Emptying out the notebook after an exciting weekend

A few odds and ends, emptying out the notebook after battling the weather coming home from Richmond -- wait a minute, seems like "battling the weather" was the phrase of the weekend, as the forecast loomed darkly over everything.

In the end, it was a blessing that the weather only dampened pre-race activity, delayed the start a bit and then doused everyone as they headed for home after the checkered flag.

That's two in top 10

Another race, another impressive performance by Stewart-Haas Racing, that now finds both drivers in the top 10 in points after Richmond.

• Complete story
• Press Pass: Tony Stewart
• Post-race: Stewart, Newman
• Video: Stewart, Burton battle

Stewart was right

The tire combination Goodyear had in play was perfect for a number of competitors, but none so much as Tony Stewart and, by having the joy of observing his work, a lot of fans.

Knowing how hard the tire manufacturer works to get its best feet on the race track, and knowing Stewart's history of verbal abuse, it was great to watch Stewart come to the front, and then better yet to hear him describe the wild action that included a track record-tying 15 cautions.

"The magic was four bolt-on tires," Stewart said. "As odd as this is going to sound, I've been impressed with how hard Goodyear is working. They continue to not sit on their hands. I mean, they keep trying different things and keep trying to find combinations that make it better for us."

And how? Unlike most of the 1.5-mile tracks, lapped cars were maddeningly (if you were the leaders) competitive and a number of them were able to out-run the leader to get laps back, most notably Reed Sorenson late in the race.

"It's nice to not have to sit there and just rely on track position -- it's nice to know that you can bolt on four tires and it's going to make a difference and takes the track position game out of the equation," Stewart said. "I mean, it still worked for Kyle [Busch], but at the same time the tires helped Jeff [Burton] and I drive through the field, too. I think that makes it exciting for the fans to watch versus just being able to stay out there for the last hundred laps and every time a caution comes out just stay in line and not seeing any passing." (Continued)