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NASCAR Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 After Bristol-2

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Was that “Old Bristol”? Or “New Old” Bristol? Or Old New…?

Does it matter? It was awesome! Helmet throws, finger wags, and everything in between were the staples of the night, and somehow Denny Hamlin found his way through all of it into Victory Lane. Saturday night short track racing at its finest.

How did Hamlin fair in our rankings? And did Tony Stewart’s helmet throw earn him any brownie points with our writers? Continue reading to find out…

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not in NASCAR: Bristol/Atlanta Edition

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Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart’s seasons have almost mirrored each other. Both drivers entered Bristol with multiple victories in seasons that have been more up and down then Kurt Busch’s rear deck lid.

Hamlin and Stewart entered Bristol in The Chase, but they knew what was on the line Saturday night. Kasey Kahne has been steadily closing on the drivers in the top 10 and neither Hamlin nor Stewart wanted to be the driver to drop into a wild card slot and forfeit his team’s wins.

Darian Grubb: Ready For High Speed and Atlanta’s Ever Changing Track

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_The track surface at Atlanta Motor Speedway has aged well. While most of the oil and grip is gone from the racing surface, the speed is still there. Drivers have to deal with some of the highest speeds on the circuit with some of the least grip. Darian Grubb knows that the amount of grip can change dramatically during the weekend, especially when the almost guaranteed rain storm moves through at some point._

_For this week’s Tech Talk Grubb touches on adjustability, inner liners and a brand new car. Making a car go around Atlanta well from the beginning to the end of the Labor Day race that goes from daytime into night, on a track surface that changes with the amount of rubber being laid down is a challenge. Grubb did it successfully when he was on the box for Tony Stewart and he hopes to do it again this weekend with Denny Hamlin._

Kenny Wallace Driver Diary: Taking Care of Business On and Off-Track

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We just got dirt racing this year. The DIRTCar Summer Nationals for the modifieds (is a series of races where the points are for) your ten best races. We had run nine races. I really like the Summer Nationals because they race a lot during the summer-28 races in 32 days. I wasn’t thinking about the championship, but we just got to racing and all of a sudden we started winning. We won like three out of five and all of a sudden I looked and I was only 39 points out of the lead. Well, my competitors had all already run ten or more. So I decided to go for the championship.

It was a crazy story because on Saturday, I had to be at a one hour Speed TV production meeting at Loudon. So, I came to the meeting and the stars aligned perfectly: Tony Stewart was flying to Eldora and the plane was literally going right over Toledo. So Tony just let me ride in his airplane, he didn’t even ask for any money, and they landed and dropped me off. Now, my guys were in Indiana. I told them to turn around, and they turned around and drove five hours the other way. We showed up, ran second in our heat. It was a 25-lap feature and we led like 18 or 19 laps and then my car picked up a big push—I guess we had it adjusted wrong—and we finished sixth and pulled it off.

Winner, Champion…and Racer: Kenny Wallace Is All of These

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_ I don’t care if it’s Travis Pastrana racing World Rally cars, or if it’s Kenny Schrader winning the dirt series in the late models or Kenny right now in modifieds or Tony Stewart—they all have a connection. They’re winners, they’re champions, and most importantly, they’re racers.” –Jeff Hammond_

Saturday morning came early to Loudon, New Hampshire, with the promise of being a scorcher of a day, and Kenny Wallace was sick to his stomach. It wasn’t the heat or the flu that was making the 48-year-old Wallace feel like he’d swallowed a whole herd of angry butterflies, but rather the conflict between commitment and opportunity.

Your 2012 Cup Champion: Look No Further Than These Five Drivers

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It certainly was strange not to have a Cup race to watch this past weekend. You get so used to the relentless nature of the schedule and the regular routine that when there is a brief moment of respite it seems, well, all a little strange. Now, though, with the off week consigned to the history books, it’s time for the stretch run and seventeen straight weekends of racing that will decide who does and doesn’t make the Chase; and ultimately who will be crowned the 2012 Sprint Cup Champion.

What Tony Stewart did last year in “the playoffs” was unparalleled in Chase history. No driver has ever won so many races to on the way to the wavy silver Sprint Cup trophy. You can top-5, top-10 the competition into the ground but wins count big. Real big. Truth is, it probably was something of an anomaly. How many drivers other than Smoke could have done that? You’re talking about a handful, at best. So yes, anything can happen.

Tech Talk – Making Smoke at the Brickyard with Steve Addington

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_Steve Addington heads to Indianapolis with Tony Stewart to try and put another win in the bag for the native Hoosier while he hopes to score a win at the fabled track for his first time as a crew chief. The challenges at Indianapolis are similar to Loudon and Pocono yet unique at the same time. Addington talks about going fast and slowing down at the Brickyard._

Mike Neff: *You had a week off and you’re getting ready to head to Indianapolis, which is obviously a very special place for Tony. Does he put any added pressure on you this week more than others as you get ready to head up there?*

Beyond the Cockpit: Brad Keselowski on Racing Cars, Reputation…and Fireworks

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_If it’s true that a real racer eats, sleeps and breathes racing, then Brad Keselowski is as real as it gets. The 28-year-old Michigan native is a second-generation racer along with his brother Brian. Their father, Bob, is a winner in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series (ironically, the only national touring series that Brad has yet to win in) and uncle Ron raced in what is now the Sprint Cup Series. Brad Keselowski has been racing since the age of 14 and his passion for the sport is evident—Keselowski races several Nationwide Series races a year and owns a Truck Series team. His three Sprint Cup wins this year is tied with Tony Stewart for best in the series. With a reputation for being aggressive on the track and brutally honest off it, his star in the sport is clearly on the rise. Keselowski sat down with Frontstretch.com Senior Writer Amy Henderson at Loudon to talk about his Penske Racing team and crew chief Paul Wolfe, his aspirations as an owner, and his favorite things to do away from the track (hint: even then he’s thinking about racing…online). Unless he’s busy blowing things up…_