The Dirty South is behind us and the boys take this weekend off before heading to back-to-back short-tracks.
This past weekend was a lot different than a lot of people (myself included).
Here is a look at some of the Surprising and Not Surprising things from Hotlanta.
Surpring: The "Other" Busch Won the Race
It's amazing how Kurt—the older of the Busch brothers—has quickly become the other Busch. This is the guy that won the 2004 Sprint Cup championship in the inaugural Chase.
Yet, his younger brother Kyle, has received all the media attention and love.
On Sunday, it was all about the older Busch, who not only took home his second Atlanta Motor Speedway win, but did so in dominant fashion.
Busch had the best car the entire day. On restarts, he would easily jump out to a two or three second lead within a few laps and appeared to be on cruise control the entire race.
The win moves him to third in the points standings, only 46 points behind leader Jeff Gordon.
Not Surprising: Jeff Gordon, Carl Edwards, and Kevin Harvick Finish in Top Five
All three of these drivers are strong at the 1.5-mile oval near Atlanta.
Gordon has four wins (1995, 1998, 1999 and 2003), while Edwards swept the track in 2005 and Harvick brought home his first career Sprint Cup victory in 2001—just months after replacing the late Dale Earnhardt.
All three drivers were competitive throughout the day, and Edwards and Gordon both had a shot at the win as the laps wound down.
Edwards used a two-tire stop to take the lead on the final pit stops, but Busch's Blue Duece was too strong and passed him before the cars hit the backstretch of the green-white-checkered.
Gordon appeared to be ready to challenge Busch for the lead, but couldn't get to his bumper before the checkered flag fell.
Suprising: Dodge Puts Two Cars in the Top 10
Atlanta has not been a kind track to the Dodge's over the years. In fact, before Busch's win on Sunday, a Dodge hadn't visited Victory Lane since 2006 when Kasey Kahne did so.
Even more surprising?
Prior to Kahne's win, a Dodge hadn't won the race since 1977 when Richard Petty did so.
The surge shows that the Dodge programs are on the upward swing—perhaps.
Both AJ Allmendinger and Elliot Sadler finished inside the top-20, while David Stremme brought his "Verizon" Dodge home 23rd.
Not Surprising: The Cream Continues to Rise to the Top
As stated in last week's edition of this series, the top drivers are finding themselves situated in Chase contention, while the "pretenders" are quickly falling from the way-side.
At one point, Michael Waltrip Racing had two cars situated inside the top 12 (the cutoff for the Chase after 26 races).
Now, Waltrip has fallen out, and David Reutimann is hanging on the the skins of his toes at 12th, with three-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson lurking in 13th.
The Chase field—I believe—will not change much from here on out.
Guys like Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick aren't going anywhere.
The drivers outside that will work their way in are Johnson (of course) and maybe Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton.
If those two get in, obviously, somebody has to go out.
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