The fans are helping Wallace race in Montreal (cont'd)

Wallace is one garage rat who generally operates at a fairly high RPM level, but the support he's seeing with his latest crusade has added a few hundred revs to his personal tachometer.

"I'll tell you, only a therapist could get some of the stuff out of me that I felt after that deal in Montreal last year -- it was devastating," Wallace said. "That's no knock on Jay, because he's an incredible car owner. He budgets everything, he's months ahead on that and the car has to support itself.

"A week after Montreal, we had a beautiful U.S. Border Patrol car at Watkins Glen, ran pretty well and nearly got a top-20 out of it. I can't get over the way that people are stepping up to make this happen for us. But even so, this is a one-time deal only -- I just couldn't do it again."

But at least for one priceless time, when the pain just overwhelmed him, Wallace decided he'd let the fans' support heal him.

When a bonus isn't

If you think Chase-contending drivers aren't thinking about, and racing pretty hard for the 10 bonus points NASCAR awards each Chase qualifier for a regular season victory, think again. It was a hoot to hear second place Jeff Gordon and third place Kurt Busch -- who are both solidly in the Chase -- rationalize first-time Cup winner Joey Logano "stealing" their bonus.

"We had a fast car [Sunday], that's the big picture for us -- we look strong heading into this [Chase kickoff] race in September [and] that's the best that we can take out of it," Busch said. "Yeah, 10 [bonus] points -- [Gordon] didn't get them, I didn't get them, so I call them a wash and we'll come back here and race in September."

"I agree with Kurt," Gordon said. "I'm disappointed we didn't get the 10 bonus points because we had a great shot at it with a great run, but it's a bit of a wash, because at least nobody else that we are racing right now in the championship or in the top 12 or 14 got them, either. So, yeah, it's like nobody got 10 bonus points, kind of."

Kyle Busch Victory Watch

Loudon was pleasant if you were looking for Busch to get back on track, which he did in the Nationwide Series, and the bonus was his penitence after his starring role in the first race-altering pig-pile spawned by a double-file restart; and even though he's still a race behind last year's pace, he can still eclipse his 2008 record total of 21 wins (8 Cup, 10 Nationwide, 3 Truck).

He had race victories in the next two weekends, Daytona and Chicagoland, a year ago; so coming into the mid-summer uncertainty that's Daytona he's at 10 down and 12 to go. His 2008 win total this weekend was 11; so he's got four-non-commuter shots to hit pay dirt the next two weeks.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.