Kurt Busch had them covered Sunday at Sonoma. A race that would have made any Saturday night short track proud, Busch was in front of the frammin and bammin for a race-high 76 laps.  The No. 22 team has been gaining momentum since Busch’s rant at Richmond that led to internal changes at Penske Racing. Some say it made a difference, some say it didn’t. One thing is for sure whatever they are doing is working as Busch is a force every time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series hits the track.

VICTORY LANE
Kurt Busch – Leads the most laps and takes his first career Road Course victory.
Jeff Gordon – Finishes second but more importantly climbs out of the wild card spot and into the Top 10 in points.
Joey Logano – Finishes sixth after claiming the pole for Infineon. Hopefully this turns his season around as he is running good.

THE GARAGE
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Say goodbye to momentum if he cannot post a good running at Daytona this week.
Denny Hamlin – A week after his first win he finishes 37th.
Storyline that we will remember: Kurt Busch getting his first road course win.
Storyline that we will forget: Carl Edwards finishing 3rd, not allowing any points to be taken off of his points lead.
I have decided to update the Power Rankings in a new way as I have come up with a way that I believe will result in a better system of ranking. So with that here is the Power Rankings after Michigan.

Power Rankings
(Rankings will be based off of who is running the best, with an emphasis on the last several races but having respect for the duration of the 36 race schedule. Last Week’s Rankings can be found in parenthesis.)
1. (1) Kevin Harvick – 2rd most points the last 5 races and 3 wins this season.
2. (2)Carl Edwards – Still Leads the points standings.
3. (7)Kurt Busch – With his first win of the season it pushes him to having a 40 point average over the last 5 races.
4. (6) Jimmie Johnson – Solid day for Jimmie as he still sits in 3rd place in the points.
5. (3) Matt Kenseth – Had to pass a lot of cars at Infineon to end up 14th.
6. (9)Clint Bowyer – Finished fourth and climbs two spots to 8th in the standings.
7. (5)Kyle Busch – Only one driver has more than his eight Top 5’s this season (Edwards, 9)
8. (10) Jeff Gordon – No need for the Wild Card spot as he moves to ninth in the Standings.
9. (4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Michigan, then Infineon are out of the way and he is still in the Chase. Going to Daytona to change some momentum.
10. (8) Denny Hamlin– Slides into the wild card spot with his win at Michigan.
11. (11)Greg Biffle – Right now he is out of the Chase but he is scored more points than Newman and Stewart the last 9 races.
12. (NR) Ryan Newman – Finished ahead of Tony Stewart this week but Joey Logano is knocking on their door.

Driver of Week: Kurt Busch – Leading 76 laps and winning his first road course race.

Stat of the Week: Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, and Clint Bowyer have combined to lead 50.3 percent of the laps in the last 13 races held at Daytona.

Last Week’s Prediction Results: Jeff Gordon – Finished second but never was in contention to win as Kurt Busch led 76 of the 110 laps.

Prediction for Daytona: Clint Bowyer

Question of the Week: Will 10 drivers get 10 Top 10’s before Carl Edwards gets 10 Top 5’s he is at 8 and the 10th spot in Top 10’s is 6?

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