1. Tony Stewart  Monday morning phone call: “Hey Kasey, you know we’re thinking about starting a third team. How’s that Dodge thing workin’ out over there?”

2. Jimmie Johnson  Many were surprised at Jimmie’s fourth-place run at Infineon. The truth is that Johnson has actually performed reasonably well on the roadies over the last three or four years.

3. Jeff Gordon  It’s not often you see Gordon get nailed for speeding on pit road. No truth to the rumor Gordon was trying to make up time because his team was sampling the ’04 Jeff Gordon Merlot.

4. Mark Martin  My guess is that Watkins Glen will be kinder to Mark.

5. Carl Edwards  You know things are going well for Carl when he advances in the point standings after a visit to a road course.

6. Ryan Newman  The No. 39’s Haas Automation paint scheme is the spitting image of the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevy. The No. 39’s performance this past weekend was not.

7. Greg Biffle  Greg, what was up with the pick accents on the car? I mean, dude … pink?!

8. Kurt Busch  Kurt seemed pretty irritated with the 48’s punt job when interviewed post-race. Then he realized Jimmie was standing right there and his demeanor changed right quick.

9. Matt Kenseth  See: Carl Edwards.

10. Kyle Busch  A word of advice: If you concentrated a little less on kicking butt in the Nationwide and Truck Series you may have a little more left in the tank on Sundays.

11. Kasey Kahne  He didn’t back into that road win on fuel mileage — dude held off Tony Stewart on five separate restarts to earn it.

12. Denny Hamlin  Wonder if the Tuesday morning competition meeting at JGR will be as contentious as the Sunday afternoon “competition meeting” between Hamlin and Busch.

13. Juan Pablo Montoya  It’d be real interesting to see what Montoya would be doing in a Gibbs Toyota or a Stewart-Haas Chevy. Heck, we may know the answer to that this time next year.

14. David Reutimann  “Whew … Only one more of those to go, and it’s not for another two months!”

15. Clint Bowyer  For all the talk of RCR’s demise, Bowyer and the new team are hitting on something with four straight runs of 12th or better.

Just off the lead pack: Marcos Ambrose, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers

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