Ku Busch wins a wild one at Atlanta

Kurt Busch survived to attempts at a green-white-checkered finish and scooted away from Matt Kenseth and Juan Montoya to win the Kobalt Tools 500.

Our View Busch had one of two dominant cars along with Kasey Kahne (who finished fourth).

This race featured action at the end and retaliation between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski for an early-race incident that shuffled the finishing order—but fans' hearts got to pumping.

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N'Wide: Keselowski on Vegas pole

Brad Keselowski carried his momentum from last week's third-place finish in the Stater Bros. 300 at Auto Club Speedway into this week's Las Vegas Motor Speedway race and that was enough to give him the pole for Saturday's contest.

Our View Unfortunately, he's suffered crash damage in his last two Nationwide attempts on this track and he's blown an engine one other time. In four Nationwide starts at Vegas, his best result is only 23rd.

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N'Wide: Logano dominates, Busch wins Stater Bros. 300

Joey Logano dominated the race but he was roughed up by Greg Biffle on the final restart. Kyle Busch exacted revenge, however, and passed Biffle in the run to the checkers.

Our View The best car doesn't always win and today, they finished fifth after getting knocked around by Biffle and Brad Keselowski—who must have thought Denny Hamlin was in the No. 20 this week.

Keselowski dumped Logano only a few yards from the finish line.

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Hamlin/Keselowski tangle late in Able Body Labor 200

Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski tangled for the third time this year in the Able Body Labor 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. In this pushing and shoving match, Hamlin came out on the short end of the stick and spun out of winning contention while Keselowski finished fifth. Hamlin finished 12th.

Our View The incident follows previous shunts at Dover International Speedway and Auto Club Speedway this season and one at Watkins Glen International last year between the two.

Eventually, tempers are going to completely spill over and unfortunately, there is liable to collateral damage among other drivers. Don't look for the two to get together in this week's Cup Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500k by Pennzoil, however, because Hamlin has vowed to take out his revenge in next week's Nationwide season finale.

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Official tweets from the track

Keselowski in, Stremme out of 12 for final 3

Despite wrecking his new teammate Kurt Busch (and most of the lead lap cars) on the final lap of last week's Amp Energy 500, Penske Racing has announced that Brad Keselowski will replace David Stremme in the No. 12 for the final three races of the season, according to FoxSports.com.

Our View In the last few weeks, he has been the inciter of several incidents in both the Nationwide and Cup series. Let's hope he calms down and learns to respect his fellow drivers in the coming events.

If he can show a little maturity, he could be one of the best values in the game.

Top-10 Driver Ratings: Talladega

Driver Rating
Formula combining the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish. Maximum: 150 points per race.
Number of Races: 9
AMP Energy 500 Pre-Race
For point-paying races in current and past four years, at this track.
Talladega Superspeedway

Rk.	Driver	Avg. Fin	Best Rating	Avg.
1	Brad Keselowski	1	98.9	98.9
2	Denny Hamlin	18.9	125	94.8
3	Tony Stewart	14	117.2	92.4
4	David Ragan	14	121.5	92.3
5	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	21.8	119	90.1
6	Brian Vickers	16.8	107.6	90.1
7	Joey Logano	9	88.8	88.8
8	Kurt Busch	11.2	107.3	87.7
9	Matt Kenseth	16.4	120.1	86
10	Jeff Gordon	20.6	135.5	85.9

Kansas pit stall selections

Jayski.com has posted the pit stall selections, and as expected pole sitter Mark Martin took the final box at the exit of the pits.

Our View Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski also have openings in front of them and will be able to pull straight out. Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Scott Speed, Brian Vickers and Jeff Gordon have openings behind them and can pit shallowly to give themselves a little more room.

Kansas has a wide, long pit road, however, and no one should have too much trouble.

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Official tweets from the track

Yahoo! Qualification Story – Kansas

Qualification matters little at Kansas, but Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will take consolation in knowing they will start up front. Brad Keselowski was the surprise dark horse of the afternoon, however, and this week's Yahoo! qualification story (.pdf) tells of just how fast Hendrick Motorsports was.

N'Wide: Bowyer wins at Dover

Kyle Busch dominated Dover early but Clint Bowyer had the right handle when it mattered most. He held off late-race charges by Busch, Mike Bliss and Brad Keselowski to win his second career race on the concrete high banks.

Our View In addition, Bowyer now has a seven-race top-10 streak there.

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Richmond pit stalls

Jayski has posted the pit stall selections, and as expected Mighty Mark Martin has taken the best spot after winning the pole for the Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

Our View Martin Truex Jr and Kasey Kahne have the only other two spots with an opening in front of them, but Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski chose stalls with openings behind them.

This could be especially positive for Keselowski, who is bound to be cheap in cap games and under-utilized in allocation games.

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Crown Royal Russ Friedman 400

Keselowski officially to Penske in 2010

On Tuesday morning, Penske Racing announced one of the worst kept secrets of the 2009 Silly Season: Brad Keselowski will run the No. 12 Dodge in 2010, according to multiple sources.

Our View This appears to be a one-year deal while Mark Martin runs his final season with Hendrick Motorsports. Don't be surprised to see him land in the No. 5 in 2011 with the possibility that Justin Allgaier could graduate into Cup that same year.

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Keselowski / Papis will not exchange Christmas cards

It doesn't appear that Max Papis and Brad Keselowski will be exchanging Christmas cards this year after the No. 88 spun Papis' No. 01 late in the Montreal road race. For Papis' view, check out the tweets @MaxPapis.

Our View This budding rivalty is probably not going to be very impactful unless Papis gets a full-season ride next year.

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More options for Keselowski

When Tony Stewart reported he was not interested in Brad Keselowski, it appeared that driver's options were dwindling. Now it appears there may be more in the offing, according to Jayski.com. Keselowski was seen entering the Penske shops this week and further speculation surrounds the expansion of Furniture Row Racing.

Our View One way or the other, expect to see Keselowski in a Cup car in 2010. And Stewart-Haas has proven that satellite teams can be incredibly strong.

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N'Wide: Hometown hero Keselowski wins Michigan

Brad Keselowski lurked behind Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch and swept around the outside when Vickers got loose on the final lap and slowed both his and Busch's momentum.

Our View This is what fans love about Michigan. A three-wide battle on the last lap for the victory is worth the price of admission.

All three of these racers will be in contention for top-10s on Sunday. Well… maybe a top-15 for Keselowski.

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NASCAR Keselowski's options dwindling

Brad Keselowski's options are dwindling, according to AutoRacingSport.com. If he wants to race fulltime in 2010, his best option is for James Finch elevate the the No. 09 with support from Hendrick Motorsports.

Our View There could be worse scenarios. This pairing has already won once in 2009 at Talladega SuperSpeedway.

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N'Wide: Keselowski wins furious battle with Ky Busch

Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch put on a furious battle in the closing laps of the Iowa Nationwide race and in the end, it was the Nationwide Regular over the Claim Jumper. This was Keselowski's fourth victory at this level.

Our View Busch won the Camping World East/West race there earlier this year, but the Nationwide competition was a little stouter.

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N'Wide: Subway Jalapeno 250 results, with avg. finish

An incredibly frustrating season came to an end Friday night when Clint Bowyer won the Subway Jalapeno 250 after earning the pole earlier that day.

This was the debut of double-file restarts in the Nationwide Series and it worked as most would have predicted. A green-white-checkered finish was made even more dramatic by the new procedure and it kept the result in question. With the race on the line and the pack bunched up, however, the second series drivers were unable to keep it clean all the way to the checkered flag and a frozen field left the top-five packed with Cup Regulars.

Kyle Busch finished second, Carl Edwards was third, Joey Logano credited in fourth and Kasey Kahne finished fifth. As usual, Brad Keselowski was the best of the Nationwide Regulars and managed a sixth.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Laps Led	Status	Avg Fin
1	1	Clint Bowyer	102	48	Running	6.80
2	19	Kyle Busch	102	2	Running	15.25
3	11	Carl Edwards	102		Running	13.00
4	23	Joey Logano	102		Running	12.00
5	15	Kasey Kahne	102		Running	22.21
6	4	Brad Keselowski	102		Running	12.25
7	30	Brian Vickers	102		Running	18.10
8	31	Justin Allgaier	102		Running	24.00
9	2	David Ragan	102	7	Running	18.67
10	3	Kevin Harvick	102		Running	6.07
11	34	Michael Waltrip	102	4	Running	21.13
12	26	Steve Wallace	102		Running	28.83
13	39	Michael McDowell	102		Running	18.00
14	6	Matt Kenseth	102	24	Running	5.91
15	37	Matt Carter	102		Running	15.00
16	36	Kenny Wallace	102	1	Running	15.74
17	41	Brendan Gaughan	102		Running	16.00
18	38	Scott Lagasse Jr	102		Running	30.50
19	24	Jason Leffler	102		Running	16.58
20	12	Bobby Gerhart	102		Running	22.00
21	42	Scott Wimmer	102		Running	19.75
22	16	Jason Keller	102		Running	19.00
23	28	Tony Raines	102	1	Running	24.11
24	14	Joe Nemechek	102		Running	20.95
25	43	Johnny Borneman III	101		Accident	25.00
26	32	Robert Richardson	101		Accident	29.50
27	5	David Gilliland	101		Accident	24.25
28	33	Eric McClure	101	1	Running	32.71
29	29	Mike Bliss	100		Accident	25.55
30	40	Danny O'Quinn Jr	99		Running	28.00
31	20	Mike Harmon	97		Running	28.00
32	10	Morgan Shepherd	95		Accident	20.08
33	18	Kertus Davis	94		Accident	34.38
34	13	Jeff Green	94		Accident	22.46
35	9	Michael Annett	84		Brakes	35.00
36	22	John Wes Townley	81	1	Running	28.50
37	35	Chase Austin	76	1	Accident	37.00
38	8	Kerry Earnhardt	76		Accident	29.89
39	21	Mark Green	62		Accident	23.09
40	7	Dale Earnhardt Jr	58		Accident	12.18
41	27	Patrick Sheltra	57		Accident	41.00
42	17	Donnie Neuenberger	9		Accident	33.56
43	25	Johnny Chapman	2		Quit	29.75
44		Terry Cook	0		DNQ
45		Brian Keselowski	0		DNQ	25.00
46		Mike Wallace	0		DNQ	17.58

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Week 27 Unified Power Rankings

Jenson Button and Tony Stewart kept their positions atop the Unified Power Rankings. Button's number one spot is unchanged because Formula 1 had the week off, but Stewart only enhanced his second-place position with a solid fifth-place finish at New Hampshire—his fifth consecutive result of seventh or better. These two drivers have redefined the concept of place-and-hold.

Mark Webber also jumped up the grid, improving his rank from 10th to third. How is that possible with the series going idle? The Power Ranking formula looks at the last 90 days for a snapshot of how drivers are performing right now, and that means that Webber's 12th-place finish in the ING Australian Grand Prix is no longer held against him. Since that race, he has posted five top-fives in seven races—including three runner-up results.

Dario Franchitti also climbed the charts from eighth to fourth on the strength of his solid second-place run on the short track in Richmond. In his last four Indy short track starts, that's his worst result after winning the other three. Chip Ganassi fans should be quite proud of the organization; last week they finished 1-2, and Scott Dixon—the winner of the SunTrust Indy Challenge—settled in right behind Franchitti in fifth.

It was a great weekend for Brad Keselowski. He competed in the Nationwide and Cup series and earned accolades in both. A third-place finish in the Camping World RV Sales 200 was his fifth consecutive top-five, which easily makes him the best Nationwide Regular in the game. He also finished sixth in Cup competition and while that may have been aided by rain, the points pay the same to fantasy owners.

Ron Hornaday Jr. is slowly making his way back up the grid. With back-to-back victories at Milwaukee and Memphis, he's improved 10 positions and lands 32nd on our chart. That may not seem like much, but only two weeks ago he was in danger of falling out of the top 50. Better still, he is in striking distance of the highest ranked Camping World Truck Series driver—Matt Crafton. In the last three months, Crafton has finished worse than seventh only once, and consistency is often more important than raw strength in fantasy games.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	106.71	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	99.62	2	0
3	Mark Webber	93.14	10	7
4	Dario Franchitti	92.63	8	4
5	Scott Dixon	88.13	12	7
6	Kurt Busch	86.75	13	7
7	Brad Keselowski	86.39	14	7
8	Rubens Barrichello	86.29	9	1
9	Jimmie Johnson	86.25	7	-2
10	Erik Darnell	84.83	16	6
11	Joey Logano	83.36	27	16
12	Helio Castroneves	82.57	3	-9
13	Ryan Briscoe	82.50	4	-9
14	Greg Biffle	82.50	22	8
15	Kyle Busch	82.44	18	3
16	Jeff Gordon	82.25	17	1
17	Mark Martin	82.15	5	-12
18	Jason Leffler	81.77	6	-12
19	Danica Patrick	81.75	15	-4
20	Sebastian Vettel	81.43	32	12
21	Carl Edwards	80.96	21	0
22	Ryan Newman	80.13	11	-11
23	Matt Kenseth	79.25	25	2
24	Juan Montoya	78.17	26	2
25	Dan Wheldon	78.00	24	-1
26	Denny Hamlin	77.08	19	-7
27	Matt Crafton	76.86	20	-7
28	Kasey Kahne	74.92	31	3
29	Timo Glock	74.43	23	-6
30	Nico Rosberg	73.29	30	0
31	Stephen Leicht	73.00		NR
32	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.38	40	8
33	Jeff Burton	70.88	28	-5
34	Steve Wallace	70.33	37	3
35	David Reutimann	70.29	33	-2
36	Brian Vickers	69.18	42	6
37	Felipe Massa	68.86	63	26
38	Marco Andretti	68.38	34	-4
39	Justin Allgaier	68.00	36	-3
40	Jason Keller	67.92	38	-2
41	Tayler Malsam	67.71	41	0
42	Tony Kanaan	67.63	35	-7
43	Fernando Alonso	67.00	29	-14
44	Sam Hornish Jr	67.00	52	8
45	Kimi Raikkonen	66.71	57	12
46	Johnny Sauter	66.57	59	13
47	Jamie McMurray	66.50	44	-3
48	Colin Braun	65.71	76	28
49	Tomas Scheckter	65.40		NR
50	Dale Earnhardt Jr	65.13	39	-11

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 26
Week 25
Week 24
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

171 winners

With his rain-aided victory, Joey Logano became the 171st driver to win a NASCAR Cup race. He joins a long list of active drivers with one win that includes David Reutimann, Juan Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Brian Vickers, Casey Mears and Brad Keselowski.

Our View: Most of these victories were earned on specialty tracks such as the restrictor-plate superspeedways and road courses, or through pit strategy like the one employed by Logano, which shows just how difficult it is to handicap a NASCAR race.

However several highly productive drivers such as Jeff Gordon (tire) and Ryan Newman (rain-aided) were given their first victory by strategy.

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N'Wide: Camping World RV Sales 200 Results

One of the most amazing records in NASCAR was extended this week when Kyle Busch became the 23rd different winner of a Nationwide race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. If he stumbled, teammate Joey Logano was on his bumper ready to strike and he was also looking for his first victory on this track.

That Joe Gibbs Racing would win was never in question. Logano led the most laps even though Busch led the last one. These two drivers were the class of the field.

The remainder of the drivers was left to fight for third on back and Brad Keselowski was best in class. With a third in the Camping World RV Sales 200, he posted his fifth consecutive finish of third or better and that makes him the hottest driver on the circuit. Mike Bliss and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

Jason Leffler has his own streak going and he barely extended it this week. With a 10th-place finish at New Hampshire, he posted his 11th consecutive top-10 finish. He almost saw that streak end, however. On the final lap teammates Brian Vickers and Scott Speed got into a tangle that saw Vickers fall out of the top-10 on the final lap.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	9	Kyle Busch	200	Running	11.25
2	1	Joey Logano	200	Running	2.00
3	7	Brad Keselowski	200	Running	6.50
4	10	Mike Bliss	200	Running	18.00
5	5	Kevin Harvick	200	Running	5.22
6	2	Carl Edwards	200	Running	3.20
7	6	Greg Biffle	200	Running	18.25
8	4	Scott Speed	200	Running	8.00
9	11	Erik Darnell	200	Running	9.00
10	12	Jason Leffler	200	Running	17.71
11	24	Steve Wallace	200	Running	15.67
12	8	Brian Vickers	200	Running	8.00
13	13	Justin Allgaier	200	Running	13.00
14	3	Clint Bowyer	200	Running	10.00
15	16	Michael McDowell	200	Running	15.00
16	14	Scott Lagasse Jr	200	Running	28.00
17	20	Scott Wimmer	200	Running	11.71
18	28	Elliott Sadler	200	Running	20.00
19	31	Michael Annett	200	Running	19.00
20	21	Kenny Wallace	199	Running	19.06
21	38	Brendan Gaughan	199	Running	21.00
22	43	Sean Caisse	198	Running	22.00
23	23	Jason Keller	198	Running	17.94
24	35	Matt Carter	196	Running	24.00
25	30	Ken Butler III	196	Running	25.00
26	39	Danny O'Quinn Jr	196	Running	25.67
27	18	Joe Nemechek	196	Running	18.75
28	36	John Wes Townley	196	Running	28.00
29	25	Bobby Hamilton Jr	196	Running	12.38
30	40	Tony Raines	196	Running	21.00
31	34	Benny Gordon	196	Running	31.00
32	42	Chase Mattioli	192	Running	32.00
33	41	Eric McClure	176	Engine	32.33
34	26	Brian Keselowski	92	Overheating	34.00
35	15	Paul Menard	50	Engine	16.00
36	32	Mark Green	23	Start and Park	27.43
37	33	Derrike Cope	19	Start and Park	29.71
38	29	Travis Kittleson	13	Start and Park	38.00
39	27	Kevin Lepage	13	Start and Park	20.00
40	22	Casey Atwood	8	Start and Park	23.14
41	19	Kelly Bires	4	Start and Park	29.00
42	37	Willie Allen	3	Start and Park	42.00
43	17	Johnny Chapman	2	Start and Park	37.00
44		Justin Hobgood	0	DNQ
45		Morgan Shepherd	0	DNQ	32.50
46		Kertus Davis	0	DNQ	34.67
47		Mike Wallace	0	DNQ	17.63

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