"Double Back Flips for Cousin Carl; Johnson Storms to 2nd; All But Clinches"

The Roush Fenway Racing brain trust of Jack Roush, left, crew chief Bob Osborne, center, and the winning driver at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards, who moved to 2nd in points behind Jimmie Johnson. Edwards won by 2.68 seconds over Jimmie Johnson to win his 7th race of the 2008 season, and 14th of his 154 race Sprint Cup career--that's not the entire story. Johnson lost a lap because of a pit penalty, fell to 30th...regained the lead lap...and on the final pit stop received four fresh tires...and restarted the race with nine laps to go from 11th. That did not last long, as Johnson picked off every driver but Edwards to finish 2nd...and add to his Sprint Cup point lead. With Texas, Phoenix and Homestead left, Johnson leads Edwards (now second in points) by 183, and Greg Biffle by 185. When asked, both Johnson and Edwards contend that there's lots of racing left, and that anything could happen...a bad day by Johnson at either Texas or Phoenix, or both...and the title will be clinched at Homestead (which is what NASCAR is hoping for). A good day by Johnson, coupled with some Talladega like days by Edwards and Biffle, will see an early clinch.

Edwards likes the Atlanta speedplant...Johnson too, but says it drives like a bigger version of Darlington. The double back flip refers to Edwards' Nationwide Series win on Saturday at Memphis Motorsports Park. Edwards always executes a back flip from the roof of his car when he wins.

We're heading back to the office to take care of business the next couple of weeks...and will rejoin you from Homestead.

"The Carl, Bob and Jack Show"--Roush wins at Pocono

Is it better to be lucky than good? You might properly direct that question at "Cousin Carl" Edwards and long-time crew chief Bob Osborne. Osborne called his driver into the pits for a tire stop which put him out of the lead (at the time). Osborne and Edwards had a disagreement on the strategy (or lack thereof). After a 41 minute rain delay, Mr. Osborne's strategy reminded one of another denizen of "Happy Valley"--JoPa. Edwards was in the right place at the right time afterward, and had enough to win over a charging Tony Stewart, who would have won the race if it were 10 laps longer. Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson was 3rd. I would not have wanted to be on Kyle Busch's plane this evening--the Sprint Cup point leader lost a lot of his lead because his car ran out of gas two laps from the end...as he was running fourth. So the post race show was entertaining with Jack Roush just sitting back like the "Cat in the Hat".

The points going into Watkins Glen:

Kyle Busch--3059

Dale Earnhardt, Jr.--2883 (-176)

Carl Edwards--2874 (-185)

Jimmie Johnson--2859 (200)

Jeff Burton--2833 (226)

6-12

Jeff Gordon

Kasey Kahne

Greg Biffle

Tony Stewart

Denny Hamlin

Kevin Harvick

Clint Bowyer 2512

Matt Kenseth is 13th at 2501 points.

We'll resume live blogging from the IndyCar event at Infineon Raceway outside Sonoma, California.