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You go away for a couple weeks, and a ton of stuff happens. Here goes:

Lap 1: Shrub continues to tear it up. Chicagoland was his seventh win this season to give him 11 for his career. The key to his latest win? Check out the videotape at about the 3:10 mark. You'd think JJ would have some veteran move to get Shrub off his tail, but I guess not. JJ had no chance with the 18 thisclose on the restart.

Lap 2: Anyone remember last year's race at the Glen? That was Tony Stewart's most recent victory -- and probably his last as a Cup driver. Good for him that he has controlling interest in a race team. It gives Stewart some control that he lacked at Gibbs -- JGR made the switch from Chevy to Toyota over Stewart's objections, and I suspect that move played a big role in his decision. (I don't think it was the change itself -- rather, I think Stewart probably was hacked off more by the fact that there wasn't a danged thing he could do about it.)

But the new Stewart Hass team will be a non-factor. (Ask Robby Gordon how team ownership is working out for him.) He won't have top-35 owners points for at least one of the cars. Chevy won't be in a position to do much for him. And two-car teams just don't win any more. Good luck, Tony. It was nice knowing you.

More ...

Do NASCAR drivers and owners hate Democrats? Why, no, no they don't.

In all seriousness, though, it's no surprise that Rick Hendrick, Ray Evernham and Felix Sabates, et al, would kick cash to both the GOP and Dem candidates for governor. Their hearts may be with Pat McCrory, but their heads are with Bev Perdue because the Dems are to the govenor's office what Kyle Busch is to the 2008 Cup season.

It's called hedging your bets. I don't know why the N&O acts all surprised by this.

The last time we checked in on the Small Team Standings, your leader was Travis Kvapil. But that was about six weeks and six races ago, and in the interim Kvapil remember who he was and that he drives for Yates and has dropped way down in the rankings.

The Spotter also would like to welcome what's left of Ganassi Racing to the Small Team Rankings. By closing Dario Franchitti's No. 40 team, Ganassi not only added one more open wheeler to the list of NASCAR failures, but also dropped from three teams to two and is now eligible to be included among the Small Teams.

But it's not all unicorns and rainbows for Ganassi: JPM enters the rankings in third, and Reed Sorenson is 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th ... no, 8th! Man, that's bad. I'm guessing we won't see much of him next season. Never mind that we haven't seen much of him this season.

The developing story is STS leader Brian Vickers, who's threatening to become the first Small Team driver to crack the Chase. Yeah, I know, he's 97 points out of 12th, and he has Clint Bowyer between him and the final Chase spot. But since tanking at LMS on Memorial Day, Vickers hasn't finished worse than 16th. I'd be stunned to see the 83 in the Chase, but he's not out of it, which is more than anyone can say for every other Small Team driver.

This week's STS after the jump ...

Was Sunday's race at Indy the stupidest thing you've ever seen?

No. But it was in the top 5 all-time. Read Dustin's take if you haven't.

This has been another edition of Stupid Answers to Stupid NASCAR Questions. Next week, we tackle the question, Does Goodyear have its collective head up its [deleted]?

Update: Leave it to the gang at Black Flagged Online to find the silver lining. Epic.