The Speeding Bullets: Sharpie 500

• Congratulations to Kyle Busch on getting his fourth victory of 2009. This win gave him a much-needed boost of confidence heading into the final two races before the Chase cutoff at Richmond. He went into Saturday night's race knowing the marks he had to meet and the statement he needed to make to NASCAR nation. Busch is now only 34 points out of 12th place in the standings. It isn't going to be easy for him to make the Chase, but it now looks possible for a driver with his level of talent . Bristol has always been one of his dominant tracks as he proved by sweeping both of the races there this season. He better just be happy that Mark Martin chose to race him the way he did in the closing laps; otherwise, the outcome of the race could have been quite different...

• Mark Martin made his 1,000th career Cup start on Saturday night and dominated most of the race from the pole position; it's too bad he didn't end up in victory lane. He said that the reason that he didn't do the bump-and-run on Kyle Busch was because he didn't feel that Kyle would do the same to him. I understand that Busch giving Martin the inside passing lane prevented the need for a bump, but I just feel that Mark didn't try hard enough to make the maneuver and could have been a little more on the aggressive side. Kyle is the type of guy who will do whatever it takes to win a race...
  

• Marcos Ambrose is edging closer and closer to that first ever Cup victory. He is proving to be much more than just a road racer and a serious threat to win races week in and week out. I know that making the Chase is an unreachable goal for 2009, but he very well could have a shot at contending for the title down the road...

• The Mistake of the Week award for the Bristol night race goes to Jimmie Johnson's jackman. The saying proves true once again that a race can be won or lost on pit road. Johnson pretty much had a win in the bag until his jackman somehow dropped the jack during a tire change. Jimmie made a great recovery and ended up with an eighth place finish; that right there is a mark of a true champion. I can still picture seeing the guy's face on t.v. trying to explain himself. Denial, denial, denial...

• The first half of the race about put me to sleep after having to get up at 6 a.m. for a cross country meet, but the second half was pretty action-packed. It was crash after crash after crash as a result of 43 competitive drivers on a Saturday night at Bristol. Clint Bowyer's Chase hope was shattered along with all of the torn-up race cars thanks to Michael Waltrip's tire going down. There's just something about Mikee and Bristol that don't go too well together...

That's all I have for the Bristol edition. Next week, the drivers get one final off-week before the 2009 season hits the home stretch and the intensity reaches an all-time high. The guys who are on the bubble of making the Chase will get to sit in their La-Z-Boy recliners waiting in agony for their fates to be decided...

The Speeding Bullets: CARFAX 400

Hey everyone! If you haven't already noticed, I decided to change my blog title from Sidekick Sports to Analytical Afterthoughts because I am going to start writing about some topics other than NASCAR. I know Thursday is kind of late to look back at Sunday's race, but I have been incredibly busy this week. Enjoy!

• Congratulations to Brian Vickers on getting his second career win and breaking a painfully long winless drought. His fuel tank held up just long enough for him to take the checkered flag. Now, we can officially say that he has a legitimate victory in the Cup Series since his only other one at Talladega in the fall of 2006 caused a lot of controversy around the sport. Vickers has impressed me lately; he is the new Ryan Newman when it comes to winning poles. It's nice to see a different face in victory lane, and I wish him the best of luck on making the Chase. He is only 12 points out and has the momentum necessary to power him into the postseason...

• Jimmie Johnson has made history in my record books by becoming the first ever driver to sweep the year's Mistake of the Week awards at a single track. He made the same error both times by trying to stretch his fuel tank a little too far. I guess I kind of expected Johnson to have learned from it back in June and not let it happen again. I know you are going to tell me that he had nothing to lose by going for the win because of his position in the standings, but I feel that this mistake was just plain stupid. You know Jimmie is rolling the dice too much when he is trying to save even more fuel than he tried to last time when his tank hit empty...

• Finally, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. gets a third place finish under command of Lance McGrew. It's been a long time coming with many struggles along the way. Junior's last noticeably good finish was his second place run at Talladega in April. I really thought towards the end that he was going to make it to victory lane, but he didn't have enough time to overtake the stout Brian Vickers. After watching the race on Sunday, I have decided that Toyota's get better fuel mileage at Michigan than Chevy's do. Did you notice that NASCAR decided not to throw any of their bogus debris cautions when they realized Junior had a chance to win???

• Rain, rain, go away. Even on a bright sunny day in the Irish Hills of Michigan, a light shower still manages to wet the track enough to have a 45-minute delay. I do have to give them credit though for efficiently getting the race resumed. This is the third week in a row though that rain has some how affected the race. Are you taking notes NASCAR??? It looks like you may have some rescheduling to do...

• Kudos for this week go out to three drivers you may not expect to find finishing in the top ten: Sam Hornish, Jr., Casey Mears, and Joey Logano. All three of them got much needed boosts in confidence to help them down the road. It seems like this is the year that the Indy car drivers like Montoya and Hornish, Jr. are finally starting to get the hang of stock car racing...

That's all I have for the Michigan edition. Next week is the race we have waited all season long for, the night brawl at Bristol. Tempers always flare and crucial points are on the line. Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a day race...