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Welcome to the (mostly) All-Earnhardt edition of The Spotter because Senior would have been 57 on Tuesday:

Lap 1: Ah, Richmond -- the second-best race on the schedule. (First: Richmond in the fall, the race before the cutoff for the Chase.) It's also the place where Junior won his last race two years ago. He'll win Saturday. You just watch.

Lap 2: Jeff Gordon's still a whiner. Boooo hoooo hoooo, Junior didn't help me. (More.) Let's face it, 24 fans: The Hendrick cars just don't dominate at the plate tracks any more. Two-Time's rope-a-dope hang-in-the-back tactic isn't sandbagging. It meant his car just wasn't that good. And, no, I can't explain why Casey Mears was had the best Hendrick finish. Can you explain how Furniture Row Joe ended up on the pole?

More after the jump.

My daily 5 a.m. wake-up calls mean that I'm fried after 10 p.m. and comatose by 11, which means I didn't make it to the end of the Richmond race. But I'm glad I missed it, because I think my house would have been down at least one TV set. (Yes, I'm a Junior fan.) Thanks to the miracle of the daily paper and the Intertubes, I spent my Sunday morning wrapping my still-sleepy brain around what had happened Saturday night at my hometown track.

Here's the transcript (sorry, I destroyed the audio) of my wife's conversation with me Sunday morning:

Lap 1 (the wife): So, who won the race last night:
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ......

Lap 2 (wife again, prying what's left of the Sports section from my hands): Kyle Busch won?
Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ......

The interview continues after the jump.

Here are your Small Team Standings after the Richmond race. Bobby Labonte (13th at Richmond) made up a ton of ground on Brian Vickers (28th). David Gilliland (41st) was your big loser and dropped from second to fourth. Look who squeezed into the top 10 -- Furniture Row Joe! But that's mostly because Mike Skinner hasn't raced since Phoenix.

Vickers, meanwhile, your best-placed Small Teamer, is 17th in the real world.

Your Small Team Standings after the jump.

Some random thoughts after a wild night at Darlington ...

Lap 1: Yes, Shrub can wheel a race car. There's never been much doubt about that. But the way the guy won Saturday night was scary. He had the loose lug nut problem early, then bounced the car off the wall about every other lap after that. Jimmie Johnson has a knack (or used to, anyway) for starting out bad, working his way back through the field and coming out on top. KyBusch is pulling a page from that playbook.

Lap 2: Dustin Long's story implies that there are Kyle Busch fans out there. I really, really doubt it. Unless, of course, I missed the new practice of throwing beer cans at someone you like. Is it like throwing AA batteries at right fielders? Kids today.

More after the jump ...

Random Small Team news ...

* Petty Enterprises announced Kyle's summer subs: Terry Labonte will drive five races, and Chad McCumbee will do two. (Release.) The fact that McCumbee (one of the 2007 subs) is back is good news for him and his career, though I suspect he wants steadier work in the Cup series, not to mention a full-time Busch ride from someone.

But the Terry Labonte selection disappoints me. It's clear he's going to be behind the wheel because (a) he's available (though he's technically retired -- long story) and (b) he has the much-coveted Past Champion's Provisional, NASCAR's version of the Get Out of Jail Free But In Reverse card. So why not Richard? He wouldn't cost Petty a dime (and they're cheap cheap cheap), and he's three years younger than James Hylton, who turned a 185 mph lap in Daytona practice last year.

* The All-Star race continues to disappoint (entry list): There's only one Small Teamer, and that's Bobby Labonte. Maybe Robby Gordon or Carl Long will race his way in.

* Some vintage Wood Brothers love. How cool would it be to see this on the track? How cool would it be to see the 21 in anything other than a shot of it dropping oil and sheet metal after a wreck?

* Hey, it's not just Joe Nemechek's fault.

* Post-post update: Bob Pockrass explains why Jon Wood won't be racing Saturday. You think NASCAR would pull this on Hendrick or Roush?

There's a certain irony to the Bud car winning a race before Junior. But it didn't really count, so there.

Lap 1: Shhhhh! Jay "From the Marbles" Busbee is still asleep after Saturday night's race. Dustin Long breaks down the weekend's most boring race. And if you're still not convinced that it ranked down there with watching water boil or defragmenting your PC, read Ed Hardin's column.

More after this jump ...

Would Kyle Busch run this go-kart into the fence to gain a position?

Yes, yes he would.

This has been another edition of "Simple Answers To Stupid NASCAR Questions."

Today's edition of "Simple Answers to Stupid NASCAR Questions:"

Does NASCAR need another 1.5 mile track on its schedule?

No, no it doesn't.

There's a change at the top. Bobby Labonte, thanks to an 11th-place finish Sunday night in Charlotte, vaults over both Travil Kvapil and last week's No. 1 Brian Vickers for 1st place in the Small Team Standings.

Sadly, Labonte is 18th when you factor in the Big Team drivers. Which means once again the Chase will most likely go on with any Small Teamers taking part. That's not exactly unexpected. But with a third of the season down, I'd call it inevitable.

Small Team Standings after the jump ...

Oh, boy! One of the worst parts of the season is coming up.

LAP 1: Dover had it right when it cut 100 miles off its race in 1997. You think maybe Pocono and Michigan can do the same? Five hundred miles of PocoNO! and another 400 miles at Michigan aren't exactly compelling motorsports viewing, which means I don't have much reason to tune in until Sonoma. And less of Bill Webber is a very, very good thing.

More after the jump ...