After 17 tries at Texas, Jeff Gordon finally wins, breaking his 47-race winless streak. Congratulations to Jeff Gordon.
It must have been a bummer that wife, Ingrid, and daughter, Ella, couldn't be there to celebrate with him in victory lane.

I was disappointed that rookie Scott Speed didn't make the race which really could have given Joey Logano a nice point advantage over him but Logano didn't have a good day. He finished in 30th position, 4 laps down.

97 laps of green flag racing and finally the first yellow flag waved. A debris caution. I was relieved to see it come out. It was painfully boring.

Kyle Busch had a tire go down from contact he had with John Andretti. He had to make an unscheduled pit stop to change the tire and went a lap down. Later in the race he got penalized for entering the pits too fast. He was already two laps down and would have had to go back in for a stop and go (I think) but luckily for him, a caution came out before he had to serve his penalty during green flag conditions and it spared him from going a third lap down.

During the same pit sequence as Busch, Kevin Harvick, who was already one lap down, got penalized for exiting the pits too fast.

Caution number two came out for a spinning Elliott Sadler on the frontstretch.

Marcos Ambrose's car blew up bringing out the third caution.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. only has himself to blame for being in the spotlight with the media. Just when I didn't think things couldn't get any worse... Junior was missing a lugnut when he left the pit stall during the Ambrose caution. He had to go back in to retrieve it. When he went back into the pits, he didn't see his pit stall and drove right by it. Does any of this sound at all familiar?

How many other seasoned drivers do you hear about this happening to? Exactly. Seriously, should Junior have his eyes checked? Come on. It is so damn disappointing and discouraging. We expect more, Junior.

Sam Hornish Jr. spun and brought out the fourth caution. He was racing Clint Bowyer and just got loose. I'm glad he didn't take out Bowyer.

The fifth caution came out when Robby Gordon's car blew up.

David Stremme spun and brought out the sixth caution. He had a right rear tire blow and he traveled sideways down on to the apron of the racetrack.

A bad stop during the sixth caution knocked Carl Edwards from the win to a tenth-place finish. I felt bad for him. I think they said it was the front tire carrier that was slow on the stop.

What did you think of the race?

This week felt like it dragged on and on. I'm so glad that we're finally heading into the weekend.

I don't think the weather should be an issue for qualifying today, which is scheduled for 4:30 pm on SPEED. Click here for the complete broadcast schedule for the weekend.

Here's the NASCAR Newscast: Samsung 500 Preview:

Carl Edwards is closing the gap in the point standings between he and Jimmie Johnson. Congrats to Edwards for his win yesterday.

Here are a few random observations of the race:

-- I've been really impressed with Jamie McMurray these last few weeks. He's been right up there in the top five.

-- Did you notice how many empty seats there were during the race? Wow.

-- This was turning out to be quite the boring race. I was grateful for the first debris caution as I was falling asleep. As we all know, cautions breed cautions and that was the case yesterday after that first caution was thrown.

-- Two weeks in a row that Juan Pablo Montoya has been a top-ten car and had bad luck. This time, it was an intentional wreck by David Gilliland who was a cry baby about JPM's bump on the track a lap earlier. So Gilliland took him out. I'm glad NASCAR parked Gilliland for the remainder of the race. They should consider doing so this coming weekend as well.

-- Dale Earnhardt Jr. looked as thought he was going to have a top-ten finish but ran out of gas and wound up in 20th place.

-- A solid run by Clint Bowyer all day long. He finished fourth.

-- The biggest loser in the point standings was Kevin Harvick who fell two positions in the standings to seventh, while Kyle Busch gained two spots, moving up to tenth place.

What did you think of the race? Any observations you would like to share?

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

	1 - Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet) 6248 points, 2008 Rundown: • Six wins, 14 top fives, 21 top 10s • Average finish of 10.5 • Led 27 races for 1,736 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 107.9 • One win, five top fives, eight top 10s • Average finish of 8.5 • Finished second in April
	2 - Carl Edwards (No. 99 Office Depot Ford) 6065 points, 2008 Rundown: • Seven wins, 16 top fives, 24 top 10s • Average finish of 10.2 • Led 19 races for 913 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 96.0 • Two wins • Average finish of 15.7 • Won the Texas race in April
	3 - Greg Biffle (No. 16 3M Ford) 6063 points, 2008 Rundown: • Two wins, 11 top fives, 16 top 10s • Average finish of 13.0 • Led 18 races for 456 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 88.8 • One win, two top 10s • Average finish of 26.1 • Finished 39th in April
	4 - Jeff Burton (No. 31 AT&T Mobility Chevrolet) 6030 points, 2008 Rundown: • Two wins, seven top fives, 17 top 10s • Average finish of 11.7 • Led 11 races for 140 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 84.7 • Two wins, three top fives, seven tops 10s • Average finish of 16.2 • Finished sixth in April
	5 - Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) 5941 points, 2008 Rundown: • Six top fives, 16 top 10s • Average finish of 13.0 • Led seven races for 191 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 84.6 • Two top fives, four top 10s • Average finish of 13.4 • Finished 11th in April
	6 - Jeff Gordon (No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet) 5936 points, 2008 Rundown: • 11 top fives, 17 top 10s • Average finish of 14.4 • Led 18 races for 416 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 85.1 • Five top fives, seven top 10s • Average finish of 17.1 • Finished 43rd in April
	7 - Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Jack Daniel's Chevrolet) 5934 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, five top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 14.7 • Led five races for 152 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 85.0 • One top five, two top 10s • Average finish of 13.8 • Finished 10th in April
	8 - Tony Stewart (No. 20 Home Depot Toyota) 5847 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 14.8 • Led 14 races for 622 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 107.9 • One win, three top fives, eight top 10s • Average finish of 13.0 • Finished seventh in April
	9 - Matt Kenseth (No. 14 DEWALT Ford) 5835 points, 2008 Rundown: • Nine top fives, 19 top 10s • Average finish of 16.5 • Led 18 races for 531 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 104.9 • One win, five top fives, seven top 10s • Average finish of 10.2 • Finished ninth in April
	10 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet) 5829 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, 10 top fives, 15 top 10s • Average finish of 13.3 • Led 21 races for 895 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 98.1 • One win, three top fives, seven top 10s; two poles • Average finish of 12.8 • Finished 12th in April
	11 - Denny Hamlin (No. 11 FedEx Toyota) 5823 points, 2008 Rundown: • One win, 11 top fives, 17 top 10s • Average finish of 15.7 • Led 15 races for 766 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 101.9 • Two top fives, five top 10s • Average finish of 10.7 • Finished fifth in April
	12 - Kyle Busch (No. 18 M&M's Toyota) 5783 points, 2008 Rundown: • Eight wins, 17 top fives, 19 top 10s • Average finish of 12.6 • Led 23 races for 1,671 laps Texas Motor Speedway Outlook: • Driver Rating of 93.2 • Three top fives • Average finish of 17.7 • Finished third in April

First, what a horrendous crash Michael McDowell went through during qualifying. I think that’s one of the worst crashes I have seen. I was truly relieved to see him walk away.

Congratulations to Carl Edwards on his third victory this year. (big yawn)

Here are a few observations from the race yesterday:

-- I realized during the start of this race that I now have a driver that I focus on. Clint Bowyer, pictured above, is my focus. Ever since Dale Earhardt Sr. died, I’ve liked several drivers. But I have never watched any one driver since his death…until now. It feels good, too.

-- Jeff Gordon's bad luck continues at Texas Motor Speedway. He must absolutely hate this track by now. Why can’t that team get his car to go there? I don’t get it. Jimmie Johnson had a heck of a car as did Dale Earnhardt Jr. What is wrong with that picture?

-- Did anyone else notice that there weren't SAFER barriers on infield retaining walls? Do you think J.J. Yeley is going to refuse to race at that track again until they install them? Hhmmm....

I have been a bit out of sorts this week. Well, mostly because I was supposed to be in North Carolina. All week I kept looking at the clock thinking, I'd already have a few pops in me right about now.... Oh well, life happens.

I'll get back into a rhythm here and start posting a few more entries. I promise. My pick for this weekend's race at Texas Motor Speedway is Kevin Harvick. I have no particular reason why I'm picking him other than I thought he looked so darned cute wearing a cowboy hat last November when he won the Busch race:

I just want to see him wear a cowboy hat again. Simply fantastic. Who are you picking to win this weekend?

I have to admit that I did not watch the race this weekend. I am, however, happy to learn that Jeff Gordon is no longer the point leader.

Jimmie Johnson won his first ever race at Texas Motor Speedway bringing him to the front of the pack in the point standings as well.

If anyone would care to share their thought on the race, I would love to hear about it.

Kevin Harvick won the Busch race on Saturday. Seeing a racecar driver in a cowboy hat just doesn't seem right, seriously. He does it a bit better than some though.

Cousin Carl captured the Busch Series championship on Saturday.

The complete transcript of the teleconference from Friday's announcement of NHIS, whoops I mean NHMS, being sold has not been made available yet. I didn't forget, honest. Once it's made available, if it is, I will upload it in it's entirety for those of you who want to read all the question and answers.