NASCAR got it right -- and it's time to move on, folks (cont'd)

Bump-and-run thoughts after Talladega ...

Date	Track	Time	TV
Sept. 14	Loudon	1 p.m.	ABC
Sept. 21	Dover	1 p.m.	ABC
Sept. 28	Kansas	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 5	Talladega	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 11	Charlotte	7 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 19	Martinsville	1 p.m.	ABC
Oct. 26	Atlanta	1 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 2	Texas	3 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 9	Phoenix	3 p.m.	ABC
Nov. 16	Homestead	3 p.m.	ABC

All times ET

Winner
• Kyle Busch -- Hey, a 15th-place finish is nothing to sneeze at -- especially when his first three Chase races ended 34th, 43rd and 28th.

The No. 18 team deserves a lot of credit for not mailing it in and beginning to look ahead to 2009 by "testing" down the stretch.

Loser
• Carl Edwards -- Dude, you're killing my fantasy team! But big props for taking the bullet:

"I was worried about the idiots when we came here," Edwards said, "and I was the guy who caused that one.

"I was just pushing Greg as hard as I could," he said. "It was my fault. I apologize to everybody who got caught up in that wreck."

(A very close second: The damn-that's-a-bright-yellow firesuits for the No. 20 team. Look, we all love Subway and we're proud of Jared losing all that weight ... but next time, go green.)

Lucky Dog
• Jeff Burton -- It shouldn't surprise anyone that Burton escaped 'Dega relatively unscathed. Both he and RCR teammate Clint Bowyer sliced and diced their way to top-five finishes.

But would you believe the eight laps Burton led on Sunday were the first he's led in the Chase this year? In fact, that was the first time he'd led a Chase race since Oct. 8, 2006, at Talladega.

And make note that Burton has nine top-10 finishes in the past 10 Chase races, no finish worse than 12th in those races, and an average finish of 6.8. ... Unfortunately that spans two seasons.

Who's hot
• Kevin Harvick -- OK, so he got caught up in the aftermath of Carl Edwards' bonehead bump-drafting-through-the-corner, but Harvick has been on a roll in the past 10 races: three top-five finishes and nine top-10s.

Who's not
• Penske Racing -- In the past 10 races, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch rank 21st and 25th in points and have combined for four top-10s and eight 30th-or-worse finishes. (Continued)