You've seen the wreck.  Kyle Busch goes low, Tony Stewart goes high.  Kyle goes high, Tony goes nowhere, Kyle bounced into the wall, Tony goes on to win.  But that's not what I found most interesting.

After Kyle hit the wall, Kasey Kahne slammed into him, literally propelling Kyle across the start/finish line.  Why is that important?  Kyle officialy finished 14th.  I don't think it is any kind of stretch to say that if Kyle hadn't gotten blasted by Kasey he would've been classified the last car on the lead lap, which would have been 28th.

WITH those 42 points (the difference between 14th and 28th), Kyle is EIGHTH in points, in the Chase by 133 points.

WITHOUT those 42 ponts, Kyle would be ELEVENTH in points, in the Chase by only 91 points.

If Kyle makes the Chase by less than 42 points, he owes Kasey Kahne a big thank you card, especially if Kasey ends up the odd man out.

So, a couple things...

First, thanks to Joey Logano and Greg Zipadelli for winning at Loudon, making Joey the third first-time winner of the season and buggering my Jack Ingram Cup spreadsheet to the point where I had to go back through each of the first 16 Nationwide races to reset the points.  I like David Ragan OK enough but since he's really the only Cup guy who hasn't won a Cup race yet while running a bunch of Nationwide races, I'll be fine if he doesn't win until 2010.

Second, I haven't seen anyone mention this, but if Kyle Busch hadn't wrecked the whole field on that restart, there wouldn't have been a red flag which means they would have been able to run at least the few more laps for pit stops to cycle through, which means Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch would've been racing for the win, which means since Kurt was about to pass Jeff when the rain came...that Kyle cost Kurt the win.  Probably.

Third, I like Juan Pablo Montoya, but there is NO reason he should be anywhere near Mark Martin and Kyle Busch in points.  Mark and Kyle have three wins each.  WINS.  JPM's next top-five finish will be his first of the season.  JPM has finished 14th or better eleven times, while Mark's top eleven finishes of the season are all 17th or better, and Kyle's are aren't quite as good but his top ten finishes are all 18th or better.  The only reason JPM is even in the Chase conversation is that he hasn't finished worse than 31st in any race - Tony Stewart is the oly other driver who can say that.

Since I went through all that hassle to fix my spreadsheets, here are the points going into Daytona.  For me, it's a three-man race, and everyone else is far behind.

SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank                         Points
 1 Tony Stewart                 164
 2 Jeff Gordon                  159
 3 Jimmie Johnson               150
 4 Mark Martin                  111
 5 Kyle Busch                   107
 6 Kurt Busch                   104
 7 Ryan Newman                   93
 8 Greg Biffle                   90
 9 Denny Hamlin                  86
10 Carl Edwards                  82
11 Matt Kenseth                  79
12 David Reutimann               74
13 Kasey Kahne                   61
14 Clint Bowyer                  59
15 Juan Pablo Montoya            48
16 Jeff Burton                   47
   Brian Vickers                 47
18 Marcos Ambrose                39
19 Joey Logano                   37
20 Brad Keselowski               35

Hendrick Motorsports and Hendrick Lite (sorry, Stewart-Haas) are continuing to dominate the team points.  The most surprising development of the season, to me, are the apparent demise of the Richard Childress Racing cars.  Of the multi-car teams in NASCAR, RCR stands with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, Red Bull Racing, and Yates Racing as the only ones winless in 2009.  Surely not the company they were looking to keep through the first half of the year.

SPRINT CUP (TEAMS)
Rank                           Points
 1 Hendrick Motorsports           271
 2 Stewart-Haas Racing            206
 3 Joe Gibbs Racing               184
 4 Roush Fenway Racing            176
 5 Penske Racing                  114
 6 Michael Waltrip Racing         110
 7 Richard Childress Racing       104
 8 Richard Petty Motorsports       88
 9 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing        72
10 Red Bull Racing Team            53
11 Phoenix Racing                  29
12 Yates Racing                    18
13 Robby Gordon Motorsports        12
14 Front Row Motorsports            2
   NEMCO Motorsports                2
   Prism Motorsports                2
   Mayfield Motorsports             2
18 Germain Racing                   1
   TRG Motorsports                  1
   Tommy Baldwin Racing             1

Kyle Busch and his five Nationwide Series wins are way out in front of my Nationwode points.  The most amazing stat of the year is that Kyle has led the most laps ELEVEN times out of sixteen races.  (Second most?  Brad Keselowski finishing third six times already.)

NATIONWIDE SERIES (DRIVERS)
Rank                         Points
 1 Kyle Busch                   227
 2 Carl Edwards                 173
 3 Brad Keselowski              151
 4 Joey Logano                  149
 5 Jason Leffler                107
 6 Mike Bliss                    76
 7 Kevin Harvick                 72
 8 David Ragan                   69
 9 Greg Biffle                   64
10 Matt Kenseth                  62
11 Brian Vickers                 59
12 Brendan Gaughan               50
13 Justin Allgaier               48
14 Clint Bowyer                  47
15 Erik Darnell                  38
   Tony Stewart                  38
17 Steve Wallace                 32
18 Jeff Burton                   27
   Dale Earnhardt Jr.            27
20 Ryan Newman                   26

NATIONWIDE SERIES (TEAMS)
Rank  Car#  Owner                         Points
 1    18    Joe Gibbs Racing                 227
            Driver:  Ky. Busch (16 starts)
 2    60    Roush Fenway Racing              173
            Driver:  C. Edwards (16 starts)
 3    20    Joe Gibbs Racing                 154
            Drivers:  J. Logano (13 starts), B. Coleman (2), D. Hamlin (1)
 4    88    JR Motorsports                   151
            Driver:  Brad Keselowski (16 starts)
 5    16    Roush Fenway Racing              137
            Drivers:  G. Biffle (7 starts), M. Kenseth (5), R. Stenhouse Jr. (4)
 6    33    Kevin Harvick Inc.               134
            Drivers:  K. Harvick (9 starts), R. Newman (2), K. Bires (2), C. Gale (1), T. Stewart (1), R. Hornaday (1)
 7    38    Braun Racing                     107
            Driver:  J. Leffler (16 starts)
       6    Roush Fenway Racing              107
            Drivers:  D. Ragan (10 starts), E. Darnell (6)
 9    29    Richard Childress Racing          90
            Drivers:  J. Burton (7 starts), C. Bowyer (5), S. Leicht (4)
10     1    Phoenix Racing                    76
            Driver: M. Bliss (16 starts)
11    32    Braun Racing                      64
            Drivers:  B. Vickers (8 starts), B. Lamar (8)
12    62    Rusty Wallace Inc.                50
            Driver: B. Gaughan (16 starts)
13    12    Penske Racing                     48
            Driver:  J. Allgaier (16 starts)
14     5    JR Motorsports                    37
            Drivers:  D. Earnhardt Jr. (5 starts), S. Wimer (2), M. Martin (1), R. Newman (1)
15    66    Rusty Wallace Inc.                32
            Driver:  S. Wallace (16 starts)

Just a refresher on the Jack Ingram points.  I think it would make sense to have a separate Nationwide championship for drivers who have never won a Cup-level race - the true AAA-level drivers.  (Thanks again to Joey Logano for eliminating himself from this, btw.)  Basically, I take out the Kenseths and the Busches and reset the finishing order, so in this weekend's race Mike Bliss was the "winner" of the Jack Ingram division.

NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING SPRINT CUP RACE WINNERS
Rank                         Points
 1 Jason Leffler               2617
 2 Mike Bliss                  2289
 3 Michael McDowell            2254
 4 Justin Allgaier             2227
 5 Brendan Gaughan             2218
   Steve Wallace               2218
 7 Jason Keller                2157
 8 Scott Lagasse Jr.           2080
 9 Kenny Wallace               1920
10 Tony Raines                 1907
11 Michael Annett              1884
12 Danny O'Quinn Jr.           1723
13 Eric McClure                1697
14 Brandon Whitt               1608
15 David Ragan                 1584

This is the Jack Ingram points using the vastly superior JJD method.  Jason Leffler is way out front here because after the reset, he's got 13 top-four finishes in 16 races.

OFFICIAL JACK INGRAM CUP PRESENTED BY JJD STANDINGS
Rank                         Points
 1 Jason Leffler                218
 2 Mike Bliss                   147
 3 David Ragan                  128
 4 Justin Allgaier              124
 5 Brendan Gaughan              114
 6 Steve Wallace                112
 7 Michael McDowell             101
 8 Jason Keller                  84
 9 Erik Darnell                  76
10 Scott Lagasse Jr.             69
11 Scott Speed                   67
12 Paul Menard                   52
13 Kenny Wallace                 41
14 Michael Annett                37
15 Stephen Leicht                31

SPRINT CUP (TEAMS)
Rank                           Points
 1 Hendrick Motorsports           180
 2 Joe Gibbs Racing               126
 3 Roush Fenway Racing            116
   Stewart-Haas Racing            116
 5 Richard Childress Racing        85
 6 Penske Racing                   79
 7 Michael Waltrip Racing          47
 8 Richard Petty Motorsports       44
 9 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing        43
10 Red Bull Racing Team            35
11 Phoenix Racing                  21
12 Yates Racing                    16
13 Front Row Motorsports            2
   Mayfield Motorsports             2
15 Robby Gordon Motorsports         1
   NEMCO Motorsports                1
   Prism Motorsports                1

SPRINT CUP (TEAMS)
Rank                           Points
 1 Hendrick Motorsports           159
 2 Joe Gibbs Racing               121
 3 Roush Fenway Racing            107
 4 Stewart-Haas Racing            101
 5 Richard Childress Racing        83
 6 Penske Racing                   79
 7 Michael Waltrip Racing          47
 8 Richard Petty Motorsports       43
 9 Red Bull Racing Team            35
10 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing        34
11 Phoenix Racing                  21
12 Yates Racing                    15
13 Front Row Motorsports            2
   Mayfield Motorsports             2
15 Robby Gordon Motorsports         1
   NEMCO Motorsports                1
   Prism Motorsports                1