iNSIDE SCOOP: A Deep Breath…

This weekend, there won’t be a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race to get excited about. 

It’s an off-weekend. You hear those two words together in the same sentence with things like…total eclipse of the sun, or honest politician. That is to say, not very often.

Indeed, it is the last such weekend we’ll have until someone hoists the Sprint Cup at Homestead. Seventeen straight to November, we’ll have plenty of time to ponder weeks off after that.

So, what has the first chunk of season shown us?

Gen-6 is a big hit, Jimmie Johnson is back to his old form, Denny Hamlin’s Chase chances ended when he hit the wall at Auto Club Speedway and nobody likes the Busch brothers.

That last one, I admit, is a no-brainer, though I don’t understand just why. Kurt is affable, now that he has to sing for his supper, so to speak, and Kyle is just about the best driver on the track most weeks. Yes, they spend a lot of time yapping at folks, drivers and fans and commentators and such, but that’s not a bad thing. There are other athletes who do it a lot more.

Here are some things that are good about them. They race hard, they don’t give up (except when NASCAR makes them or the race ends) and they are entertaining. And neither one is Dennis Rodman, in case you needed to be reminded.

Ryan Newman is looking for work, Kevin Harvick will be joining buddy Tony Stewart next season and Kurt Busch could be headed elsewhere at the end of the year.

Danica and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into it at NHMS, with Ricky biting the wall off the front bumper of his girlfriend’s Chevrolet. What’s that thing about a woman scorned? 

Gibbs cars have led a ton of laps, but don’t have all that many victories to go with it. Roush Fenway Racing has not had the success it usually does, but some of that can be attributed to the fact that Matt Kenseth is at Gibbs now and Stenhouse is in that car.

Jeff Burton has awoken from a long summer doze at NHMS, which is good news for fans of the Mayor. After a torrid stretch of races, Earnhardt Ganassi has cooled off a bit. Front Row has a victory at Talladega, and Penske Racing doesn’t have one this year.

Brad Keselowski is looking shaky to defend his title by making the Chase, and there are about 12 drivers in the hunt for the wild-card.

That’s a pretty good number.

So sit back and relax, because when we get to Indy next week, it will be on like Donkey Kong. We won’t quit until there’s a champion to crown.