The Cup Series return to the Irish hills of Michigan also marked the return of Jack Roush, injured in a plane crash, to the track as well as the resurgence of Richard Childress Racing.  Here is what is surprising and not surprising from the race at MIS this past weekend.

Surprising: Not since 1990 when the late Dale Earnhardt won had Richard Childress Racing been to victory lane at Michigan.   But all that changed when RCR driver and points leader Kevin Harvick powered his No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet to the checkered flag. This was Harvick’s first win at a two mile plus race track without a restrictor plate since Indy in 2003.

Not Surprising: With that victory and the points lead solidly in hand, Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress Racing positioned themselves perfectly to welcome the Budweiser sponsorship to their car in 2011. All of the stars seem to be aligning for Harvick with his new sponsor, a new contract, and a position in the championship Chase now officially locked in.

Surprising:  Kurt Busch in the blue deuce for Penske Racing had been riding high recently. He was unpleasantly surprised, however, when his engine failed early in the race due to a valve breakage. This was Busch’s second DNF and he was also NASCAR’s biggest loser, dropping six positions in the point standings, from fourth to tenth.

Not Surprising: Brother Kyle Busch had an eventful race as he so often does, at one point brushing the wall hard and suffering damage to his No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota. Yet he battled back for a finish matching the number of his car, taking the checkered flag in the 18^th position. Unlike his brother, Kyle Busch just lost one position in the Chase standings, dropping him to eighth.

Surprising:   With an uncertain future at Richard Petty Motorsports but with the memory of his Pocono Truck win still fresh in the back of his mind, Elliott Sadler had a great run in his No. 19 Henry Ford Museum: Racing in America Ford. Sadler came in 9^th after starting back in the field in 23^rd.

Not Surprising:   RPM teammate Kasey Kahne did not fare as well as Sadler. While he started from the pole, he brought his No. 9 Budweiser Ford to the finish line in 14^th, deeming his run “disappointing.”

Surprising: Lanky Joey Logano and ripped Ryan Newman got into a tussle on and off the track. On lap 148, the two drivers were battling for position and wrecked one another. Newman, battling for one of the final positions in the Chase, finished a miserable 23^rd, while Logano, who is out of Chase contention, salvaged a top ten finish.

Not Surprising: The two drivers continued their on track disagreement into the garage area, with Logano confronting Newman and accusing him of driving him “too hard”. Newman, showing no patience for the youngster, especially after being touched by the gesticulating young man, shared a few choice words, encouraging Logano to learn how to drive himself.

Surprising:   It was surprising how badly the Hendrick Motorsports drivers fared at Michigan. Jeff Gordon, celebrating his own birthday as well as the birth of his son Leo, started in the back but had a strong car, at one point running at the front of the field. But tire troubles plagued him throughout the latter part of the race and he finished 27^th.

Not Surprising:   Unfortunately for the Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, the Irish hills did not smile on the driver of the No. 88 National Guard AMP Energy Chevrolet. Junior finished 19^th but can take solace that he was the second best finisher of his four HMS teammates.

Surprising: Hendrick Motorsports driver Mark Martin also struggled, getting into the wall early in the race. He finished behind Jeff Gordon in 28^th and with that finish fell out of Chase contention to the 13^th position in the point standings.

Not Surprising: With the ‘Cat in the Hat’ back on top of the pit box where he belongs, the Roushketeers had a great run in his honor and at his home track. Roush Fenway drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished in the third, fourth and fifth positions respectively. Even young driver David Ragan ran well, finishing 11^th and earning a congratulatory phone call from Roush himself.

Surprising: Denny Hamlin re-emerged and brought his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota home in the runner up position. Hamlin was one of the biggest point gainers, moving up to the third position in the points right behind Harvick and Gordon.

Not Surprising: In the throes of the hot and sticky summer, it is no surprise that Smoke has started to reappear. Tony Stewart, as he so often does, has started to heat up his season, finishing sixth in his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet. With that top ten finish, Stewart also moved up four positions in the Chase standings to fourth.

The Cup Series will go short track racing under the lights at Bristol this weekend. The IRWIN Tools Night Race will run on Saturday, August 21^st at 7:30 PM on ABC. 

Kevin Harvick won at Michigan, locked his place in the Chase, and has moved to within 20 bonus points of Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin when they reset things next month. All in all, the boy has got some pretty good reason to be…er…well, Happy.

Harvick is also our hottest driver over the past ten events, with a pair of wins, but Tony Stewart has almost matched him in points. In fact, over the span Smoke has managed a top ten in all but one, with the lone exception of that 25th place finish at Daytona in July.

When it comes to hot drivers, Carl Edwards does not come to mind, but there he is. Six straight top tens can do that for you. Appearing out of nowhere, or so it seemed, to finish third at Michigan is just one example of why he is a bonafide contender.

While some are going up, others are taking a plunge the other direction. Mark Martin has dived behind Clint Bowyer for that last playoff spot and there doesn’t seem to be any water left in his pool. If you are hoping the likes of David Reutimann, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jamie McMurray or Ryan Newman might make the Chase, I wouldn’t be holding my breath. A Top Ten in Bristol might help save the day or at least delay things. Better yet, maybe a top five. Kyle Busch should make the Chase, but right now he has all the momentum of a ball and chain.

Here is a look at our hottest 20 drivers over the past 10 races…

1 (2) Kevin Harvick – 1502 pts – 2 wins, 7 Top Fives, 7 Top Tens
Whose a Happy boy? Whose a Happy boy?

2 (1) Tony Stewart – 1500 pts – 5 Top Fives, 9 Top Tens
A top ten in nine of the past ten.

3 (5) Carl Edwards – 1384 pts – 4 Top Fives, 6 Top Tens
Showed up like Rosie Ruiz to claim third at Michigan.

4 (3) Jeff Gordon – 1347 pts – 5 Top Fives, 7 Top Tens
Race was all cute and cuddly until he checked the diaper.

5 (6) Jeff Burton – 1329 pts – 2 Top Fives, 6 Top Tens
Pit crew might be walking funny this week.

6 (9) Jimmie Johnson – 1320 pts – 3 Top Fives, 5 Top Tens
Slump will end when the Chase begins.

7 (8) Denny Hamlin – 1315 pts – 2 Wins, 4 Top Fives, 5 Top Tens
Eight races without a win. Oh, the humanity!

8 (7) Kasey Kahne – 1265 pts – 3 Top Fives, 4 Top Tens
Captain Hook isn’t the only one hearing the clock ticking.

8 (17) Greg Biffle – 1265 pts – 1 Win, 3 Top Fives, 5 Top Tens
Like Batman, Biff, bam, boom and he’s back.

10 (10) Clint Bowyer – 1212 pts – 2 Top Fives, 4 Top Tens
A Chase place is his, for now.

11 (21) Juan Pablo Montoya – 1211 pts – 1 Wins, 1 Top Five, 4 Top Tens
This team has come to love the Juan their with.

12 (4) Kurt Busch – 1209 pts – 3 Top Fives, 5 Top Tens
Having a wall banger before the race is bad, doing one during it is worse.

13 (16) Matt Kenseth – 1180 pts – 1 Top Five, 1 Top Ten
Jack returns and so does his boys.

14 (13) A.J. Allmendinger – 1176 pts – 1 Top Five, 3 Top Tens
Two single digit finishes doesn’t get the job done.

15 (11) David Reutimann – 1168 pts – 1 Win, 1 Top Five, 1 Top Ten
Chicago was a dream, the last four were reality.

16 (19) Dale Earnhardt Jr – 1133 pts – 1 Top Five, 3 Top Tens
While he might not be good, you can always find someone worse

17 (12) Jamie McMurray – 1129 pts – 1 Win, 2 Top Fives, 3 Top Tens
Won the 500 and the Brickyard, what more do you want?

18 (14) Kyle Busch – 1106 pts – 1 Top Five, 2 Top Tens
Bristol might be the medicine the doctor ordered.

19 (18) Ryan Newman – 1105 pts – 1 Top Ten
When  push comes to shove, Logano is there for you.

20 (15) Mark Martin – 1085 pts – 1 Top Ten
On your Mark, get set, Gone!

So, what did we learn at Michigan?

Well, we learned why Kevin Harvick is so darned happy. He is first in the standings, the hottest driver in recent weeks, and the first to lock his way into the Chase. So, why not add his third win of the season to the mix? Those ten Chase bonus points for the victory has him only 20 behind Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin when they re-set the points next month.

We learned it was not a good day to be a Hendrick driver. Johnson looked good early, but found himself slipping back in the second half of the event to finish a fortunate 12th. He was the best of the lot. Mark Martin creased the wall early, and his 28th place result was one behind Jeff Gordon, who had a tire go down at the three-quarter pole. As for Dale Earnhardt Jr, he was 19th on a day we noticed David Ragan a heck of a lot more.

We learned that those who led the first half of the event were not necessarily the guys we saw up there at the end. Harvick, Greg Biffle (4th) and Tony Stewart (6th) proved to be the exceptions. Denny Hamlin came from the outback at the start to be the runner-up, while emerging from somewhere in the twilight zone was Carl Edwards to earn third.

We learned that Ryan Newman was not happy with Joey Logano. We don’t know if their post-race argument, including a shove from the veteran, was about the racing deal that saw Newman go for a spin or if it resulted from Logano trying to criticize the Rocketman’s driving style. If he thought Newman drove aggressively, he now knows the man also argues the same way.

We learned it was a good day for Jack Roush to make his return after his latest plane crash. Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished right behind Edwards, while Ragan was 11th. With Roush now surviving two such accidents in just over eight years, I suggest he might wish to avoid future such landings and take up parachuting. Going up is fine, but he needs a new plan coming down.

We learned that Kurt Busch could have used a different engine. Maybe one that might last more than 60 miles before blowing up. Two DNF’s in his last three is not good, but even though he fell to tenth in the standings, he is in a Chase place by a good 200 points.

We learned that Clint Bowyer would regain the final invitation to the fall ball, though by just 35 points over Martin with three races to go before the deadline. Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne, and Junior are also close enough to grab it if all goes very well for them at Bristol. I suggest, however, that no one hold their breath on that happening.

One of the circuits marquee tracks is next on the schedule, a place Johnson claimed the prize in the spring and where Kyle Busch swept the pair in 2009. It is where legends visit Victory Lane, including three Hall of Famers and seventeen Cup champions since 1961. Bristol is indeed hallowed ground.

One of NASCAR’s most passionate racers is Max Papis, the ebullient driver of the No. 13 Geico Toyota Camry, affectionately nicknamed ‘Mad Max’. But right next to him is his petite yet powerful wife Tatiana.

Tatiana Papis, originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil, is no stranger to the world of racing. After all, Tatiana’s maiden name is Fittipaldi and she just happens to be the daughter of famed racer Emerson Fittipaldi and cousin to Formula One and CART racer Christian Fittipaldi.

“That’s how I got into racing,” Papis said. “My parents were divorced but when I would spend summer vacation with my dad, I would go to all the IndyCar races with him and I really liked it.”

“That’s how I met Max,” Papis continued. “He was really good friends with my cousin Christian who raced in Champ car too.”

For Tatiana, it was not necessarily love at first sight. But she admits that “Max was very persistent.”

“I was quite annoyed in the beginning,” Papis said. “But then we fell in love and we’ve been together ever since.”

Although Tatiana and Max have been together for eleven years, they have only been living the NASCAR life for the past two years. Papis moved into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series last year, after serving as the “road course test guy” for Hendrick Motorsports.

In the midst of living their NASCAR dream, the couple also is balancing their parenting of two young children, Marco, aged four and Mateo, a precocious one and a half year old. That balancing act, wife as well as mom, has been one of the biggest juggling acts according to Tatiana.

“It’s really hard to balance,” Papis said. “Sometimes we don’t bring the kids so we can have time. It’s hard to balance that. As Max would say, we’re one person and we do everything together. It’s been hard when that hasn’t been possible, especially with the kids. It’s really hard to balance that out.”

Papis does, however, appreciate some of the amenities that come with the NASCAR lifestyle, especially as it relates to being a wife and mother.

“We love it,” Papis said. “We are so fortunate to have a bus. When we traveled with Marco, I had to change him on the grass. We didn’t have a motor home. I would nurse him in a rental car. We didn’t have private planes but we did it. Now, things are a little bit easier.”

While the NASCAR traveling may be a bit easier in comparison to other racing series in which the Papis family has participated, Tatiana admits that the stock car racing world has its own set of challenges.

“This is the hardest racing world,” Papis said. “It’s rough with the competition and the lifestyle. It’s such a competitive sport and everyone’s out there for themselves pretty much.”

Papis credits their success in navigating living the NASCAR lifestyle to the strength of her relationship with her husband, family and friends.

“Max and I are very strong,” Papis said. “My family is in Brazil and his family is in Italy so we rely on each other for support. We have good friends as supports, other NASCAR wives that are good friends. We’re all in the same boat at the end of the day.”

Papis especially appreciates her friendship with several other drivers’ wives and has great admiration for them in their own right. She especially looks up to Krissie Newman, animal champion and soon to be new mom, DeLana Harvick, who partners with her husband on their own race team, Angie Skinner, Mike’s wife and substitute co-host on Sirius NASCAR Radio’s afternoon show, and Lynne Allmendinger, AJ’s wife, who has her own career as a practicing chiropractor.

“I think people underestimate the power of wives and girlfriends in this sport,” Papis said. “It’s not easy for us.”

In addition to her role as wife and mom, Papis too has her own career. She is one of the principals with MOMO, an Italian company specializing in steering wheels for race cars.

In addition to MOMO, Papis has another passion that she hopes to pursue, that of animal therapy with children and adults. She even hopes to pursue her PhD in psychology if possible to help her dream come true.

“One day when all this racing stuff is over, I’d like to use the psychology that I’ve learned,” Papis said passionately. “I love animals, I love kids and I’d love to use animals in therapy with adults and kids. So, one day I think of getting my PhD.”

But for now, Papis is concentrating on pursuing her family’s current dream, racing at the highest level of NASCAR.

“The most fulfilling is living this dream,” Papis said. “Max’s dad passed away in December of 2006 and he promised his dad that he would make it to NASCAR. We look back now and we’re here and we’re doing it. No matter how hard and how many sacrifices, we’re living that dream.”

“So many people dream of this,” Papis continued. “We dreamed it. We made it happen and we did it together.”

“To be able to one day tell our kids what we did, what we’ve been through, it hasn’t all been pretty, but we made it,” Papis said. “And I think that’s what’s fulfilling at the end of the day. Not a lot of people can say they fulfilled their dreams.”

Yet, even with that passion for the sport, Papis understands that this racing will not be forever. And she works very hard to keep it all in perspective.

“This is only one part of our lives – it’s a really big part – but this is just one part of our lives,” Papis said. “It’s not going to last forever. But we’re going to last forever and our kids are. That’s what keeps us going.”

“When we’re 80 or 90 years old, this will be one chapter, a big chapter, but just another chapter in our lives,” Papis said thoughtfully. “There’s nothing like looking at our children and you realize you can go through anything.”

“I think in the end of the day, whatever we do, we’ll do together as a family and that’s really important to us,” Papis said. “Whatever happens, we’re together and that’s what matters.”