By Jared Turner 5 Lessons Learned at Richmond   Kurt Busch Comeback Complete In practically every race since returning from an indefinite suspension for alleged domestic abuse, Kurt Busch has had tremendous speed in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. It wasn’t until Sunday’s race at Richmond, however, that speed finally translated into a win. The 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion put a whipping on the competition at RIR, leading 291 of 400 laps on the way to his first victory in more than a year. Now, he’s locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup and looks to be one of…

By Jerry Bonkowski I KNOW I shouldn’t say it – because it could ultimately wind up being a jinx. But I can’t help myself. I told you so. There, I said it – something I’ve been preaching since before the season – that Danica Patrick was going to have a break-through season in 2015. People sent me emails, called me on the radio and told me I was crazy. While others predicted she’d have her best success on either 1.5-mile tracks or superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, I believed her best showings – even a potential win – would come on a…

By Jared Turner Hot Streaks Must End Coming into Sunday’s race at Bristol, only three drivers – Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr. – had finished in the top 10 in every race this season. By the time the dust settled on the rain-delayed, crash-marred marathon that finished some nine-and-a-half hours after its scheduled start time, not one of the three drivers had managed to keep his top-10 streak alive. The culprit for all three? Wrecks, which are just the nature of the beast in Thunder Valley. The good news? The three drivers still sit atop the Sprint Cup Series…

Amy Reimann, the girlfriend of Dale Earnhardt Jr., posted two tweets to her personal Twitter account on Friday afternoon expressing her displeasure about someone – presumably a fan – giving NASCAR’s most popular driver the ol’ bunny ears during a photo opportunity at Texas Motor Speedway. Reimann, Junior’s partner of more than three years, used the hash tag “rude” to describe the prank, and tweeted, “If you get the pleasure to take a photo with a celebrity, don’t give em the bunny ears.” In a second tweet, she added that there is a “time and place” for such a practical joke. While…

By Aaron Burns Sam Hornish Jr. was a star in the Verizon IndyCar Series. He was a star in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, too. So, what’s happened? Hornish’s results in open-wheel and lower-tier NASCAR series didn’t translate to success in his first Sprint Cup go-around from 2008-‘10. That was excusable. He was still getting used to the heavier Cup cars. But Hornish hasn’t gotten up to speed this time around, either, and it’s a mystery as to why. Hornish’s No. 9 Twisted Tea Ford finished a respectable 12th in February’s Daytona 500. In the five races thereafter, he wound up 21st, 24th,…