I'm back, I'm back. I went on vacation and never once looked at the blog. I needed a complete break and it was awesome. Thank you for those who did throw their picks out there on Friday. If I had made my pick last week, it would have been Kurt Busch. Alright, maybe not.

Kurt Busch deserved that win yesterday. He dominated the race all day long. I was getting nervous with that late-race caution that he wasn't going to be the victor but he did. I could have done without him driving around the track backwards with the checkered flag but we got a good laugh out of it. Congratulations Busch!

In the beginning the race was a real sleeper until that crewman ran out to grab the tire that got loose and brought out a caution. It was poor timing though because most of the drivers had been down pit road to make their pit stops just a lap earlier. So after the caution flag flew, it left only six cars on the lead lap.

Just how many times can a driver get the lucky dog? Yesterday it looked as though Dale Earnhardt Jr. was going to get three of them. Yeah, three. Time ran out though and in the end he was the recipient of two. His car was a complete brick all day.

If you're ever online during the race and they throw out questions to ask on Ask.com, you should try it. I did. One of the questions, which I thought was a joke because it was a commercial, was "Why do drivers think peanuts are bad luck?" I had no idea so I went to Ask.com to find out why. Sure enough the answer was there along with some of the other superstitions there are like why some drivers won't carry 50 dollar bills. That's all I'm saying.

I was really pulling for Mark Martin to have a solid finish this week. But as luck would have it, he had a tire go and he went up and hit the wall. That's three weeks in a row for him to not have a good finish.

Clint Bowyer had another solid finish, sixth place.

Rookie Watch: Joey Logano hit the wall. It wasn't his fault though. AJ Allmendinger went up the track, forcing Logano to move up, right in front of Tony Stewart. Stewart hit him and sent him into the wall. He hit it a second time and had to go to the pits for repairs. Logano finished 30th, six laps down.

Scott Speed caused the wreck on lap 267. He went up into David Ragan and then there was a chain reaction. Greg Biffle got the worse end of that deal. He got hit and spun up and hit the outside retaining wall, completely wrecking his car. Speed finished 68 laps down in 35th position.

Sam Hornish Jr. doesn't have any business driving in the Sprint Cup Series. He creates wrecks every week. Just sayin.

What did you think of the race?

Congratulations to Carl Edwards for his win yesterday and Saturday in the Nationwide Series.

I will say this, I am getting so sick of the same winners. The season is so long and it seems that each week, you can almost bet money that the winner will be Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson or Kyle Busch. (not so much Busch recently though) Of the 33 completed races, 21 of them have been won by one of those three drivers.

It doesn't make it all that thrilling to continue to sit down each week to watch a race.

Having said that, here are my thoughts of yesterday's race:

-- I felt bad for Jeff Burton who was involved in a late-race wreck. With 22 laps remaining he got tangled up with Juan Pablo Montoya, Joe Nemechek, Dave Blaney, Reed Sorenson. It was hard to tell if Blaney came down on him or Burton made a mistake by not checking up to let him in. Flip a coin I guess. Burton ended the day in 18th position.

-- My pick to blow a tire first, Sam Hornish Jr., wasn't the first to blow a tire but was the first one involved in a wreck. I was close.

-- The first driver to blow a tire was Michael Waltrip. I believe he blew two right-rear tires and actually was the only one who had any issues with tires.

-- Kurt Busch's troubles continued this week. He got loose and hit the wall around lap 175.

-- Chad Knaus made the right decision to bring Johnson in for fresh tires with ten laps to go. On the restart, Johnson started 11th. The tires paid off and he finished in second place. Good call Knaus!

There you have it. What did you think of the race?

Here's a look at the Chasers going into the race this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway (stats provided by NASCAR):

	1 - Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet) 6073 points, 2008 Rundown: • Six wins, 13 top fives, 20 top 10s • Average finish of 10.8 • Led 26 races for 1,708 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 113.4 • Three wins, eight top fives, nine top 10s • Average finish of 9.6 • Finished 13th in March
	2 - Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford) 5924 points, 2008 Rundown: • Two wins, 11 top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 13.1 • Led 17 races for 455 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 102.3 • Three top fives, six top 10s; one pole • Average finish of 14.8 • Finished fourth in March
	3 - Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) 5921 points, 2008 Rundown: • Two wins, seven top fives, 17 top 10s • Average finish of 11.5 • Led 11 races for 140 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 92.8 • Seven top fives, 13 tops 10s • Average finish of 16.5 • Finished 10th in March
	4 - Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) 5875 points, 2008 Rundown: • Six wins, 15 top fives, 23 top 10s • Average finish of 10.5 • Led 18 races for 815 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 102.8 • Two wins, four top fives, six top 10s • Average finish of 12.9 • Finished 42nd in March
	5 - Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet) 5831 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, five top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 14.5 • Led five races for 152 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 89.4 • Three top 10s • Average finish of 14.0 • Finished sixth in March
	6 - Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) 5817 points, 2008 Rundown: • Six top fives, 16 top 10s • Average finish of 13.0 • Led seven races for 191 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 74.5 • One win, two top fives, three top 10s • Average finish of 23.3 • Finished seventh in March
	7 - Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) 5798 points, 2008 Rundown: • 11 top fives, 16 top 10s • Average finish of 14.6 • Led 18 races for 416 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 96.6 • Four wins, 13 top fives, 20 top 10s; two poles • Average finish of 12.8 • Finished fifth in March
	8 - Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota) 5735 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 14.8 • Led 14 races for 622 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 104.4 • Two wins, eight top fives, 12 top 10s • Average finish of 12.0 • Finished second in March
	9 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet) 5694 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 13.4 • Led 20 races for 894 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 103.6 • One win, eight top fives, 10 top 10s • Average finish of 11.7 • Finished third in March
	10 - Matt Kenseth (No. 14 DEWALT Ford) 5665 points, 2008 Rundown: • Eight top fives, 18 top 10s • Average finish of 16.8 • Led 17 races for 403 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 94.1 • Six top fives, 10 top 10s • Average finish of 14.5 • Finished eighth in March
	11 - Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota) 5653 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, 10 top fives, 16 top 10s • Average finish of 16.1 • Led 14 races for 710 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 83.5 • One top 10 • Average finish of 19.3 • Finished 15th in March
	12 - Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M's Toyota) 5628 points, 2008 Rundown: • Eight wins, 16 top fives, 18 top 10s • Average finish of 12.8 • Led 23 races for 1,671 laps Atlanta Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 88.5 • One win • Average finish of 19.9 • Won March's Atlanta race

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 know I said that I was hoping for a bit of bad luck for the Hendrick boys but I will admit that when I learned that Jimmie Johnson was going to donate his winnings from the race to the fire victims out in California, I wanted him to have a solid finish. Others were going to join in and match his contribution including his primary sponsor, Lowe's, and car owner Rick Hendrick. I am pretty sure this put the total donation above $1 million.

Johnson had a solid car all day, as did Kyle Busch. Busch had a bit of bad luck in one of the craziest restarts that I have seen this year. With only a handful of laps to go on the restart, Denny Hamlin ran out of gas even before making it to the green flag and all the cars stacked up behind him. (Excuse me, what was his crew chief thinking not bringing him in the pits to get gas?) Martin Truex Jr. slammed right in the back of Hamlin, ending his day. Kyle Busch jerked the car to the left to miss hitting Truex Jr. and spun into the infield. He ended up with a 17th place finish.

Others in the Chase:
Tony Stewart had a terrible night. He finished right where he started, 30th position. He had to make two unscheduled pit stops. One because he was really loose and they thought there wasn't enouh air pressure in the tires. And the other because he mysteriously lost oil pressure. He went in to the pits and the crew put the hood up, he restarted the car and the oil pressure was fine and he went on his way, 5 laps down.

Kevin Harvick pretty much ran like a brick all day long. He is lucky to have finished 15th. Carl Edwards had a good run finishing 2nd, Matt Kenseth - 4th, Jeff Burton - 5th, Clint Bowyer - 6th, Jeff Gordon - 7th, Kurt Busch - 8th.

A few more thoughts:

• It should be of no surprise that the first caution of the race happened during a commercial. What ever happened to “if caution breaks out, we’ll break in?”
• I cannot handle the color graphics of how the air works. Blue=clean air, yellow=dirty air. It takes me back to my very early years...Yellow plus Blue makes Green.
• The “here, kitty kitty” is being overused. I am sick of it.
• It was looking like Dale Earnhardt Jr. was going to finally have an engine that didn’t expire. Only, his bad luck continues and he couldn’t keep the tires on it. A left rear tire literally just fell off his car during a restart. The only luck he has had this year is BAD luck.

Atlanta Motor Speedway Data
Race #: 33 of 36 (10-28-07)
Track Size: 1.54 miles
Race Length: 325 laps/500.5 miles
• Banking/Corners: 24 degrees
• Banking/Straights: 5 degrees
• Frontstretch: 2,332 feet
• Backstretch: 1,800 feet