Finally the actual race and all the talk of championships and pressure and strategy is put to the side at least for the drivers. They get to work and do what they do best, that's race to win.

With all the anticipation and the buzz surrounding what is a wide open Chase, see which drivers were the winners and which were the losers.

Winners

Mark Martin

Leading the points in the first race of the Chase is not always the best position to be in. For Mark Martin though he was relaxed and wasn't worrying about points, he was focused on the race.

Martin started 14th after a disappointing qualifying. They weren't the best car early in the race. Martin dropped back early to as far back as 16th but a stellar first pit stop put them into the top 10. After that stop they never ran outside the top again.

Martin gave feedback when needed and worked traffic perfectly. He survived the multiple late race cautions and a hard charging Juan Pablo Montoya. 

The win secured him the top position in the chase and only lost him five points from where he started on Sunday.

Martin gives credit to everyone around him, but face it, he is the favorite for the Championship right now.

That is all that matters.

Points: First

Clint Bowyer

For Clint Bowyer not making the Chase was a tough blow to a driver who had made the las two Chase. This year he can play spoiler without the pressure the Chase brings. On Sunday Bowyer quietly ran a great race, and a top 10 finish to show for it.

Bowyer started a little off on their setup. They were struggled with a loose race car early but Bowyer was able to give good information on what he needed in his car. Bowyer got great track position after a series of solid pit stops.

At one point he was running in the top three battling for the lead. He fell back in the end to 10th but let it be known Bowyer won't go down quietly even if he won't win a championship.

His impressive today should only fuel this team not only for the remainder of this year, but to get them back into the Chase next year.

Points: 15th

Elliott Sadler

What a run for Elliott Sadler, we know he can run well on the restrictor plate tracks. Sadler hasn't shown strength on intermediate and short tracks. Today though they struggled with a race car early but Sadler was able to give solid feedback to his crew.

They battled track position all day long but when it counted and mattered most they were able to hold position through the late restarts. An eighth place finish is exactly what this team needed to change momentum.

Sadler has a lot riding on the final 10 races and even though he has a ride secured he has never been a contender for a championship.

That starts right now for Sadler.

Points: 24th

Losers

Kasey Kahne

During Kasey Kahne weekly press conference he seemed a bit unsure of who was in charge at Richard Petty Motorsports. With many questions unanswered and no real leadership Kahne could only name Kenny Francis as the one he turns to.

One of the questions was the engine department, this week the engine shop director was let go and that was not was the reason for an engine failure. Let's be honest though this engine failure should make Kahne nervous going forward. 

What momentum they had coming into today has all but disappeared.

Kahne early on was moving forward but sensed there was an issue on the backstretch he could hear the engine missing. Few seconds later the engine blew and their day was over.

They dropped all the way to 12th in the standings and that would be the best they would be able to do.They would finish 38th.

Kahne needs leadership and while Francis is a strong leader, if they want to have success in the chase there needs to be a man pulling the strings from behind the curtain.

Otherwise Kahne might be an afterthought in the Chase.

Points: 12th

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

With all the focus on the Chase drivers, there are a few drivers that are already looking to improve for next year. Dale Earnhardt Jr. is one of those drivers, but in recent weeks they have been showing improvement on the track.

Earnhardt started mid pack but quickly was moving forward, in 50 laps he was in the top 10. He was running in the top five before halfway.

This team has seen a turnaround and they are running better. Earnhardt had flawless pit stops and the feedback to the team allowed them to keep up on the car.

Earnhardt and his team are communicating the best he has all year long with his Lance McGrew his crew chief.

The results though don't show that.As we have seen throughout the year trouble on a late restart David Reutimann got into Earnhardt who went hard into the wall.

This should have been a solid top 10 finish turn into a 27th place finish. This was not of his doing with drivers checking up in front of him, he had nowhere to go.

Earnhardt fans should start to feel better progress is being made, albeit too late for 2009.

Points: 21st

David Stremme

As we took the green flag on Sunday the top ten was covered with Chase drivers but a couple drivers had surprising qualifying laps and one of them was David Stremme.

They were using the same setup that Kurt Busch had in his car, and the speed proved that. They were top five in practice, and were looking forward to racing on Sunday.

He ran up front for the first 100 laps but soon began to fall backwards. The handling on this car was going away and the adjustments on pit road were sending them backward.

Then on lap 193 there was contact with AJ Allmendinger sent him spinning. He ended up two laps down and finished 28th.

Stremme is out of a ride at the end of this year and is auditioning for his future in this sport.

Points: 31st

Lucky Dog...

 

Bobby Labonte

When the weekend began Bobby Labonte was fighting to get into the race. After a stellar qualifying lap that put him eighth, Labonte was in.

The question that remained was would he race all 300 laps? With limited sponsorship they didn't have enough money for pit crew or tires.

Labonte a former champion went to work and through negotiations he was able to secure enough money to complete the race. It paid off as he ended up leading the race at one point.

You know it's a tough economy when a former champion is struggling to run a full race. Labonte shouldn't have been in this position but a sponsorship deal with his other car No. 96 saw him in a car he hasn't driven before late in the year.

For Labonte if he had a great ride who knows what the results would be, but that is one too many ifs at this point in his career.

Points: 29th

Final Lap...

The first race is over and the standings had a major shakeup and this won't be the last time this happens.

We saw what was expected the Chase drivers dominated both the good and the bad stories on Sunday.The race was pretty good we saw some great battles throughout the field..

The coverage though was less than impressive, for the first race of the playoffs. ESPN seemed to be struggling with covering not only the Chasers but everyone else.

Sometimes they were so focused on the Chasers they were missing the good racing back in the pack.

The post race coverage was pitiful by ESPN.

I know it is football season but if you want to make the Chase relevant the TV coverage needs to improve. NASCAR fans want to hear from their drivers. The least they could do is talk to the Chase drivers if nothing else.

Don't want to miss football coverage then cut the pre race show down that way NASCAR fans get everything they want also.

Next up is Dover, who will rebound? Who will play spoiler? Who will take checkers?

See you next Sunday.

For Michael Waltrip, the final 10 races are the final act, as he prepares for a part-time ride in 2010. Waltrip is handing over not only a full-time ride but a sponsor in

NAPA that has been loyal to not only Waltrip but to the organization as a whole.

NAPA moved from a well-established Dale Earnhardt Inc. to Waltrip and his struggling, young organization that was started from the ground up. NAPA watched the organization struggle and now as they build toward the future.

The future really does start this week, as this team prepares for not only the rest of 2009 but next year.

 Sunday marked Waltrip's 750th career start, a incredible accomplishment in a sport where you can be the "It" driver one year and without a ride the next.

On Friday, Waltrip struggled in qualifying trim; he ran a fast lap of 20.2 seconds. Running 24 laps he was sitting 31st on the speed charts.

 Waltrip had an early draw for qualifying going out fifth. He had a decent qualifying that scored them 21st in the lineup. A decent starting position should have given them something to build off. In the second practice of the weekend, the team was working on race trim and finding the handling and setup for the car.

 They ran 26 laps and their fastest lap was on lap 16. They ran 20.5 second lap was good enough for 19th on the charts. Signs of improvement as the practice wore on. With final practice coming up like everyone else, it’s all about race trim and getting a game plan.

Waltrip, though, struggled in final practice. They ran only 22 laps and their fastest lap was his second lap of the final practice. With a time of 29.8 seconds, Waltrip was only 38th fastest at the end of the hour.

Not a good way to head to the green on Sunday, struggling with the handling of the car late in practice. After the green flag waved on Sunday the car quickly started slipping backwards.

On Lap 23, Waltrip told his crew chief the “car is as bad as it could possibly handle.” He was loose in, chattering in the center, and too much air in the front tires.

 On Lap 34, Waltrip was 33rd and was in danger of going a lap down. Just a handflul of laps later, he was one lap down.

When the first caution came out, he was 33rd and one lap down; after air pressure adjustments he came out exactly in the same position. On the second caution for debris, the car was still loose, but it had good drive off and better in the center.

 Waltrip was frustrated but they were the first car one lap down and were hoping for a quick caution to get them back on the lead lap and back in the hunt. The cars’ handling, though, had them going backwards, and they went down two laps.

On lap 168, Waltrip got caught up in a chain-reaction wreck with Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler causing slight damage to the car. Waltrip was able to change tires make repairs and stay just two laps down.

With no other cars one lap down, they were in line to get one of the laps back if a caution came out. When caution came out, they got the lucky dog and were the second car one lap down, behind Scott Speed.

They soon fell back down two laps; effectively their day was over. Waltrip was never able to get back on the lead lap, and with a poor handling race car, the results was a 27th-place finish and the first car two laps down.

It has been a long time since we have seen Waltrip run up front consistently and contend for wins. Sunday’s like this have come to often for Waltrip and has made his choice to go into semi-retirement a little bit easier. Waltrip is looking ahead to Dover and rebounding from another poor finish.

Check out Jen Preston's Lugnut Report on Kurt Busch.

Leaving Indianapolis Jimmie Johnson of course was happy, and all the drivers that came home with solid finishes.

They were happy with the outcome and the tires were a non-issue.

Not everyone went home happy after the 16th running of the Allstate 400.While the drivers and crews all traveled home on Sunday, the fans aren’t happy and rightfully so.

This year it wasn’t the tires that made one of my favorite races of the year a major disappointment, it was freight train style racing at what NASCAR touts as one of its biggest events.

At one of NASCAR marquis events, what we saw on Sunday was unacceptable.

What made this race such a disappointment not the speeding penalty late by Juan Pablo Montoya it was the fact that Juan Pablo Montoya was the only leader under green for over 83% of the race.

Montoya dominated. He had a great car, that I have no doubt but as we have seen all year long with the Car of Tomorrow or the current car, the leader is able to pull away from the pack.

On a mile and a half tracks the leader pulls away and usually can sustain a second to two second lead but Sunday Montoya at one point had over a five second lead on second place.

It wasn’t only the leaders that we didn’t see much passing, it was throughout the field. Those much talked about double file restarts at Indy were actually tame and drivers were courteous even late in the race.

On restarts after teams got fresh tires, that was when we saw actual racing, drivers trying to gain as many positions as possible before the tires wore off and they were all strung out.

See that’s not racing. Last year at Indianapolis we suffered through every 12 laps, having mandatory cautions. This year we had about 10 laps where you could pass and then cars were strung out around the track.

This year was not Goodyear’s fault, they brought a great tire, this year NASCAR has themselves to blame for the poor display of racing on Sunday.

This boxier style car punches such a big hole in the air, but what we saw on Sunday was drivers were unable to get the front of their car underneath the car in front of them.

Basically make the car in front of them just loose enough to make the pass.

When drivers were stuck back in traffic they were just way too tight or way to lose when the tires began to wear off.

This is not the first time we have seen strung out race cars since the introduction of COT intermediate tracks have all seen the similar results with this car.

Yet, NASCAR has only made one major change for the cars.

In June they implemented double file restarts to not only satisfy the fans but also the competitors who with this current car and the old restart policy the leader would pull away while the rest of the lead lap cars had to battle lap down cars.

The rule instantly made the racing better but still the leader pulls away.

Throughout the race if you listen to scanners you hear drivers complaining of how much traffic impacts the cars handling, making it difficult to pass.

With the COT NASCAR has strict rules that gives the teams significantly less gray areas to work with on these cars.

NASCAR goal was to make competition cheaper for the smaller organizations and bring the competition closer with making this new car a template that every team must follow.

In doing this the competition is so close nobody can gain a true advantage. We have seen that each week with the speeds in qualifying and on the track on Sunday.

Why couldn’t NASCAR have representatives from each manufacturer and a NASCAR official set up a date at a track where crew chiefs and an engineer come out and have the opportunity to truly adjust the car?

Let them push the gray area and see if they can find something that maybe with all the rules has not been found that can improve the racing. If they find something, allow them to take it to NASCAR and let NASCAR make a decision.

At least give these teams the chance to work on the car without being afraid of penalty.

If finding something that would help aerodynamically but that would not impact the safety of the drivers improves the quality of product being put on the track, then NASCAR needs to be willing to work with the drivers.

If NASCAR is so concerned about the fans then just changing the restarts will not make them happy. In tough economic times fans are not paying to watch cars ride single file for 400 or 500 miles.

NASCAR is wondering why all the fans have stopped watching at home, all they need to do is watch a replay of the Sunday’s race at the Brickyard.

As a fan it’s frustrating to read that NASCAR doesn’t understand why fans are turning away from a sport that only a few years ago was biggest growing sport in the country.

Fans miss the side by side racing for positions. They like seeing guys battle it out lap after lap, not what we are seeing now.

If you saw the Camping World Truck Series race on Friday or the nationwide race on Saturday you saw some of the best races we have seen all year in any of the touring series. Drivers were beating and banging, on the track, fighting for positions lap after lap.

In both those races in the final 10 laps there were five cars battling for the lead late.

On Sunday we saw none of that.

NASCAR is talking with owners this week about implementing the COT style car for the nationwide series in 2010.

Fans and drivers of the series need to be worried because if they are anything like the Sprint Cup cars the quality of the races will certainly decrease and for a series struggling to find its identity right now, that’s the last thing they need.

NASCAR needs to something or soon it won’t be just the economy keeping fans away from the track.

For the last two weeks all we heard about was tires, tires and tires. When all the pomp and circumstance ended, we had a race. It’s every driver’s goal to win at Indianapolis, but only one driver got to kiss the bricks.

Check out this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Jimmie Johnson

You can never count this team out. Jimmie Johnson ran up front all day long, at times he was faster than the leader. On the final yellow, Johnson made a move to take the lead from Mark Martin with just over 20 to go.

Johnson was happy with his car all day long; they made adjustments on the car for when Johnson was in traffic. Johnson had great pit stops and was able to adjust on the car very well. Johnson won last year’s race on pit road; he won this year’s on the track.

Johnson made history and became the first back-to-back winner at Indianapolis.

Johnson is just heating up and we are not even in the Chase, is that really surprising?

 Points: Second

Mark Martin

Well are we shocked? Mark Martin up front at the end and ready to pounce. Martin won the pole and was up front all day long. Martin did not want to make many changes to the car all day long.

He played follow the leader until a late caution had him in the lead, but Johnson pass on the restart shuffled him back to second and once again he was hunting down the leader.

 Martin has never won at Indianapolis, and he was so close, finishing second.

Points: Ninth

Juan Pablo Montoya

 It is not surprising to me that Juan Pablo Montoya ran so well here this weekend, he has been quietly building top five and top 10 finishes in the last month.

They couldn’t afford to finish outside the top 15 starting back at Pocono in June. Well they have done exactly what they needed to do. Montoya was the best car out there all day long, he led the most laps and his pit crew did their on pit road.

They were so good they never adjustment all day long. On the final pit stop, a speeding ticket forced them to pit under green to serve the penalty.

 His chance at the win was over.He finished 11th

Montoya swore on his family’s life that he was not speeding, but NASCAR could swear on the computer that he was.

Points: 10th

Kevin Harvick

It hasn’t been the year Kevin Harvick and Richard Childress had hoped.From mechanical issues, accidents, and just plain bad luck, to say 2009 has been a struggle is an understatement.

Harvick unloaded on Friday with a strong car in both practices and had a decent starting spot. Harvick moved forward early and soon was battling in the top 10. They were able to adjust well on the car.

They looked really strong this weekend and probably the best we have seen the run all year. They ended up finishing sixth.

Unhappy Harvick has a reason to smile leaving Indy.

Points: 23rd

Losers

Denny Hamlin

As a favorite coming into this race because of his success on flat tracks, Denny Hamlin was looking to continue his streak of finishing in the top five, since Pocono.

Well, they moved forward but then a broken driveshaft right as he came to pit road forced them to the garage and ended their day way too early. They finished 34th.

Hamlin came back out just to log points as he was sitting in the top five in points coming in. Hamlin had worked himself into a safety zone in points, but still couldn’t afford to have poor finishes.

They should be able to rebound next week, but with no mulligans left before the chase. Hamlin was hoping to drive away from the danger zone in the chase instead he drove right into it.

Points: Sixth

Kyle Busch

 Kyle Busch at Chicagoland hit rock bottom finishing 33rd and on the edge of missing the chase, they couldn’t afford any more poor finishes. Before Sunday's race, he talked about being a better leader, for the organization.

Learning how to deal with the highs and lows of racing better. Well, after a stellar pit stop that rocketed them seven positions during a green flag stop, he started feeling a vibration and soon hit the wall hard.

Forced to the garage they had to work on the car to get back on the track. Now he is on the outside looking in on the chase after they finished 38th.

Busch might of thought that changing his attitude would change his finishes, he just can’t win.

Points: 14th

Carl Edwards

 You know Carl Edwards was a favorite coming into the race today, with his second place finish last year, had many thinking Edwards could notch his first win of 2009 this weekend. A poor qualifying had them starting in 41st.

 They struggled in traffic all day long and were never able to make it to the front. Edwards wasn’t very happy with the car and with not that many cautions were never able take a gamble on pit road to gain track position.

There is something missing from this team, something they have lost or fallen behind on, they don’t make mistakes during qualifying and they usually are able to adjust better in traffic. His point’s position coming in gives him a cushion but a 15th place finish is still disappointing.

The difference between Edwards last year and Edwards this year is track position and he is losing that battle.

Points: Fifth

Elliott Sadler

Well we hadn’t even gone green and Elliott Sadler was having engine problems. By lap one his engine issues caused Robby Gordon to spin out and Sadler was black flagged.

They went to the garage and worked on the car and Sadler saw his day end before it began.

 He finished 40th.

Sadler who was willing to file a lawsuit early this year over his contract situation, isn’t showing many why he should be back in that ride in 2010. Sadler is struggling and can’t seem to find the handling on this car like his teammates have found.

Sadler might not be only fighting his car right now, but he could be fighting for a ride next season if things don’t turn around.

Points: 25th

Lucky Dog…

Joey Logano had never run a lap on this track until this weekend. You wouldn’t have known with his 12th place finish on Sunday. After starting from the rear Logano worked his way through traffic and was battling for a top 10 finish late. For Logano all he wants to do is find a way to keep getting better, but he slowly becoming a contender. Points: 19th.

 Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a great run going and was running in the top 10 all day long. They brought a brand new car for this weekend and looked like a good finish was heading their way. Late in the race they blew an engine and saw what could have been a sure top 10 finish turn into a 36th place finish. There has been a steady improvement from these guys in recent weeks, even if the finishes don’t show it. Points: 22nd.

Final Lap…

There was so much anticipation coming into Indianapolis this weekend, with the talk of tires and records that could be broken or made. But with all that, there was still a race, and the freight train style racing didn’t just disappear because they were at the storied track.

It was disappointing to be honest, there was not much passing and the leader pulled away with ease. I miss the days when the passing was all around the track, and NASCAR was at its best.

 I won't stop watching NASCAR, but a change is needed.

NASCAR can’t blame anyone for this poor display of racing on Sunday, and like Goodyear got to work last year, NASCAR needs to do something and soon.

Speaking of Goodyear, nice job to them. They brought a great tire this weekend and redeemed themselves from last years debacle.

Goodyear held up their end of the deal on improving the tire at Indianapolis. With all the slack they took last year, they deserve a job well done this year.

Back to Pocono!

Remember when Darrell Waltrip won the Daytona 500?

In victory circle he exclaimed, "I won the Daytona 500!!" You couldn't help but laugh at him-or with him-but the pure joy of winning NASCAR's most prized trophy oozed through the television.

It's a memory that is etched into the brains of race fans everywhere. When you think about Daytona 500, often that image of Waltrip dancing in victory lane comes to mind.

Fast forward to 2009 with fans unable to afford to travel to races, and tuning out on TV. The current boxier car style left limitations on teams and the racing hasn't been what the fans want.

NASCAR needed something to get the fans excited again.

Storylines abound coming into Speedweeks 2009. Big name drivers not winning the year before, one driver dominating the sport in 2008 and the possibility for a record breaking title run.

But as a fan, I was still waiting for something more.

Slowly over time the joy and excitement of winning a race became just  plain boring experience, everyone doing the same thing like robots-until this season.

All of sudden victory lane became exciting again.

It started with the Daytona 500. It was rain-shortened and while the fans hoped NASCAR would ride out the rain they called the race with Matt Kenseth leading the pack.

Kenseth sat in his car waiting for the call.When the call was made and he climbed out into the soaking rain his face told the story.

Tears filling his eyes, all he could say was, "It's going to be really wet out here because I'm crying like a baby."

"I've had a lot of great opportunities in my life-from my family getting me in racing and all the sponsors that we have that have stuck by us and made this happen in an up-and-down economy. Winning the Daytona 500 is definitely a dream moment. It's just an unbelievable feeling."

With tears flowing and emotions raw, Kenseth couldn't help but cry in what was the biggest win of his career.

Only a few weeks later Kyle Busch, who dominated in 2008, came to his home track in Las Vegas, a track he had not won at in the Sprint Cup Series. He drove from the back of the field to win the race.

"I tell you what, this is pretty cool," Busch said in the victory circle. "I didn't know exactly what it would mean, but coming to the checkered flag, there were knots in my stomach. It's bigger than winning the Daytona 500. I said it wasn't going to be, but it is."

That's big for a guy who doesn't like to settle for second at any track.

One week later Busch's older brother Kurt, who struggled in 2008, started 2009 off strong when he dominated at Atlanta.

When he got out of the car you could see the smile on his face and the tremendous amount of relief he was feeling. Busch and his team were ecstatic, after all the struggles and digging in and looking for ways to improve on the track after a dismal 2008.

Winning at Atlanta validated all the offseason work and changes.

A few weeks later, another winless streak ended, one that had talks of retirement and a driver losing his edge. Jeff Gordon came into Texas, a track that was a demon for Gordon, never winning at the mile and a half track.

Gordon beat Carl Edwards off of pit road on the final stop and held off teammate Jimmie Johnson to pull off a victory even he didn't expect to happen.

Gordon hadn't won in 47 races but for the first time in a long time Gordon looked like a kid again, the excitement of winning at the track that had taunted him for so long. "It was the coolest. It was like winning for the very first time," Gordon said.

"Things have changed since I won a race ... That's the first time I've ever carried a checkered flag in NASCAR. I used to do that in quarter-midgets when I was eight."

The very next week Mark Martin rebounded from a rough start to the season. His team was just looking for good finishes but instead Martin walked away with the trophy at Phoenix, his first win since 2005.

Martin couldn't wipe the smile off his face and he couldn't have been giddier about winning. He continually praised his car owner, Rick Hendrick, for giving him a chance to run full-time again.

At Talladega, Nationwide driver Brad Keselowski pulled off a win that nobody expected. Starting from the rear, Keselowski worked his way through the field and avoided the "big one".

A late race pass on leader Edwards, had Edwards going airborne in a spectacular finish that sent him running across the finish line, and sent Keselowski into victory circle.

Keselowski was so excited he forgot to thank his sponsors, but that was okay because Keselowski will never forget his first victory and how improbable it was.

Finally at the Coca-Cola 600 in May, rain delayed over 24 hours of racing and brought on multiple red flags for rain showers. The final red flag found David Reutimann in the lead when he chose not to pit and the rest of the leaders did.

He sat in the rain, waiting by his car until the race was called. As Reutimann waited he had cameras on him, his expression never changed as he waited to hear from NASCAR his fate.

As the race was called you could sense joy of finally winning. Years of hard work and disapointment came to a head. It was not only his first win in Sprint Cup, but the first race win for his owner and driver Michael Waltrip.

You couldn't help but root for the guy, wanting him to pull out a victory that nobody thought could be.

Fans have been complaining about poor racing in recent years and often freight train-style runs. But if you are tuning out before the checkered flag you are missing some great moments in victory lane.

So far in 2009, winning is fun again. Grown men are jumping up and down with excitement. Winning in this series is not easy so when you win one it means a lot.

To see drivers who have won 82 times or one time act as if they have not won before, it's exciting. It makes watching those long green runs all worth it when the winner looks like he is having fun.

I love to see true emotion, whether it be on the track or in victory lane. For so long we saw the bows and the back flips and the burnouts but that's where it ended.

In victory lane it been about thanking sponsors and teams which is great and there's nothing wrong with it.

But for some reason victory lane had lost it magic up until this year

Now don't get me wrong. It hasn't been plain vanilla all the time but you get tired of watching every driver say and do the same thing.

Remember when Jeff Gordon won his first Daytona 500? He took a lot of slack for his outpouring of emotion. But it was honest and genuine, and true. It was a moment of pure joy.

It's moments like these that stand out, moments that we don't forget.

So often we get clouded with talk of points and the championship that it seems like the crossing the finish line is all about the number in the record book and not about the achievement of beating the best in your business.

Quotes: espn.com; sportsillustrated.com