Welcome, Howdy and Good Day. It's Monday and Chase race #8 goes into the history books, 3 contenders are mathematically eliminated, our wild card tried something wild, the M&M's got parked, 5 time goes for a spin, Smoke is rising and the heat is on. WHAT a weekend in racing!!! I seriously thought we would be watching a fuel mileage race but was pleasantly surprised when once again NASCAR sat on the caution flag and left the race play itself out organically. To this I thank NASCAR. I'm still irrate about ESPN's A.D.D. Schtzoid type coverage. You obviously don't know Jack about how to cover a race. BUT lets get into the race recap. Shall we?

START POSITION - Kenseth 3rd - Stewart 5th - Edwards 7th - Keselowski 8th - Johnson 11th - Ku Busch 14th - Earnhardt Jr 16th - Ky Busch 17th - Harvick 21st - Gordon 23rd - Newman 24th - Hamlin 28th

KYLE BUSCH - We'll start with our big story of the weekend. Kyle was in the truck race on Friday night and 13 laps into the race Kyle and Ron Hornaday Jr are going for the same piece of realestate. Neither one will let up as they come up on another truck, Ron slides up into Kyle and they both end up riding the wall. At this point both cars have minimal damage and are fixable. BUT Kyle at 150 mph decides to run up on Ron's bumper and ride him into the wall. Now both cars are DONE.  NASCAR tells Kyle he's parked for the remainder of the truck race and calls him and crew chief to the hauler for a chat. Saturday morning he's told he won't be aloud to race his NNW car or Cup car and that he should write an apology letter. Hamlin drives the NNW car to a 2nd place finish. However Micheal McDowell is chosen for his Cup car and doesn't do so hot. Kyle asked to be aloud on his pit box to be with the team and permission was granted. He didn't grant any interviews though. Since Kyle didn't start the race in the car his 17th place starting spot was eliminated and McDowell had to start in the back. He makes it up to 33rd but by lap 50 he's a lap down. He never recovers. Goes down 2 laps then ends up in 33rd 3 laps down. Kyle drops 4 positions to 11th in the standings. What a harsh lesson to have to witness his car floundering on the track while he sat on the pit box. 

RYAN NEWMAN - For some reason he never is able to get his car handling issues fixed. He's a lap down most of the race in or around 30th. Does get a lucky dog and some wave arounds to the lead lap but nothing helps. With 39 laps to go green flag pit stops begin. He decides not to go in. So he is 2nd with Jeff Burton leading. With 15 laps to go he passes Burton for the lead but at 13 to go he pits for fuel. It does improve the outcome though. He comes in at 16th on the lead lap. It doesn't help his Chase position though. He's still last.

DENNY HAMLIN - Never seems to get a handle on his car. Works his way from 28th to 16th around lap 200 and up to 12th by lap 243 but a pit road incident sends him back to 25th. Keselowski was in the pit stall ahead of him and went into his pits head first so he had to back up to get out. Of course when he did he hit Hamlin. Damage on both cars. Not a good thing for Texas. He's one of those that decides not to do the last green flag pit stop when everyone else does. He's in 7th with 25 to go but at 17 to go he runs out and has to pit. He comes in 20th. Moves up to 10th in the standings.

JEFF GORDON - Gordon starts out in 23rd but he makes his way to 15th by lap 25 and 10th by lap 50 which is where he stays most of the day. On lap 201 Brian Vickers gets into Geoffrey Bodine who gets into Jaun Montoya and brings out a caution just as Gordon enters the pits. He does a drive through, stays on the lead lap and then pits with everyone else. Good save. With 50 to go he manages to get up to 3rd but ends up coming home in 6th. Great day for Gordon. He moves up 2 spots in the standings to 8th.

DALE EARNHARDT JR - Jr had a very quiet day hanging out between 12th and 18th. No run ins with any one but not able to get his car dialed in either which seemed to be the theme of the day for most everyone. He ends up 7th for the day. Awesome job for Jr. He moves up 2 spots in the standings to 7th. 

KURT BUSCH - Not such a good day for Kurt. He drops back to 25th by lap 50 but fights his way back up to 18th by lap 130 which is where he hangs out most of the day. Every pit stop is trying something to get the handling dialed in. He's 8th with 25 laps to go being the last of those that tried not to pit for fuel and make it to the end. He doesn't make it and ends up in 30th 2 laps down. He drops one spot to 9th in the standings.

JIMMIE JOHNSON - He He's in the top 10 most of the day except for an issue in the pits when he ran over his hose. During the caution on lap 201 He's in the pits twice for adjustments. The Evil Genius Knaus just can't seem to dial Jimmies car in today and on lap 240 Jimmie is mowing the grass. He gets into the pits, gets 2 tires only, makes it out before the pace car traps him a lap down but ends up getting a commitment cone violation because of coming into the pits through the grass the way he did. He's now in 18th,  the last car on the lead lap but he has 4 tires and fuel. He's good to go 2 cautions later as he's up to 13th. He finishes his day in 14th. Stays in 6th place in the point standings. 

MATT KENSETH - Leads 85 laps till he drops back to 5th for the rest of the day. No run ins with any one or spins. Great day for Kenseth. He brings it home in 4th and moves up one spot in the standings to 4th.

BRAD KESELOWSKI - He was bouncing around in the top 10 all day. Except for the backing up into Hamlin on pit road he stayed in the top 10. After the pit road issue he came out in 26th. With 25 to go he's 6th and one of those that chose not to pit. He's in 4th with 10 to go. With 6 to go he has to pit. It cost him big. He comes in 24th. He drops one spot in the standings to 5th.

KEVIN HARVICK - Harvick manages to break the top 10 around lap 125. He stays there but is continually working on the car to stay there. On the lap 201 caution he's in the pits twice to put tape on the break duct openings on the nose of the car hoping this will help with the handling. He looses his top 10 and ends up coming home in 13th. He retains his 3rd place in the standings.

TONY STEWART - I do believe he's sending a message to Edwards. This makes back to back races he dominates and wins. By lap 9 Tony goes from 5th to 3rd. On the lap 116 restart Tony takes the lead. He leads for the rest of the day until with 25 to go there are 8 cars that haven't pitted under green and he's back in 9th. Jeff Burton has decided to go for it on a fuel mileage gamble. With 5 to go he runs out and Tony resumes the lead and then the win. That's 4 wins in the Chase for those that are counting. He gets the bonus for leading the most laps for a total of 48 points and he's now 3 points out of first. MMMMMM-WA -HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.

CARL EDWARDS - Had tire and handling issues all day. At one point he's told the tires had blisters on them because of too much camber. Bob his crew chief isn't worried though and tells him to just back off and save the tires and car. So he hangs in and around the top 5 for the rest of the day. There's a debris caution on lap 270. Edwards just can't keep Tony down. He must navigate through the 8 cars that didn't pit on the last green flag stops to catch Tony. It slows him down and he can't pass. He comes in 2nd. He's still leading the points though.

POINT STANDINGS - Edwards 2316 - Stewart 2313 - Harvick 2283 - Kenseth 2278 - Keselowski 2267 - Johnson 2261 - Earnhardt Jr 2237 - Gordon 2235 - Ku Busch 2229 - Hamlin 2217 - Ky Busch 2216 - Newman 2213

Well, it's a 2 man race unless Edwards and Stewart wreck out at Phoenix or Homestead. Harvick in 3rd is 33 points out. That's a lot to make up in 2 races. Stewart made up 5 points at this race and if Edwards wouldn't have finished 2nd he'd have more. Hamlin, Ky Busch and Newman are mathematically out. My money is still on Stewart. Edwards looked dazed and confused at the end of the race like he was shocked at Stewart's 2nd win in a row. To Edwards credit he did go over to Stewart's car and shake his hand. Now that's class and sportsmanship. 

At the media center after the race a reporter asked Stewart if his 2 Cup championships gave him an advantage over Edwards. Stewarts reply......"It's definitely an advantage but I'm not gonna tell you why. Cause that's what I'm gonna take to the next 2 weeks with me. We win this thing I'll tell you what the advantage was and why but there is an advantage."

Edwards says he's still not worried or psyched out.

So it's on to Phoenix International Raceway for the Kobalt Tools 500 on Nov 13th at 3pm (eastern time). It's a 1 mile track with very low banking in a tri oval shape. It has lights just in case of a caution induced or rain delayed night race finish. Yea I know you in the Phoenix area are laughing about the rain delay mention. It could happen. Any way, The track has been repaved and there's no rubber on it so this will be a mystery race. Nobody knows how the racing will be. Both Edwards and Stewart along with several others were out there for Goodyear's tire testing this year so they may have a good idea of what to expect. Edwards won last years November race here. He also holds the qualifying speed record of 137.279 mph. Stewart has the race record speed of 118.132 mph. So I'd say this ones up in the air too but my money is on Stewart.

So thanks for stopping by and have a great day........