Congrats to Denny Hamlin on his victory yesterday. I'm not much of a Hamlin fan though. He's a bit boring if you ask me.

Here are a few random thoughts of the race...

-- Jeff Hammond did a great job waving the green flag for the start of the race.

-- I would be very happy if I never heard them talk about “Digger,” the gopher cam. I think it’s ridiculous.

-- I said it after the last race and I’ll say it again: I hate it when they only scroll the top ten in the rundown.

-- Could Matt Kenseth have had a worse day? Seriously, how many incidents was he involved in?

-- Some things haven’t changed since last season. The No. 8 car blew up. Only this year, I didn't care.

-- The one and only time that Kyle Busch could have been a hero in my eyes, he failed. He was Hamlin’s wing man and instead of trying to block Jeff Gordon, he got right out of the way. I was a bit surprised by that considering Hamlin is now his teammate. Maybe he had a flash back of last year and thought Gordon was his teammate?

-- Clint Bowyer is Mr. Consistent. Every time I looked, he was in the top ten. He’s having a pretty good season this year. Here are the unofficial point standings after yesterday's race.

What did you think of the race?

On a different note...

I was asked if I had heard anything about Ryan Moore and whether he is still racing.

I got an e-mail from his father Kelly Moore and he says: "Ryan will not be running the East Series, he works at Everham Motorsports in Statesville N.C., he heads up the brake department for the Cup cars."

There's been quite a bit of feedback on the last blog entry and so far the vast majority of folks that have commented feel the No. 3 should be retired from racing. I just don't see what the big deal is there.

Personally, I will enjoy watching Austin Dillon race the no. 3 car for Andy Santerre Motorsports. It's not like that No. 3 car is going to be "in your face" all the time in the Camping World East Series...jeez. It's a fairly short season. Here's the broadcast schedule.

I'm leaving on a jetplane, I don't know when I'll be back again... I'm flying out on Friday and heading down to North Carolina. Not to attend a race, or anything to do with racing actually. I'm heading down there for my yearly visit to see my BFF. Gonna play a little, eat a lot and relax. I can't wait. I may drop a line while I'm down there. We will see.

** Folks, there have been issues when trying to post comments. I am sorry. We are aware of it. Please E-mail me when it happens so I can relay it to the powers that be.

I'll be back tomorrow with my picks for Martinsville.

There seems to be a lot of emotion around the return of the No. 3 car. It has been gone since the death of Dale Earnhardt in 2001. Some people are upset and want the number permanantly retired. I personally don't mind seeing it return.

It was announced last week that Richard Childress' grandson, Austin Dillon, will be driving it in the Camping World East Series this year.

I was a huge Dale Earnhardt fan. I am pleased that the number has been out of sight for a while. I wouldn't have wanted to see it back on the track a year or two or maybe even three years after his death. But it has been seven years. I think it's time the No. 3 car returns to racing.

How do you feel about it?

There's not much going on in the NASCAR world. Or maybe I should say not much that is interesting to me right now. So here's a little bit of this and that that's rattling around in my head...

-- The whole sharing of points thing really gets to me. Seriously, I can't understand why Red Bull Racing would have committed themselves to A.J. Allmendinger. Didn't they think of the possibility of being outside the top 35 in points before committing to him? Allmendinger has sat out of the last two races and Mike Skinner has driven the car. It's not a good way to introduce newcombers to the sport. Why wouldn't they have just pursued Skinner in the first place to drive for the season? I'm sure I must be missing something here. I'm just ranting. I know you'll let me know if I'm off base or incorrect.

-- I'm excited about the Camping World East Series this year. There are a few drivers that I'm going to be watching: Ricky Carmichael, Steve Park and now I'll be watching the number 3 car again with Richard Childress' grandson Austin Dillon driving it. It's a sharp looking car also.

-- Tony Stewart still needs a haircut. I'll go a bit further and say that he should dump Subway and possibly try being a spokesperson for Jennie Craig. It worked for Valerie Bertinelli. She's really got it going on now thanks to the program.

-- I just read the most unbelievable story about a woman fused to her toilet seat. It's completely off topic but it's something I can't stop thinking about. I am sure that after you read it, you won't stop thinking about it either.

All for now...

A 1-2-3 finish for Richard Childress Racing, a first for RCR. I had goosebumps as they crossed the line, just a fantastic finish. Congrats to Jeff Burton who beat out teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer to the finish line.

Here are a few random thoughts that crossed my mind as I watched yesterday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway:

-- Let me just say this….what a cute little pumpkin Jeff Gordon’s little girl is. She actually looks like a spitting image of him, only cuter of course.

-- There should be a rule about allowing someone in the broadcast booth when you have laryngitis. It was more painful than normal listening to Darrell Waltrip try to talk.

-- I hate it when they only show the top-ten in the rundown during the race. Uugh, it really urkes me, like we aren’t watching other drivers that are outside the top-ten. Give me a break.

-- It’s getting harder and harder to defend Juan Pablo Montoya. That's all I'm saying on that.

-- Once again, I jinxed my pick to win the race. In this case, I’m not that sad about it. Kyle Busch’s power steering went on the car.

-- Dale Earnhardt Jr. was the best finishing Hendrick car again. Nice.

-- When they were interviewing Kevin Harvick after the race asking him about his error on the track when he took out Tony Stewart, I jokingly said: “He’s scared.” I mean, wouldn’t you be? You never know what that freak Tony Stewart will do when he’s mad. Seriously.

-- How much do you love Clint Bowyer?! That guy is the bomb. His post race interview was hilarious. If you missed it, he said something about Stewart and back waxing at Harvick's house and that it should be interesting. And then he said that he may have to go over and check it out and bring some boxing gloves for them. I think Bowyer's my new hero.

-- I blame Harvick that I have to look at Stewart for one more week without a haircut. I don't think Stewart's cutting his hair until he wins again. Thanks Harvick.

-- Goodbye Dale Jarrett. Sorry you couldn’t have had a better finish than 37th for your last race.

We're off to Bristol this weekend. I love the racing at Bristol. It's one of those tracks where anybody could win. It's tough to predict a winner here.

Nonetheless, I'll go with Kyle Busch to win this weekend. He is, afterall, the greatest driver there ever was. I think he'll be the point leader in all three divisions after this weekend as well. I am, of course, saying all of this completely sarcastically. But seriously, he is my pick this weekend.

Who's yours?

Let's see how much more Tony Stewart whines about the tires this weekend. I am sure he'll spout off again about them.

I think there's a bit too much hype and focus on who got to victory lane first. Here's one: "Kyle Busch Beats Dale Earnhardt Jr. And Hendrick In Race To Victory Lane" Who cares?

I'll admit, Shrub had a great car yesterday. He's the youngest driver to win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he's the first to take Toyota to victory lane, plus it's a first for a driver to win both a Craftsman Truck and Sprint Cup race in the same weekend. That is a great reason to puff up like a peacock. Fantastic. He is having an excellent year. Period.

To play into the soap opera of who got the better deal, Hendrick vs. Gibbs and who got to victory lane first? Please. It is a bit ridiculous and also much too soon in the season for that. Only time will tell and we're a LONG way from the end of the season. Congrats to Busch for his first victory under the Joe Gibbs umbrella.

Last week when I made my pick for who I thought would win the race, I told you that I may have been jinxing the driver that I pick. I had picked Jimmie Johnson to win at Las Vegas, a track that he had won three times in a row. So what happens? He ends up finishing 29th. Uugh.

So, here we go again, let's see if I can finally break the losing streak that I am on (I have NEVER picked the winner) and finally do so this week.

I am going with Jeff Gordon for the win. He has four victories at Atlanta Motor Speedway, including 12 top-fives, and 19 top-tens. He's had some pretty bad luck so far this year, but maybe this is the track that will turn his luck around.

The other driver I'll be watching is Bobby Labonte. He has 6 wins here, including 12 top-fives and 13 top-tens.

I'm betting Ryan Newman will get the pole. In his 12 starts here, 7 have started from pole position.

Who are you picking for the win?

I've been sitting here wondering something in regard to Jeff Gordon's hard hit against the infield retaining wall at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this past Sunday. I read an article last night on nascar.com regarding there not being SAFER barriers on the inside walls.

Rick Hendrick said: "If the teams are asked to spend $8 million a piece for a car that is a little bit safer, then we need to fix the damn walls at the track," Hendrick told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "That ought to be priority No. 1, and if the tracks don't have the walls, then we shouldn't race there."

Quite simply, I agree with having the SAFER barriers installed. Who wouldn't for safety reasons? Forgive my ignorance here, but are there other tracks coming up that don't have the SAFER barriers on the inside walls?

BUT back to what it is that I'm wondering... Take the same scenario, only the scenario that's running through my head is it's Robby Gordon that took the hard hit instead of Jeff Gordon.

Do you think there would be such an uproar if Robby Gordon had been the one to be involved in that hard hit and he voiced his concerns about the infield walls. I bet not.

Honestly I don't understand why things such as this are reactive instead of proactive. I just don't get it. The powers that be should just make the decision that this is necessary for all race tracks. Period.

What do you think?

A day late...sorry. Congrats to Carl Edwards for getting victory number two.

Can you say, bad right front tires? Holy cow. I think I counted (correct me if I'm wrong, I didn't watch the ENTIRE race) four drivers who had a right front tires blow. Tony Stewart was one of them. What a hit into the outside wall. I was glad to see that he was okay, although he did need a bit of assistance walking to the vehicle that was taking him to the infield care center.

Nascar made a good call in not penalizing Carl Edwards' team for the mishap with the tire. It was clearly the camer man's fault. I also like how the guys in the boothe made sure to tell us that it was not a FOX camerman.

Another bad day for Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. First Daytona and now Vegas. Good thing Rick Hendrick brought on Dale Earnhardt Jr. to carry the load.

What did you think of the race?

Well I made it back safely from my visit to the Speedway Expo. It was interesting. There was so much to look at it was almost overwhelming. In fact, I must have walked the entire building ten times and each time I would see something new.

Despite the snow on Saturday, the place was packed. Here are a few pictures:

On Saturday afternoon a couple drivers came in to sign autographs. Ron Hornaday was one. I can't get over how much smaller some of the drivers look in person. I didn't tote my camera around in the afternoon so I didn't get a shot of him nor did I get a shot of Joey Logano.

Logano was casually walking around signing autographs as people came up to him. His parents were also there with him.

I'm glad I went. It was a good experience. I met a lot of nice folks while I was there. I took quite a few more pictures. I created a Bump Draft facebook page for all those photos that I'm not able to publish here on the blog. Go take a peak.

All for now.