Though I don't think it will be as big of a deal in the 500, I think race two showed what a big deal green flag pit stops may play in determining the race. With the current aero package, once those five front guys took off no one else had a prayer of catching them.

The top-35 rule had some merit when it was conceived (though I always felt 35 was a bit much), but the manipulation of this rule to get teams into the first five races of the season each year has become deplorable. NASCAR really needs to take a look at keeping teams from taking advantage of this.

@biresfan 88, I don't think that Busch's firing from Roush would affect his chances of landing the #43 ride. Though RPM gets their equipment from Roush, I highly doubt he would be vindictive (or absurd) enough to bar Busch from driving a Ford, especially in these economic times. What I feel is a larger issue is whether or not Best Buy would support Busch. If they are willing to take a chance on his behavior (and of course if Kurt decides its a good move), I feel like this could very well happen, though it would certainly put Allmendinger in a rough spot after a career year.

I could be wrong, but I think that the Cup team is still running. If you look at Germain's site, all traces of the truck team has been removed but GEICO and Mears are still predominantly featured.

Silly season hasn't been very "silly" this year in regards to drivers moving around (save the Kurt Busch situation), but the shuffling of crew chiefs has been astronomical. It has been reported in multiple locations that Mike Ford has been released from the #11 team, with the knowledge that Gibbs may be pursuing Darian Grubb to replace him. Depending on what driver is selected, I see Ford as a top candidate to crew the #22 ride.

It will be interesting with all these crew chief swaps to see which driver-crew chief relationships take off the fastest, and which ones flounder. With last year's implementation of the wild card format however, a team won't be punished as harshly for some initial missteps, provided they can win a few races before the chase.

It's a shame that five trucks quick enough to make the race on speed get knocked out because of the rain. I think NASCAR needs to rethink its rainout procedure. Perhaps only the cars/trucks who have attempted every race and are outside of a locked-in position (in this case the #57) should be given a spot in the race, with the rest of the field set by the fastest practice speeds.

Yeah I think it's in error, because according to NASCAR.com's monitor Bell is in the #13. Brian Keselowski has also replaced Charles Lewandoski in the #47, Chris Cook has replaced Chapman in the #75 (the #71 withdrew), and J.J. Yeley was added in the MacDonald Motorsports #82.

If anyone is going to withdraw, I believe it will be between the #71, #75, #55, #97, #50, #74, and #47 entries.

Good run for Menard... he seems to be one of the only ride buyers that has shown they belong in Sprint Cup. It was exciting watching Gordon trying to catch him, but I am a little perplexed to why there have been so many fuel milage races this season.

True, but Pastrana himself is a part owner so I'm sure there's more leeway there then in other situations. However the sponsors' reactions could dictate how he handles things like this going forward.

Oddly enough the ARCA race probably will have just as many competitive cars as the NNS and truck races. 46 entries is huge for them.

Fun fact: Labonte has had to use the past champ's provisional to get in the last four Brickyard races he entered.

I know people seem pretty split over whether Bestwick is any good or not, but I think he is much better than Marty Reid. I like Jarrett and Petree as commentators, but they are a bit on the dry side. Hopefully Bestwick can serve as a good counterpoint. Now all they have to do is get rid of Rusty and Brad in the pit studio and we could have a decent broadcast team.

NASCAR fixed the race for Kyle Busch and did a crap job of hiding it. There were an ungodly amount of ''coincidences'' leading up to him walking into that win with what was a 10th place Truck at best.

Hope NASCAR likes that 100 win mark. It's hollow and allows for them to easily ignore dirty tactics like ''Crowd your opponent on the restart and completely screw his restart''

Really? Come on man I don't like Kyle Busch as much as the next guy but to think that NASCAR would break the axle on the #13, have the hood fly up on the #3, and have the dope in the #99 stall on pit road all in a few laps is preposterous. Busch got lucky, but that still does happen sometimes.

It would stink to lose Montreal because it's an incredible track/city... however I have always felt that it was a little too narrow for stock cars, as there usually are lengthy cautions and even red flags for when a car crashes and many others have nowhere to go. Mosport looks like it would be great for the NNS cars.