On Friday afternoon in Fontana, California the Sprint Cup drivers took to the track, qualifying for Sunday's Pepsi 500.

Five of the first six drivers were Chase drivers and of those drivers, Denny Hamlin sat on the pole with a lap of 183.8 mph. That lap was never contested and Hamlin will lead the field to green on Sunday.

 Dale Earnhardt Jr. whose car looked good in the first practice struggled in qualifying with a lap of 179.1mph. He will have to drive his way through the pack starting in 38th.

One driver who had a very good qualifying run was Richard Petty Motorsports driver A.J. Allmendinger who laid down a fast lap 181.4 mph. Allmendinger will start 13th on Sunday and is the highest starting Dodge.

Kevin Harvick continued his team's turnaround with a strong qualifying

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

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

2009 has not gone well for Jeff Burton.

During a resurgence in the last couple years, Burton has been a contender for the Championship. So far, though, 2009 has been a struggle not only for Burton but for his whole organization at Richard Childress Racing.

With making the Chase out of the picture, it's time to start looking forward to next year and building some momentum.

Saturday was a very busy day for Burton-not only was he preparing for the Cup race on Sunday, he was preparing for the Nationwide race Saturday night. With Nationwide being a one day show, Burton was non-stop all day long.

On the Cup side of things, the team struggled with a loose race car due to weather conditions which included a red flag for rain. The track is so weather-sensitive that brief cloud cover can throw

For Jeff Gordon, Bristol is one of his best tracks with five career wins at the track. Gordon has found ways to win whether it was with bump and run on Rusty Wallace to pull off a win or just dominating the race.

Tonight though would not be easy for this team.

The weekend though started off strong for Gordon with sitting 11th fastest on the speed charts on Friday and then in final practice they were sitting in the top five in speeds.

Gordon had an early draw for qualifying but a very tight race car that relegated them to a 33rd starting position.

Gordon dropped back early, struggling with a tight race car. On the first caution Gordon came in they changed tires and made adjustments.

The car was still too tight, and Gordon would be good for a few laps on a restart but would tighten up

With the final off week of the season coming up, the teams head to Bristol with a lot on the line. whether it is points, Chase aspirations, or rides. Bristol plays a pivotal role for many drivers, but surviving was key.

Check out this week’s winners and losers.

Winners

Kyle Busch

For Kyle Busch, Bristol is becoming his house and with good reason he leads many if not all the statistical categories at this track, so it’s not a big surprise to see him running within the top 10 for most of the day and then to win was also not so surprising.

Busch who qualified 15th for the race quickly moved forward. Busch found himself battling for a spot in the top five. He was battling some of the same issues that everyone else was fighting a very tight race car.

Busch early had a good

With so much focus on the Chase and the top 12 and those drivers fighting to get in, what seems to get lost is the 31 other drivers that are fighting for not only a win, but possibly their rides for the remainder of this year and next.

Jen Preston and I will each be focusing on either a Chase driver or a driver not in the chase. With every point important and every final position key, it's not just the guys fighting for a championship that have a lot riding in the final stretch of the season.

Were calling it the "Lugnut Report," and this week's featured drivers are Juan Pablo Montoya and Casey Mears. From Practices to qualifying to the race, find out how they ran at Michigan.

For Casey Mears the remainder of this season is critical. He has had a difficult year so far, moving from Hendrick

Once again, Mother Nature affected the start time of the race. This was the Sprint cup driver’s final time to make right turns this season.

Check out the weather delayed winners and losers.

Winners

Tony Stewart

Oh, to be Tony Stewart. This year has gone exactly as no one expected, and now he has all but clinched his spot in the chase. More importantly, he picked up 10 more bonus points for the chase.

With his third win this year, Stewart didn’t dominate the race today. Instead, he quietly worked his way up front from his 14th-place starting position and worked fuel mileage perfectly.

Stewart worked traffic to perfection. He was able to build on his lead when a charging Marcos Ambrose bobbled and gave up ground to Stewart.

Stewart hasn’t hit a rough patch yet, but

f you turned the TV on Sunday to watch the race day programs then you noticed it was wet, well let’s be honest downright soaked. Mother Nature had her way and pushed back the start of the race on Sunday to Monday.

Now you can check out this week’s winners and losers in the series final visit in the Pocono Mountains for 2009.

Winners

Denny Hamlin

It has been an emotional week for Denny Hamlin, after losing his grandmother late last week he wanted this race.

Hamlin had a great car all day long. They stayed up front and paced the field. They fell behind on an adjustment but battled back.

Hamlin wanted this win, and he wanted it bad. On the final restart Hamlin muscle his car to the front and taking the lead away from Clint Bowyer, and never looking back.