CONCORD, N.C. – As we pause this weekend to honor the memory of those who’ve paid the ultimate price in defense of our country, few places do greater justice to Old Glory than the Coca-Cola 600.

Sure, it’s the longest, most grueling race on the NASCAR circuit. But retiring Lowe’s Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler has long taken pride in honoring our men and women in the armed forces.

That’s why there will be over 5,000 current and former enlistees taking part in Sunday night’s spectacular show – before, during and after the race.

From the Army to Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and National Guard, stand up and salute those heroes who every single day fight the good fight to keep us free and prosperous.

But also stand up and salute those 43 men that will attack the 1.5-mile tri-oval at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. They come prepared for battle, and more often than not their race cars look like that’s exactly what they went through by the time the checkered flag flies.

Here’s the top things to look for in Sunday’s event:

1. Second verse, same as the first: If you go to church Sunday, please light a candle that we do not see the same kind of boring, follow-the-leader, no enthusiasm event we saw last Saturday at LMS in the annual all-star event.

“I’m expecting a pretty boring race, to be honest with you,” Martin Truex Jr. said.

2. Slippin’ into darkness: The race begins under daylight, transitions through dusk and finishes under the lights. The conditions change so much that at times it seems like watching two or even three different races unfold as each hour goes by. Those teams that adapt best to the changing conditions typically do well.

3. Gas up for the night: Fuel mileage is one of the biggest elements of racing at LMS. Look at last year’s 600, which produced an unlikely top three: Casey Mears, J.J. Yeley and Kyle Petty. It was truly a battle of the gas tanks. Whoever can squeeze the best mileage out of their car will be found near the front of the pack in the end.

4. The House that Jimmie built … or at least extensively renovated: Jimmie Johnson has been the winningest (five times) and overall most successful driver at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this decade. After some stumbles earlier in the season, Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus have finally got their CoT act together. For those wondering when Johnson starts acting the way he did the last two seasons, Sunday is the day. If not, he may be in trouble.

5. No pressure: Not that we’re counting, but Sunday night marks the 74th consecutive start since Dale Earnhardt Jr. last won a Cup race. Where does the massive winless streak end? He’d love to do it at Charlotte, in the shadow of his new home at Hendrick Motorsports. But Junior’s performance at LMS has been marginal, with just four top-five finishes (and no wins) in 17 career starts. If he can stay out of wrecks, and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. has some strong pit strategy, that streak could potentially end. But frankly, we don’t see it happening this week.

In case you missed it, here are the five biggest headlines from the weekend in the world of NASCAR:

1. Kyle Busch shrugs off boos with a win: If there was any doubt who is NASCAR’s hottest driver, Kyle Busch silenced them with a resounding victory Saturday night at Darlington Raceway, winning his third race of the season.

What has to have the rest of the Cup garage shaking their heads isn’t just that Busch won again but how he’s winning. No one even challenged him in the closing laps of the race. Busch won in Tiger Woods fashion, meaning everyone else was racing for second.

2. Darlington is back: After losing its traditional Labor Day race and handed the dreaded Mother’s Day weekend, Darlington Raceway seemed set up to fail. But the opposite has happened. Saturday night’s Dodge Challenger 500 was the fourth-straight sellout; Darlington is cool again; and racing in South Carolina isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

3. Junior’s streaks continue: On the positive side, Dale Earnhardt Jr. led a lap for the six straight race, scored his series high eighth top-10 finish (he wound up fourth at Darlington) and remains third in the points standings. That said, his winless streak is now at 73 races and counting.

4. Rowdy gets into it, again: In what’s becoming a weekly reality show, Busch had another tangle on the track that he wasn’t too thrilled about. This time it was Brad Keselowski who got in his way during Friday night’s Nationwide race, sending Busch into the wall.

Afterward, Busch was none too thrilled with Keselowski, who just so happens to drive for one Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Busch blamed the incident on “racing idiots” and promised to return the favor in the future.

5. Ragan’s arrival: While Roush Racing’s Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray continue to languish in the standings, second-year driver David Ragan has quietly moved into the top 12 in the standings.

Ragan finished fifth at Darlington, his second top-five finish in three races, and is starting to get people to notice the driver who inhabits stall No. 5 in the Roush stable.

“We’re getting this deal somewhat figured out,” he said. “We’ve had some good race cars, we just have to fine tune a little bit to try and win one of these things.”
 

TALLADEGA, Ala. – It may not have been a race for the ages, but Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway should be one folks won’t forget for a long time.

“If the fans didn’t like that, you just don’t like racing,” said Denny Hamlin, who finished third. “It was fun racing, so we decided to go out and give the fans a show.”

And that’s exactly what it was, a heck of a good show – arguably the best race of the season. From Joe Nemechek taking the pole to Kyle Busch leading the final five laps for the win, this one was a keeper.

And even though there were a few slow spots, and the race finished under caution when a 11-car wreck occurred after the white flag was displayed, it did little to temper the excitement.

“For sure, it’s the best race we’ve had,” Hamlin said.

Sure, Sunday’s event was a restrictor plate race and there were a few big wrecks near the end. But save for a few stretches of single-file racing, the majority of the 188 laps were captivating – as good racing should be.

“At times, this race kind of had the complexion like it had over the last three races, kind of single file, just everyone taking their time, didn’t want to do anything crazy until the end,” Hamlin said. “But every time you come to a superspeedway race, it seems like it’s the mark that with 25 (laps) to go is when it really kind of busts loose and gets crazy. I thought the racing was really good up to that point. There was a lot of exchanging for the lead between myself, the 88 and those guys. I thought it was a great race.”

With 52 lead changes among 20 different drivers, everyone seemed to want to be part of the fun. And, for the most part, they were, be it for a few laps or for a lot longer as the event wound down to its thrilling conclusion, a speedy 3 hours, 10 minutes after the green flag fell.

Even FOX TV analyst Darryl Waltrip, who has been critical about the racing at times this year, applauded the event.

“We saw a great race today,” the former three-time Cup champion said. “I hate to see what happened at the end, but that’s just Talladega.”

On the one hand, it was a typical day at Talladega. There were a few multi-car wrecks – including the near-requisite “big one” on the final lap. But it was so much more than that:

• To see veterans like Nemechek and Ken Schrader, who have been down on their luck in recent years, start first and third, respectively, and stay near the front for a good part of the first half of the race was inspiring.

• To see youngsters like David Ragan, Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil and Casey Mears run strong for much of the day and finish fourth through seventh, respectively, showed that there were more guys capable of a good finish than the usual group of suspects like Gordon, Stewart, Earnhardt, Johnson, etc.

• To see runner-up Juan Pablo Montoya equal his second-best career Cup performance on one of the toughest tracks on the circuit – and in a plate race to boot – showed that he’s ready to make a big move upward. And indeed, Montoya jumped five spots in the standings to 12th place.

• There was even uncharacteristic drama between new teammates Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. When Earnhardt blocked Gordon from passing him late in the race, the four-time champ was livid.

“All deals are off,” Gordon told crew chief Steve Letarte on his team radio. “(Earnhardt) just showed me what he’s all about.”

One other element that likely contributed to the overall excitement in the race was the restrictor plate itself. NASCAR chose to use a new plate with smaller holes (15/16th of an inch) that shaved about 25 horsepower off each motor.

“They took away a bit of horsepower, but I think it made the race a lot better, a lot closer,” Montoya said. “And, you didn’t see what you saw before, that with four laps to go, that a group of cars came from behind to win the race. You had to be in position.”

In so doing, we wound up seeing something we never have before at ‘Dega. While we’re used to multi-car “trains” drafting and pushing each other forward, Sunday marked the first time where two-car mini-trains continually pushed several drivers to the front.

Hamlin made it work several times with Montoya. David Stremme, filling in for the injured Dario Franchitti, made it work with Gordon. Ditto for Elliott Sadler and Gordon. To say the least, it was uncanny – but only served to add to the excitement of the day.

Put it all together and Sunday’s race may not have been picture-perfect, but it was one that will leave a lot of memories floating through the minds of the estimated 156,000 who were in the stands and the millions more that watched it on TV.

“It was an exciting race,” Busch said. “There were times where it got pretty impatient and guys were making some bold moves and what not, bump drafting and getting a little crazy.”

Sure, Sunday’s race wasn’t even close to being the best of all time or even the best Talladega has ever seen, but it would be hard not to grade it as the best race we’ve seen in 2008.

Let’s see if Richmond, Darlington, Charlotte and every other track coming up can top this one.
Veteran motorsports writer Jerry Bonkowski is Yahoo! Sports’ NASCAR columnist. Send Jerry a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

TALLADEGA, Ala. – Thoughts, observations and a few questions following the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway:

• Is there a hotter driver in NASCAR at the moment than Kyle Busch? If there is, I can’t think of one. One thing still bugs me: Why aren’t we seeing more M&Ms racewear on race fans? Do you know why?

• Here’s a statistic for you: Of the nine races run so far this season in the Cup Series, Joe Gibbs Racing has won three of them (two by Busch, one by Hamlin). In the Nationwide Series, their win record is even more impressive – six out of 10.

• When asked after the race to give a reason why Busch is so dominant this season, team owner Joe Gibbs described it as more or less the result of a perfect storm between a driver with unlimited passion to win; a crew chief who can communicate with him to such an extent as to be able to give him exactly the kind of car he needs week in and week out; and a racing organization that is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the streak going.

 At one point early in the race, while Busch was tucked up under the rear bumper of teammate Tony Stewart and the two were basically toying with the field with their pair of powerful Toyotas, Busch made it clear he was having the time of his young life.

“Ah … this is awesome!” exclaimed Busch over his team radio.

He did it in a voice that sounded more like he was kicking back by the pool on a hot summer day with a cool iced tea instead of racing along at 200 mph just inches away from disaster.

• It was another classic Talladega performance for two-time Cup champion Stewart, who has yet to score a Cup win at the 2.66-mile speedway in 18 tries. After a nearly flawless day leading 61 laps and clearly having one of the handful of cars destined to be in the winner’s circle, Stewart’s day ended where it too often does here – standing next to a junked up race car, in front of the television camera and talking about his ‘Dega jinx.

• It wasn’t the kind of day Junior Nation was hoping for either. He too had one of a handful of cars that looked like a potential winner until he got involved in the day’s one true “Big One” along with Stewart (who later took the blame for its cause).

Earlier in the race, whenever the second generation NASCAR icon took the lead, which was 12 times for 46 laps, the crowd jumped to its feet with fists wildly swinging in the air and the once sea of red (now green) of the Junior Nation flashed across the expanse of the grandstands surrounding the track.

• At one point near the halfway mark in the race, third-place finisher Denny Hamlin radioed to crew chief Mike Ford that his right foot was aching so badly from having to keep it steadily glued to the floor on top of his gas pedal, that he was hoping for a caution so that he could give it a rest. Ford suggested he try using his left foot to give himself some relief. Hamlin did, but it provided only some help.

• Prior to the start of the race, most of the drivers I talked to told me that Hamlin’s Camry was the car to beat. Several called it “a rocketship.” Kevin Harvick said it was so fast, “he hardly knew what to do with it.”

• All afternoon, Hamlin was the guy who pushed everyone to the front and on many occasions, could just power himself past whomever he pleased anywhere on the track. It leads me to believe that there just might have been a different outcome to the race had there not been a caution thrown on the white flag lap.

After a few missteps earlier in the season, the FedEx team once again looks like the same team that delivered 12 top fives and 18 top 10s last season – only better.

• Sam Hornish Jr.’s first-rate performance at the Daytona 500 made for the promise of an equally strong run Sunday. However, some questionable pit strategy and an engine that eventually was running on only seven cylinders stymied his afternoon. The rookie of the year candidate barely remains in the top 35 in points (33rd).

• Fellow Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti’s accident in Saturday’s Nationwide race was one of those “hold your breath until you see him throw down his window net” deals. The Scotsman was lucky just to get out of that one with only a broken ankle. I wonder what the spotter for Larry Gunselman (who t-boned Franchitti under yellow) was looking at just prior to watching his driver nearly end Franchitti’s NASCAR career? It couldn’t have been what was happening on the race track.

• If you’ve not seen the video of Carl Edwards hitting Kevin Lepage’s car at nearly 200 mph, may I suggest that you do. Despite his (too late) apology for being responsible for wrecking more than $1 million in race cars (he originally insisted that he did nothing wrong – imagine that!), it quite likely will be the last time you see him in a race car, unless it’s one of his own. I can’t imagine anyone would want to jeopardize their team or their reputation by placing him behind the wheel of their race car.

“I have worked very hard over the years to gain the respect of NASCAR, the owners, competitors and the fans, and it will take a long time to gain it back after what happened,” said Lepage, the day after the incident.

It was one thing for rookie Patrick Carpentier to misunderstand the rules (for which the Canadian driver received a penalty). But it’s inexcusable for a veteran like Lepage to have done the same.

• Speaking of Carpentier, he had a rough weekend while receiving his first lessons in racing on restrictor plate tracks. (He missed the cut at the season opener in Daytona.)

During the final lap of the Nationwide race, Carpentier was in the position to push Earnhardt Jr. to the front, a move that would have potentially given Junior the win. But instead Carpentier thought he might have wrecked Junior doing it in the tri-oval section of the track.

On Sunday, while Carpentier was in front of Stewart in the latter stages of the race, Stewart radioed into crew chief Greg Zipadelli, “I’d rather draft with a John Deere tractor than with the 10 car.”

• What was Jamie McMurray thinking when on Lap 170 he drove his Fusion into the side of eventual race winner Busch? The result could have been a disaster, taking out much of the field. Get your road rage under control, Jamie!

• Because how you practice and where you start for a race at Talladega have little or no bearing on how you will do during the actual race, where conditions can only be duplicated in real time, the first two days of the three-day weekend are arduous affairs for team members.

I was told by one crewmember that it was like being on jury duty.

• The big news for much of the weekend wasn’t the lead up to what may have been the most competitive race this season. Instead, it was the hoopla surrounding the revelations about Stewart’s future.

Despite his allegations that he’s still talking about what direction his career will take when his current contract with Joe Gibbs Racing ends at the end of 2009, I suspect that the deal is done.

Stewart has been in too good a mood for someone who supposedly has as much on his plate concerning his future as he professes to have.

I mean a really good mood – including joking with the media, which supposedly has made public something Stewart has wanted to keep private.

• Kudos go out to Delana and Kevin Harvick for giving veteran team owner Morgan Shepherd a Nationwide car from the KHI stables so that the venerable and devout racer could compete this weekend.

• Harvick is serious about his intentions to expand their KHI operation into NHRA drag racing. He says he’d like to have a deal in place by Labor Day this year.

“If I could, I’d love to race one, too,” Harvick said. “I’d like to drive one of the Pro Stock cars on a off-weekend.”

Postscript

Despite all the questions from drivers, crew chiefs, team owners and fans prior to the start of Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 regarding what kind of race it would be, from the wave of the green flag until the wave of the checkers, the race was one of the most exciting and entertaining in quite some time.

Admittedly there were a larger than usual number of empty seats in the grandstands. I attribute it not to any lack of interest or enthusiasm by the regional crowd of NASCAR fans but more to the current economic climate.

With gasoline prices at historic highs, all Americans are being faced with hard choices when it comes to how they manage their finances. Fortunately for those fans whose circumstances prevent them from attending NASCAR races in person, they can watch a pretty good representation of the race on television.

Attendance figures may be down, but I doubt when the season is over, the television viewing numbers will mirror them.
Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is Yahoo! Sports’ NASCAR reporter. Send Bob a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Richard Childress Racing will field a fourth car in 2009 with sponsorship from General Mills, and Yahoo! Sports has learned that Bobby Labonte, the 2000 Cup champion, will be the driver.

Labonte, who has spent the past two-plus seasons driving for Petty Enterprises, will drive the No. 33 car.

Yahoo! Sports originally reported in February this exact story – that Labonte would be the driver of a fourth RCR car, with sponsorship from General Mills. At that time, Richard Childress acknowledged that he would field a fourth car, but denied Labonte would be the driver.

“No, no, no,” Childress told Fox Sports.

But sources close to the negotiations continue to confirm to Yahoo! Sports that a deal between Childress and Labonte is done.

Rumors of Labonte’s move to Childress began at the start of the 2008 season when Labonte signed to drive the No. 21 Nationwide car for Childress. It is expected the majority of the No. 21 team, headed by crew chief Shane Wilson, will move up to work on the new Sprint Car team.

Petty Enterprises had hoped signing a past champion like Labonte would help return the organization to respectability. It hasn’t worked out that way.

Since joining Petty Enterprises, Labonte has scored just 11 top 10s and no wins in 78 races.

A move to Childress would be a shot in the arm for Labonte’s career. One only has to look at how the move to RCR has helped the career of current points leader Jeff Burton, who since joining RCR has won at least one race in each of the past three seasons after going winless the previous four driving for Jack Roush.

HAMPTON, Ga. – Thoughts, observations and a few questions following the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway:

• Kyle Busch has been hot, hot, hot since Daytona and it was only a matter of time before he was going to win one. It took a weekend in Georgia complete with snow, bad tires and wicked race cars for him to do it.

• Am I dreaming, or is the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top 12 in points Dale Jr.?

• I’m still convinced that the engineering wizards at Hendrick have found something they know will be an advantage, but they haven’t worked out the kinks yet.

When they do, look out!

• When the Car of Tomorrow was introduced last season, the word in the garage was that Richard Childress Racing would have the upper hand with it. That isn’t exactly what happened. Fast forward to 2008 and it appears that they do.

All three RCR cars finished in the top 10, led by Clint Bowyer (sixth) and followed by Kevin Harvick (seventh) and Jeff Burton (10th). Harvick sits third in points.

• After a disappointing start to the season, Bowyer’s team looked more like the same team that was in the Chase last year. He and crew chief Gil Martin had been scratching their heads since Daytona trying to figure out how they lost the handle.

It looks like they found it.

• When asked what happened to his car after his day ended in a plume of white smoke, Carl Edwards kept his sense of humor.

“I don’t know what happened, but the oil tank lid was on,” he said.

His second-to-last place finish dropped the former points leader another 10 spots to 17th.

• The whole oil reservoir episode involving the No. 99 team had an eerily familiar ring to it. It reminded me of when former President Bill Clinton looked at the cameras and said, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

Yeah, right.

• It was very entertaining to listen to the chatter between Earnhardt and crew chief Tony Eury Jr. during the race. Despite all the handling issues Earnhardt was dealing with, at times, it was quite comical. At other times, Junior sounded like he was trapped behind the steering wheel of the race car from hell.

Junior just couldn’t understand how a car that was a rocket ship on rails for 62 laps early in the race had turned into something that was driving like an out-of-control carnival ride.

On Lap 200, Earnhardt told Eury, “I wish I could tell you how hard these things are to drive right now.”

• During a caution, Junior was interviewed by a member of the PRN radio broadcast team. He was asked if he thought he had a shot at winning the race.

He waited a few seconds, thought about his answer and said, “I’m going to try.”

Somehow, I think the folks at PRN were expecting just a bit more.

• In a strange twist of fate, race winner Busch, Harvick and Earnhardt had pit stalls adjacent to each other. Had it not been for each driver’s conscientious effort to avoid each other, along with a whole lot of luck when all three pitted at the same time, there might have been an incident on pit road that could have changed the complexion of the race.

• Kyle Petty finished the race 12 laps down to the race leaders. I can’t remember the last time anyone finished that far down without having been the victim of some obvious problem like a mechanical failure or a wreck.

• I guess Canadian rookie driver Patrick Carpentier, who was making his first Cup start this season, has a much better feel for driving a stock car than I thought. He spent much of the afternoon rim-riding along the top groove, inches from the outside wall, as if he was a veteran of the sport. Despite the impressive display, he finished 35th, five laps down from the leaders.

• Fellow Canadian driver and former open-wheel racer Alex Tagliani was seen walking around the Nationwide and Cup garages this weekend. Tagliani is planning a move into NASCAR. He’s working on securing a ride for the Nationwide race in his hometown of Montreal. I hear it could be with Fitz Motorsports.

• Once again, there was more than the expected number of empty seats for Sunday’s Cup race. I suppose you could argue for keeping two dates at Atlanta, but the smart money says Atlanta will lose one next year.

• It’s not necessary to repeat any of the comments Tony Stewart directed at the Goodyear tires following the race, as they are readily available to read elsewhere.

With each successive comment, I could only think – Was he really saying that?

• It may have been veteran driver and former truck series champion Mike Skinner and not A. J. Allmendinger behind the wheel of the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota, but the race results were still dismal. Skinner used every bit of his driving skill to get the Camry into the show, but from Sunday’s result (27th) it looks as though the Red Bull guys have got a whole lot of work to do to make that race car competitive.

And it doesn’t reflect well upon the team that it gave Allmendinger – whose progress in stock cars has been limited by his knowledge of how a stock car is supposed to handle – such a junk race car.

• Despite being the highest finishing rookie in the race, Sam Hornish Jr.’s team has slipped out of the top 35 in points with Bristol coming up next. That’s not good news for the Indy 500 winner who is trying his best to make it as a stock car driver.

It should be noted that Hornish kept his Dodge off the walls, between the lines (most of the time) and finish 25th, only two laps down to the race leaders. It was a better finish than drivers Kasey Kahne, Michael Waltrip, Travis Kvapil and Joe Nemechek.

• It was a bittersweet weekend for Elliott Sadler. His beloved North Carolina Tar Heels delivered a stunning victory over archrival Duke on Saturday night, making Sadler a very happy man Sunday morning. Unfortunately, Sadler found himself behind the wheel of an evil race car that tried to send him into the wall on several occasions that afternoon. The 43rd-place finish dropped Sadler to 20th in points. There’s some good news: He’s good at Bristol.

• Winner of this week’s “If It Weren’t for Bad Luck, He’d Have No Luck At All” award goes to Denny Hamlin. At some point, things just have to turn around for the FedEx team.

• Out of the top 35: Hornish, Dave Blaney, Dario Franchitti, Carpentier, Regan Smith, Kyle Petty and Nemechek. Tough times lay ahead for these guys.

• Yeah, that’s right. Mark Martin was in the race, too.

Postscript:

I found it odd that it took Toyota, through its PR department, nearly three hours after the race to distribute an official statement on its first Sprint Cup Series win to journalists at the track.

Sunday’s win had been expected since Daytona, and I would have thought the Toyota PR wizards would have had something already in the can that could have easily been distributed within minutes of Kyle Busch crossing the finish line.

And I felt it was extremely odd that TRD’s senior vice president and general manager Lee White mentioned Roush in his comments on the victory.

It brought a smile to my face that Jim Aust, vice president of motorsports for Toyota, referred to the win being a “fabulous feeling” and “the feeling can’t get any better” which echoes Toyota’s former sales pitch line of “Oh, what a feeling.”

Congrats Toyota on your long, sought-after first win at the Cup level.