Kurt Busch

With a little bit of magic as well as mayhem, especially on pit road, here is what else was surprising and not so surprising...

So, what have we learned lately? Well, if one cheats, one must not do so in a fashion that allows them to be quickly caught. Caught by everybody. Caught on scanners, radios, and in full view of millions at the track and watching on television. Nothing good can ever come from that. That is, if one decides that they must cheat in the first place.

After a wild week of penalties, shakeups to the Chase line up, and a lengthy rain delay to boot, here is what else was...

After the week's worth of who is in, who is not, who has been naughty, who has been wronged, we got back to racing. Sadly, the most exciting thing about the day was watching Kyle, Larry, and Kenny discuss the week that was. The race, for me, turned out to be a bit of a let down.

Once we get past all the chaos and controversy surrounding Richmond; it becomes apparent that we still have a championship battle to talk about! Thirteen...yes, thirteen racers will battle tooth and nail for the coveted Sprint Cup trophy and they have ten races to get it done.

With everything on the line as far as Chase berths, here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 56th annual Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Kenseth finished sixth at Richmond, his 13th top-10 result of the year, and will start the Chase For The Cup as the top seed.

Just three years ago, the Chase looked a lot different than what we’re faced with in 2013. Back in 2010, the Chase field was made up of Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, and Clint Bowyer.

Carl Edwards picks up his second win of the season in the Federated Auto Part 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He credited the win to his pit crew saying, “That’s my pit crew that won this race for us, just an awesome job by them.” The No. 99 team took four tires and still managed to get off pit road second to Paul Menard who took two in an effort to get track position.

The cliché holds true this week as “it all comes down to this”. Six guys have already claimed their top-10 spots when The Chase begins next week at Chicago – Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Matt Kenseth…that’s 2 Chevy’s, a Ford, and 3 Toyotas in case you're keeping score.