I ran across this tonight and thought a few of you would get a kick out of this article.

Chris

LOUDON, NH – Thoughts, observations and a few questions following the running of the Lenox Tools 284 (was 301) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway:

• Big brother Kurt may have won the race, but the story of the day was still Kyle Busch. Rowdy's car was junk the entire race and he wasn't in too good of a mood. Then, along comes Juan Pablo Montoya, who apparently wasn't in too good of a mood either. In the end, it wasn't pretty for either driver.

Busch ended up 25th. Montoya was penalized two laps for "rough driving and not following race procedure." Montoya blamed Busch, but it was obvious from the replay that it was more Montoya's doing than Busch's.

• Kurt got the win he could (and some say should) have had at Daytona. It's a bright spot in an otherwise dismal season for the former Cup champion. Maybe this is the win that will spark a similar momentum that propelled this team into the Chase last season.

Well … maybe.

• During his postrace interview, Michael Waltrip insisted that he had the car to beat Kurt Busch had the race gone green for the remaining 17 laps. That's a good bet, considering Busch's left rear brakes were overheating and they likely wouldn't have lasted the distance.

Waltrip also made reference to his organization being a "sinking ship." He said it had been a sinking ship for "a year or so." He clarified his statement somewhat, by saying his team is met with challenges

"We haven't performed like we hoped we would," Waltrip said. "We need … to keep pace … and get a foothold inside this garage area so in '09 and beyond MWR can become more of a force to be reckoned with."

Waltrip appeared to confirm the rumors that MWR is in trouble, talk of which had been floating in the garage area for weeks.

• Some within his organization may wince at their team owner's frank comments, but I find Waltrip's honesty, however unsettling to some, to have an air of realism that is missing in many of the conversations in the Cup garage.

• Even I know that when a driver is on the apron, slowing down on the approach to pit road and he's waving his hand it means that he's coming onto pit road. Apparently Jamie McMurray and his spotter didn't.

• Hall of Fame racing principal owner Jeff Moorad, whose team is a satellite of Joe Gibbs Racing, was seen talking at length Sunday morning to Gibbs in the garage. From a distance it appeared to be a very serious discussion.

Since taking control of the team from Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, Moorad and partner Tom Garfinkle seem to have taken the stick and ball attitude of "a rebuilding year" to heart.

• Garfinkle recently reminded me that his MLB team, the Arizona Diamondbacks, currently at the top of their division, was the worst team in baseball four seasons ago.

You can't take that much time to rebuild in racing. If his race team's current path continues, there will be no HoF Racing team in four years. It'll be just a footnote in the NASCAR history books.

• Race winner Kurt Busch's team owner Roger Penske missed his organization's second win of the season. He had right-hand man Walt Czarnecki stand in for him.

• The Rowdy and Montoya bumper car incident wasn't the only late race excitement. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon did a bit of fender rubbing, too.

"It was basically hard racing," Gordon said. "The contact was what it was."

Johnson, whose Chevy might have been the best car on the track at the time, called Gordon "a spoiled brat" over his team radio.

Nothing like a good intramural rivalry to liven things up at the Hendrick shop heading into Daytona.

• Note to Tony Stewart: It's always darkest before the dawn.

• TNT reporter Ralph Shaheen's interview of Smoke during the red flag had to be one of the most embarrassing moments in television as Shaheen asked a question that seemed as though it took five minutes to get out. I was surprised Stewart gave him a straight answer.

• I am convinced that Brian Vickers, who was in the top five for more than a third of the race, would have been a real threat to win had the rain not come. His team brought him onto pit road before the rain started for fuel and two tires. With as good as his car was, it easily gave him the tools to charge back to the front.

Vickers had the second-best Toyota in the race, and you can't underestimate how well the rest of Vickers' season will be. Although he's a long shot for making the Chase, a win or two isn't out of the question.

• Wasn't Loudon once considered a Ford track? On Sunday the highest finishing Ford was Carl Edwards who was 17th. Teammate Matt Kenseth was 18th. Ford teams were invisible all day and the only time a Ford driver was even mentioned was after the Jamie McMurray/Dale Earnhardt Jr. wreck that also took out McMurray's Roush Fenway teammate David Ragan.

It wasn't the kind of weekend the RFR boys were hoping for considering Loudon is essentially their home track. I hope you've got a real good restrictor plate package, Jack.

• Before the Sunday morning driver's meeting I jokingly asked pole winner Patrick Carpentier if he had been at the Indy 500 in 2001, the year 500 pole winner Scott Sharp wrecked as he entered the first turn of the first lap.

Carpentier's eyes opened widely, he answered no and then laughed loudly.

The Canadian driver held his own, racing in the top 10 until the first round of green-flag pit stops.

Carl Edwards overheard our conversation and said, "Hey none of that! Let's just have some fun out there!"

Edwards then had a good laugh as well.

• Local favorites Aerosmith weren't the only classic rock act at NHMS this weekend. Kansas gave a pre-race concert in front of the grandstand. The legendary '70s band sounded better than ever and the crowd loved them. New Englanders love their rock music.

• Only two of the top 12 drivers in the points standings – Denny Hamlin (eighth) and Jimmie Johnson (ninth) – finished in the top 10, yet there was little change in the top 12. Matt Kenseth fell out, Kevin Harvick came back in.

• Quote of the day: Kyle Busch on his team radio on Lap 130 – "We better learn how to make these pieces of (expletive) turn in the corners for the Chase!"

Loudon is the first stop of the 10-race Chase. It's also the first stop of the 10-race "race to the Chase."

Postscript:

Both Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart left Loudon very frustrated.

However, they need only look to Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway for a bit of optimism.

The JGR teammates dominated February's Daytona 500 and should have won the race.

I'm confident they'll remember that it's the outside lane that's the fastest next weekend.

See you in Florida.

Veteran motorsports writer Bob Margolis is Yahoo! Sports' NASCAR reporter