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Bristol was interesting wasn’t it?  Nothing like a little short track carnage and door banging to spice up the final two weeks of NASCAR’s Race to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.

There is still a race for the last few spots in the Chase top twelve.  Clint Bowyer, in 12th is only 12 points up on steady David Ragan.  Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin are in right now and Kasey Kahne is not.  The two race showdown is all that is left.

First up is the two miler at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.  The track is a near twin to Michigan and two weeks ago, MIS hosted the Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards show.  Of course, last weekend’s Bristol night race was a Carl and Kyle show - with a side of short track fireworks.

These two really only have the twenty remaining bonus points - that are up for grabs to the winners of Fontana and Richmond - to race for.   Carl grabbed the ten extra points for  Bristol with his bump-to-pass move.  Can’t wait to see what happens next.

Until then, we have four fast variably banked and slickly paved Fast Lap questions for your debating pleasure.

1: Given his history with Hendrick and Ganassi; can Casey Mears’ move to the #07 car be successful?

2: Is the racing better to watch at the new Bristol?

3: Will “Magnetgate” change the way you view Joe Gibbs, JD Gibbs and/or Joe Gibbs Racing?

4: Will having the Labor Day weekend race move to Atlanta at night be enough to stop the nostalgia mongers from calling for a return to Darlington?

You can bang doors, bump pass, even wreck your competitors in this race.  The Fast Lap doesn’t cater to whiners.  Kyle.

Check out this Bench Racing post for a shot at a free Kevin Harvick bobblehead, courtesy of Shell Gasonlines.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

The Race to the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship is down to two short tracks and a big, two mile intermediate.  That’s thirty, potentially huge, Chase bonus points up for grabs.

Carl Edwards snagged the extra ten points for winning the Michigan race.  And MIS is the clone of one of the three tracks remaining - Auto Club Speedwayin Fontana, Fruitland. 

Edwards is also the defending race winner of the Bristol night race, which just happens to be the next stop on the NASCAR Sprint Cup tour.

Racing under the lights in Thunder Valleyis one of the true spectacles of motorsports.  Maybe of any sport.  It has become more than just a race.  Anything can happen at Bristol.  I can’t wait.

But there’s a whole week to kill before Saturday night.  Try our own, four Fast Lap heat race to help make the time go by.

1: Ryan Newman to Stewart-Haas in 2009 wasn’t a very well kept secret; but what could be causing a delay in sponsorship talks?

2: Morgan-McClure Motorsports said NASCAR hijacked their number 4 to give it to SHR. Should NASCAR have been more sensitive to one of its historic teams?

3: What should the penalty be to Joe Gibbs racing for trying to alter the dyno test results after the Nationwide race at Michigan?

4: Four Roush-Fenway cars finished in the top 5 at Michigan. Is that finish a good indication of who should be jettisoned when the team needs to get down to four teams?

Keep your responses down to 100 words or less.  We are working through the bugs of a weekly video feature that will take the best of the Fast Lap to, we hope, another level.  The first Fast Lap Show would have been making its debut this week, in fact.  If only I had remebered to turn the mike on.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

Maybe the only question left for Kyle Busch to answer is whether he and crew chief Steve Addington can win a fuel economy race.  They will likely get a chance this week in the hilly cottage country of Southeast Michigan. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr won the June race at MIS with what seemed at the time, the ultimate gas gamble.  It worked and Junior broke a long winless streak in the Sprint Cup Series.  But the win had a “great taste - less filling” feel for many of his fans.

Much as we hope for victories by the bravest and the fastest every week, races at the Michigan track are often decided by the educated guesses of the guys up on the box.  Just such a decision by Tony Eury Jr may have cost Earnhardt a win last weekend at Watkins Glen.  That decision is actually Steve’s Buzz on Pit Row topic this week.  We’ll be kicking that to death ON PIT ROW along with these Fast Lap questions too.

1:  Being the first ever to win three road course races in one Cup season, is Kyle Busch the best Nascar road racer ever?

2:  Can the Wood Brothers parlay their third place finish at The Glen into a company turn-around?

3:  Should the “The Chase” be a microcosm of the season-with all track types present in the final ten races?

4:  Why don’t “The Ringers” do better at the road courses, that they supposedly excel at?

Take your best shot at all four of those fast left handers as you prepare your pit stategy for Sunday’s race.  Remember, 100 words or less for the answers but unlimited ability to defend your answers and attack your fellow Fast Lappers.  Just be nice, or we’ll have to call you to the trailer.  Again.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

I know that in the land of NASCAR , praying for rain on a race weekend is blasphemous. Condemn me all you want. I loved that race in the wet stuff up at Montreal on Saturday.

I’ve been waiting ever since NASCAR announced, years ago its intention to rain race in the Nationwide Series, for the clouds to open. They did in Canada. The results were a blast to watch. It sound like it was fun to drive in too. I hope NASCAR takes what they learned about wiperss and, maybe tail lights, and lets the guys try again someday.

Carl Edwards is on the march in the Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Busch and Team Gibbs are showing that they may be human afterall. And the Race to the Chase is heating up, bigtime.

The Fast Lap will be right in the middle of that heat too. Take a shot at turning left and right this week.

1: Which of The Chase Bubble Boys; Harvick, Kenseth, Bowyer or Ragan, will make the playoffs?

2: Even though it didn’t work out for them, was the no-pit strategy of the #9, before the rain the right call?

3: Carl Edwards’ post race interview included wondering if the car would pass post race inspection. What motivation could he have had for that statement?

4: Of all the road course ringers available for Watkins Glen, why is Kyle Petty back in the #45 car for this one race?

We have big plans to take this Fast Lap discussion to another level. Now that the site has been upgraded, we are getting close to producing our first ever Fast Lap Show, featuring your comments and opinions on selected weekly Fast Lap questions. So sharpen up your arguments and tear your fellow Fast Lappers new ones. It’s all part of the deal here at OnPitRow.com.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media, Inc.

NASCAR Fantasy Racing

On Pit Row is glad to be a part of such a great NASCAR fantasy racing game like Champs, Chumps & Sleepers. Grand prize is a Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure. How cool is that?

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