joe Gibbs Racing teams? After leading the race seven times, for a total of 74 laps, Denny Hamlin finished 43d when a blown engine ended his evening. He dropped from fifth to tenth in the standings but still managed to clinch his starting berth in the Chase.

Team mate Joey Logano nursed a weak engine, everyone thought was going to expire, to a 27th place finish. Kyle Busch was the Joe Gibbs highlight with a fifth place finish but was no where near the factor in the race that many expected.

WAZZUP with the bizarre in car radio incident that garnered driver David Reutimann a black flag? NASCAR has a strict safety rule that demands one hundred percent radio contact between a driver and his track spotter. Reutimann’s radio failed and he was ordered, via the black flag, to pit road for repairs. At first the team thought the problem may have been the radio control switch on the steering wheel and were planning to hand their driver a back up steering wheel. It turned out that the handling of Reutimann’s car was so bad that his arms were flailing up and down while trying to turn the steering wheel. During the course of that action he accidentally unplugged the wire that connects the team’s radio to his driving helmet. Reutimann eventually managed to get back on the lead lap and drove to a 16th place finish.

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HOORAH to Jamie McMurray for winning Saturday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series Atlanta event. McMurray is having an outstanding season in the Cup ranks and collected another feel good moment after collecting his eighth career series win for JR Motorsports which is co owned by Dale Earnahrdt Jr. and Rick Hendrick. McMurray, in the #88 Hellman’s Chevrolet, led the race three times for a total of 48 laps, including the final 23 circuits, to give his team owners their first series win of the season. It was also great to see an emotionally charged Tony “Pops” Eury Sr. return to victory lane as the winning crew chief.

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HOORAH to Todd “The Onion” Bodine for winning Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the Kentucky Speedway. It was Bodine’s fourth win of the year and 21st series career win. He also padded his series points lead to 261 over Aric Almirola. With only seven races left in the season, it’s looking like Bodine is going to collect his second series championship.

But WAZZUP with that bizarre confrontation the race winner had with driver Kyle Busch in victory lane? On lap 81 Busch and Bodine were racing close together when Bodine spun out. Ironically, it was the trip to pit road, to replace flat spotted tires, that gave Bodine’s Toyota truck just enough fuel to go the remaining distance when the other teams had to pit for fuel late in the race, Bodine was able to stretch a tank of fuel 55 laps.

In victory lane Bodine raised a lot of eyebrows when he said “I’d like to thank Kyle Busch for driving dirty, sucking me down and getting me spun out.” He went on to suggest that it was Busch’s actions that set up his team to make the race winning fuel gamble. However it was noticed by many that there was no contact between the trucks and many observers openly wondered what it was that Busch did wrong.

Meanwhile Busch was in his car hauler changing clothes when he heard Bodine’s accusations on television. He surprised everyone by showing up in victory lane to express his anger. Busch later explained that he confronted Bodine in victory circle because there was no time to talk to him later. He had to catch a plane to Atlanta that night where he was scheduled to race in the NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup events that weekend. In a sheer note of irony Busch was flying to Atlanta that night in a private plane owned by Bob Germain who also happens to be the owner or Bodine’s racing team.

After some brief moments of yelling and finger pointing, Busch left victory lane. The media reporter then asked Bodine what it was all about. Bodine replied “I’ve always had a lot of respect for Kyle. Slowly but surely I’m losing it. That’s a shame. It’s not just the truck series, it’s every division he races. He’s so good. He’s without a doubt one of the best drivers NASCAR has ever seen. He doesn’t have to drive like that to win races but he does it and he’s getting away with it because NASCAR won’t do anything about it. He was mad because I called him out on it.”

The following day in Atlanta Busch responded by saying “I don’t feel like I’m a dirty racer. I feel like I’m a hard racer and an aggressive one, but I wouldn’t call it dirty, dirty is when you run into the back of someone on the straightaway and put them in the fence.”

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HOORAH to three year old Ella Gordon, the daughter of NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who teamed up with Sam Bass, the official artist of NASCAR, to completely redesign the paint job on her dad’s #24 Chevrolet. Called “My Papa’s Car,” the design featured Ella’s original art work as well as her hand prints. The project was created to bring awareness to the Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation which supports pediatric cancer research. The foundation’s logo was on the hood of the car and that leads to a HOORAH to Gordon’s long time primary sponsor, Dupont Automotive Finishes, who gladly relinquished their advertising space on the car to support this important cause.

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Finally this week we have a HOORAH to the Song Of Atlanta Show Chorus and to Ernie Haase and Signature Sound for their performances of “The National Anthem” prior to the Atlanta NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup events. These performances were extremely well done and polished with a strong sense of spiritualism and patriotism. It was a nice change from past performances from burned out looking rock stars and newly crowned pop stars who warble their way through the song like they don’t have a clue what a privilege it is to be asked to perform “The National Anthem” at a major event in this country.

So they’re going to rid Atlanta of a race? Anyone watching the race on Sunday night would have to ask why. Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the most competitive racetracks on the circuit. So many close finishes can be remembered over the years, and even though Sunday’s finish wasn’t that close the racing was better than good.

So what gives? It’s almost as if money means more than racing. Sure, money is a big part of the business. Track owners have to make money to pay purses and provide the amenities that race fans love, but is it coming at the expense of good racing?

Over the years, we’ve seen places where the racing was good, go away. Darlington lost its signature race—the Labor Day weekend Southern 500. No other place defines NASCAR like Darlington on Labor Day. We’ve seen the high-banked one-miler at Rockingham get closed for “lack of attendance.” Of course, having the races at Halloween and in the midst of winter may have had something to do with it.

North Wilkesboro went away so New Hampshire could have a date. Now, Atlanta, in business for 50 years, has lost a date because of a business deal—and poor attendance at Atlanta’s spring race. Atlanta’s March race has always drawn anywhere from 80,000-110,000. Not bad for a place that advertises that it has seating for 91,000 people and has always been plagued by bad weather.

Kentucky has seating for 65,000 folks and owner Bruton Smith says he is going to add seats. I’m happy for the folks in the Cincinnati-Lexington area, but keep that attendance up or else be prepared to see that date go elsewhere.

I guess the point of my article is that NASCAR is slowly taking away all of the history of the sport. Once upon a time, the southeast had Rockingham, Darlington, Charlotte, Atlanta, North Wilkesboro, Talladega, Daytona, Martinsville and Richmond hosting two races each. Where there were once 16 races in the region where the sport began has now become 12. The Carolinas alone hosted eight races and now they host four.

In the meantime we see other tracks draw poorly and have boring racing. I realize the need to make a buck, but what about the racing? Is that important anymore? Or are we to believe the radio programs that tell us it’s the best it’s ever been?

NOTES:

Elliott Sadler must be the unluckiest driver on the planet. It he doesn’t get taken out by a blown engine, it’s being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sunday night was no exception. Sadler was running well and got caught up in something not of his doing. Apparently, he lost his ride with Richard Petty Motorsports, and has few takers for 2011. He’s a talented guy and we hope things turn around for him soon.

The same could be said for Kasey Kahne. Kahne ran well and took the lead in the closing laps only to be tapped by Ryan Newman. It wasn’t intentional, but Kahne’s retaliation was. Amazingly no one is calling for his head like they have Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch.

The same thing happened to Greg Biffle. Wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily, it didn’t cost the Biff a place in the Chase.

Kudos to Ernie Haase and Signature Sound for a dynamite rendition of the National Anthem before the race.

Jeff Gordon might be second in points, but he’s far from competitive these days. In fact the only Hendrick Motorsports entry that is somewhat competitive is the No. 48 of Jimmie Johnson. Wonder why?

Finally, Bill Elliott is doing amazing things with the Wood Brothers’ car. The underfunded team needs better sponsorship. Maybe in 2011?