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Kasey Kahne was last year’s pole and race winner. He would battle back after a pit road miscue, leaving with loose lugs. Other drivers stayed out while he took fuel and tires. He was able to easily outrun the gamblers Brian Vickers and Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win.

Kahne is not the only strong one here as far as the numbers go; you will even be surprised who is on the list! Read on, as we examine who’s hot at Pocono and who is on a current hot streak.

Richmond produced a wild finish this time last year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was on a 71 race drought and within just 3 laps of a victory when he slammed into the wall in turn 3 after Kyle Busch slid up the track into his No. 88 as they both battled for the lead on lap 398. Kyle was showered with beer cans over the catch fence as the cars circled the track under caution before the green white checkered.

Now it’s time for some real racing, real close, and real fast. This is the race the veteran fans look forward to each year. Talladega is rich in history for some of the most exciting racing of all the tracks. One small mistake out there and, let’s just say, don’t make any mistakes.

Talladega Superspeedway completed its fourth repaving on Sept. 19, 2006. The new surface should be ready for some better grip and hopefully tires won’t be an issue at this race. Hendrick Motorsports has won 10 races, more than any other organization. Mark Martin has been of fire with pole positions lately so watch for this team to do well this weekend.

Mark Martin broke his winless streak of 97 races by overtaking Ryan Newman, who stayed out after a late race caution for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s wreck. Newman took a chance on older tires but was no match for Martin, who overtook the #39 Newman, and passed him for the final time claiming his 36th career win. He started on the pole.

Mark has had a good start of the season, and now has a win with Hendrick Motorsports and three poles in the #5 Chevrolet. “No burnouts for me,” he radioed his crew. “Just a backward Polish victory lap for my man Alan Kulwicki.” Many drivers and crew members were anxious to congratulate Martin on his win on pit road and in the winners circle.

Brad Keselowski Had a good showing at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend, posting a third place finish after starting 19th in the field, but quickly headed to the front of the line with a fast car and great pit stops during the entire day.

“Joey Logano and Kyle Busch were pretty much the class of the field,” Keselowski said. “I just couldn’t get to them on those last couple restarts. I’m really pleased with this third-place run though for sure. I’m even more proud of my guys and the work they did on pit road. Getting me those five spots early in the race was key to our success and I can’t thank them enough for their hard work week in and week out.”

Next up for the NASCAR Nationwide Series is the fast and furious race at Nashville Superspeedway. Nashville always brings an exciting race with its high banks and concrete surface. Strategy plays a big part there because the abrasive surface makes teams use tires wisely and they don’t want to end up with their last stop and not having any tires left for the end of the race.

Heading into Martinsville this weekend, Kyle Busch is looking as the favorite to win.

He finished in the number one spot in the last two races and came darn close to winning the season opener at Daytona, with a runner up spot to Todd Bodine, who won the race.

Thirty-six trucks have claimed their spots to an uncontested starting position without any of them going home due to not making it on qualifying time.

Weather could play a factor in qualifying and teams could start by owners points. This will be an advantage to some teams as to where their pit stalls will be located. Martinsville has a very long, slow pit road, and races have been won and lost from those tight spaces which can be very hectic and dangerous.

During green-flag pit stops on the race’s 67th lap, Jimmy Watts, a gasman on Marcos Ambrose’s pit crew, chased a loose tire that had rolled out of Ambrose’s pit box. Watts ran halfway between pit road and the track’s front straightway, where cars were racing at speeds above 170 MPH, as he tried to retrieve the tire. The incident caused the third of 11 cautions during the race. Watts was suspended for the remainder of Sunday’s race.

Information and video courtesy of Jalopnik

Mark Martin had a great weekend going for him, in the top with practice speeds, winning the pole, and running up front during most of the race. Then, the unexpected happened, hurtling his car into turn one at the Atlanta Motor Speedway during the Kobalt Tools 500 race, his car took a slide into the outside retaining wall that left his car crippled from the damage sustained when he backed his car hard into it at top speed.

Last year, Kyle Busch made history in March 2008 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

He became the first driver to win a Sprint Cup race for a foreign manufacturer since 1954.

Let’s run down the numbers at Atlanta and see who’s hot statistically speaking.

The MotorSportsNews[dot]Net(work)’s own photographer, Steve Langley, is at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and checks in with this article….

Crews were busy today getting ready for the big weekend race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Paint crews were painting sponsor logos in the infield grass and the walls around the big 1.54 super fast oval speedway were bright white with their newly painted surfaces.

Matt Kenseth will try his hand at making history this weekend going for win number 3 in a row.

Drew Blickensderfer and the crew have been flawless so far, getting Kenseth out in a hurry and in the right place at the right time.

Kenseth is no stranger to great finishes at Las Vegas either. He won back to back races during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. He finished runner up in 2006.

Matt has the fourth best driver rating here of 107.8 with a high of 135.8 (2nd best). He has 5 top 10’s out of the last 6 races here.

Kyle Busch was in a league of his own as the veteran driver completely dominated the NASCAR Nationwide series Stater Brothers 300 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana California.

Busch, who started on the outside pole took the lead on the first circuit and continued to pace the field to eventually lead 143 of the 150 scheduled laps.

(Kyle Busch photo courtesy of Icon Sports Media)

Busch nearly broke his own record at the track; just missing the mark he set at the track last August when Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing team led 144 laps. Incredibly Busch has all but thirteen laps of the last two series event held at the speedway.

It all started with practice, from a ti-re I hear
When Stewart took another, hard jab at Goodyear

Then the starting ceremony, felt like it went on forever
If they’d just started sooner, we could have beaten the weather

On lap 9 we saw, caution number 1
When Ragan bumped Almirola and then his car spun

Yellow number 2, for competition that’s all
But number 3 was when Kvapil, said hello to the wall

Newman comes down pitroad, to get tires and be gone
But the jack falls and the crew can’t get the left side ones on

Lagano t-bones the wall, caution 4’s under-way
Welcome to Sprint Cup, are you enjoyin’ your stay?

Daytona has proven it’s the race of all races. “Well Knowns” doing what they do best, and “Young Guns” trying to make a name for themselves, can have the makings for some good side by side racing. Short tempers, aggressive driving and little mistakes have lead to some bad pile-ups! Daytona should prove to be an exciting race!