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What stood out this weekend:

Lap 1: Kyle Busch is not perfect. Second Friday night at the Truck race at Texas, 20th (and three laps down) at the Buschwide race at Nashville on Saturday night, then dead last on Sunday at Pocono in his Cup car. His 43rd at Pocono dropped his lead over Jeff Burton in the Cup standings went from 142 to 21. Normally that would have been a big deal. But Shrub is in no danger of not making the Chase, and it doesn't matter where you are in the standings going into the Chase. Call it a wash.

For the record, Busch raced 788 of a possible 1,050.5 miles (75 percent). He has two wrecked Cup cars to show for it.

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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.

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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.

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A look back at the madness:

Lap 1: That wasn't one of the estimated 16.5 million major league baseball games scheduled for 2008 on my TV when I tuned in Saturday night for the race, was it? It was? Really? Did Fox delay the start of the race so it could finish the game? And then did Fox switch to the race before the ball game was over? It did? E-Fox. Story here. (P.S. to USA Today: This was not a repeat of the Heidi fiasco. Not even close. So why mention it?)

Lap 2: Props to Chad Knaus for his win Saturday night. Not only did he draw a straight flush when he needed it, but also ... did you see him screw with Jimmie Johnson's head? Telling his driver that he's 20 seconds up instead of 10 seconds was a stroke of evil genius.

More nonsense after the jump.

Some post-race thoughts:

Lap 1: Why is Michael McDowell not dead? That's a rhetorical question, of course, but that was one hard hit. SAFER barrier, HANS Device, COT -- take a bow.

Lap 2: Yep, that was Jeff Gordon finishing 43rd. Sadly, because I'm a Junior fan, it hurts a little to see a teammate in distress. Not a lot. I mean, I no longer laugh hysterically when the 24 runs badly.

Lap 3: When was the last time you saw TWO unsponsored cars in the same Cup race? And what does Robert Yates have to do to get someone to throw some money his way? Both of his drivers got much-better-than-you'd-think top 20 finishes.

Lap 4: So Carl Edwards won again. Last time he finished first, it cost him 100 points and his crew chief. Either (a) Edwards was that good, or (b) the Roush crew has gotten better at hiding its work. I vote (a).

Lap 5: I ran out of gas a lap from the finish. Seriously, though, did anything stand out about Sunday's race? Anything at all?

Lap 1: Props to Denny Hamlin for winning Sunday. And props to anyone who sat through the thing outside. (Roanoke's Aaron McFarling shows his respect here.) I half expected the jet blowers to have snowplows strapped to the front just in case. And was it actually drizzling during the race?

Lap 2: If you want pictures, our friends in Roanoke did it up right. Go here.

More after the jump.