Which team had all of its drivers in the top 10?

Not Joe Gibbs Racing. Hamlin won and Tony Stewart was solid with a fifth, but Kyle Busch’s car was junk. After spending time in the garage, he returned to finish 38th.

Not Richard Childress Racing. Jeff Burton appeared to be headed toward his second straight win but wound up third; Clint Bowyer was 10th and Kevin Harvick was 12th. Close, but not enough.

Not Roush Fenway. Jamie McMurray desperately needed a good finish and got it, taking eight, a spot ahead of Carl Edwards. David Ragan’s up-and-down season continued with an 11th and Greg Biffle was nothing special in 20th. Matt Kenseth struggled all day and wound up 30th.

But Hendrick did. Jeff Gordon was second. Jimmie Johnson was strong, taking fourth. Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the most laps and was sixth, just in front of Casey Mears.

That Hendrick didn’t go to victory lane matters, but only so much. They’ve gotten out of the gate slowly this season — particularly Johnson and Mears — but perhaps Martinsville was their coming out party.

It’s going to happen. At the very least, Johnson, Gordon or Earnhardt is going to win this season. It shouldn’t surprise any of us if each of them do. Mears may yet win too, but that would be more of a longshot.

Given the organization’s success at Martinsville, maybe this isn’t much of a surprise. A more telling test will come this weekend at Texas, where a Hendrick car has been to victory lane only twice in the track’s 14-race history.

Maybe in seven days we’ll be talking about an Earnhardt win; that’s where he won his first Cup race, after all.

Can any of us truly say we didn’t see it coming?

• ONE THING DID CATCH my eye on Sunday. Before leaving for the Nationals’ home opener at their new ballpark, I had the pre-race coverage on in the background.

There was Michael McDowell, making his first Cup start for Michael Waltrip. He was grinning as wide as his face would allow.

I didn’t see him afterward — the race was difficult to find in the crowded press box — but I’m guessing the smile was gone.

He held up Jeff Burton for several laps. Burton was none too pleased.

“We had one driver that I thought was real inconsiderate,” Burton said, according to the Associated Press story.

“He better learn some manners or he’s going to get taught.”

• I MUST APOLOGIZE for not updating on Friday like I said I would. I did keep checking my inbox, but it seems like Lee White, Toyota’s general manager for its Cup programs, merely released a statement. Toyota, as a manufacturer, had nothing to do with any theft from Roush Fenway, he said.

Jack Roush, on the other hand, had a lot to say. He clarified his comments and explained the situation. It turns out the stolen part was a sway bar and Waltrip’s team (outed by Waltrip himself, not Roush) was the one who wound up with it in his possession.

Roush’s bluster included continued talk of lawsuits — notably a restraining order to prevent MWR from using anything it may have learned from the proprietary part — and an insistence that NASCAR do something. (NASCAR responded by saying it’s up to the teams to work out their problems.)

Gordon doesn’t have a dog in the fight. His reaction?

“I think the whole thing is just hilarious,” he said. “I think it’s a great story, certainly we’ve been talking about it. Once I heard about it today, we were talking about it up in the truck so I’m sure it’s making for some good entertainment around the garage area and here in the media center. I really hope Jack is not taking it that serious because he shouldn’t.”

Make of it what you will…

(Photo by John Raoux/Associated Press)

In truth, such a summary doesn’t do his argument justice. But he’s right when he says the people who bemoan the loss of the old days have no right to complain if they won’t support one of NASCAR’s venerable tracks.

Admittedly, the track does have a lot going against it. Martinsville is rarely a vacation destination; as such, accommodations are a rare commodity. It doesn’t have the benefit of reaching out to any nearby major cities, not like Richmond or Pocono. Economically, it’s as depressed a rural area as you’ll find.

But that shouldn’t be enough to dissuade the purists.

The racing stacks up. There’s more calamity at Martinsville than at Bristol; the calamity at Bristol is just more dramatic. Because of that frequency, hot heads are a common occurrence. Someone overdrives into Turn 1 or Turn 3, punts somebody else into a spin; hard feelings linger.

The facility is small enough to afford a view of the entire track. I remember watching races at Pocono from the press box; on the backstretch, it felt like the drivers were in a different county.
If this is what racing was meant to be, then the loyalists should want a piece of that.

Staying away is tantamount to voting “no” with your wallet.

• LONG’S POST wasn’t the only interesting one on the internets today.

Over at ESPN, Marty Smith runs through how the skyrocketing cost of gas affects race teams. On the track, he writes, there’s really no effect. Off the track is an entirely different story.

This should make sense. Think of the gas it takes to run a hauler across the country, then think about the situation after the California race, when secondary haulers dropped off equipment at Las Vegas.
Both, eventually, had to return to Charlotte.

Kerosene fuels all of the jets in NASCAR’s fleet. Those prices have gone up too; though a rise has more affect on the airlines, it affects race teams as well.

It’s a microcosm of the greater economy. Goods cost more to deliver, which is passed onto consumers, forcing individuals to cut or re-evaluate spending.

As much as NASCAR seems to operate in a vacuum at times, it’s still subjected to the same forces we all are.

• AN OFF DAY is in the offing tomorrow — hey, Sunday is going to be a long day scoping out the Nationals’ shiny new ballpark — but I’m going to do my best to get a hold of Lee White’s comments.

White, the general manager for Toyota’s Cup program, is expected to address the media on Friday. He’ll give Toyota’s side to Jack Roush’s recent accusation that Toyota stole a proprietary part from his organization.

• ONE FINAL fun calculation. The idea for this crossed my mind some time ago; I’ll update it periodically as the season goes on.

Total words written in this space so far this season: 18,358.

Thanks for sticking with me.

(Photo by Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Among the ex-CCWS drivers, there is almost no experience racing on ovals; CCWS ran exclusively on road courses.

The race could be dicey for a while, particularly since open-wheel cars are far more delicate than stock cars. But the new drivers should be able to acclimate quickly enough.

There will be four more oval races before the new drivers get their toughest test at Richmond. However, each of those tracks will provide its own challenge: the nearly flat surface at the Milwaukee Mile, the potentially treacherous Texas and the pressure of Indianapolis.

Beyond the former CCWS teams, two of IRL’s point leaders from 2007 have defected to NASCAR. But both Dario Franchitti (last year’s IRL champion) and Sam Hornish Jr. (fifth in the points in 2007) have found the transition difficult so far; both are out of the top 35 in the Sprint Cup standings, meaning they must race their way into each event.

And then there’s the transitional schedule, which has the unique situation of running two races on the same weekend on different continents. The regular IRL contingent will make their annual trek to Japan and the Twin Ring Motegi track; the next day, the former Champ Car teams run their annual race in Long Beach, Calif.

Both races will count points toward the IRL standings.

Sunday will likely make for some interesting viewing.

• A PRETTY INTERESTING blog post from our friend, Jill Erwin down in Richmond: turns out one of the women in the ongoing Allstate ads with Kasey Kahne is from Richmond.

Those ads have been pretty creative, particularly with the chain of events that lead to something getting smashed.

And it’s cool that Allstate keeps it going. It’s not to the level of UPS and Dale Jarrett, but at least it’s good for a chuckle. And that’s considerably better than a lot of the other stuff — commercial or otherwise — that’s on television.

• AS ALWAYS, I’d love to hear what you think about anything in the racing world. Leave a comment on here — they have to go through a validation process, but I’ll get them up as soon as I can — or simply The inbox is always open.

(Photo by Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)

With such obfuscation, it’s hard to say this is anything more than someone in NASCAR leveling an accusation at someone else. It happens all the time with drivers.

We have an e-mail into Toyota seeking comment, and will update if and when we hear anything back.

UPDATE to add that Kymberly Strong, who handles PR for Toyota in the Cup division, e-mailed back to say that Lee White, Toyota’s general manager for its Cup program, will speak with reporters this weekend at Martinsville, so I’ll be interested to see what he has to say. More on White in a moment.

But we shouldn’t be surprised to hear that Roush would hold back any sort of ill will toward Toyota. Remember, it was Roush that was one of the harshest critic of Toyota when the manufacturer announced its intentions to enter the Cup series.

“Toyota will not find that the established teams and manufacturers will wither in their path, as has been the case where they have tried to engage elsewhere,” Roush said last season.

More recently, a war of words erupted between Roush and White — a former Roush employee — over Carl Edwards’ loose oil tank lid at Las Vegas. Edwards won that race but because of the loose lid, his car failed its post-race inspection; Edwards was penalized and crew chief Bob Osborne was suspended for the infraction.

White was critical of the infraction, saying it was intentionally done to increase downforce.

“I’m gonna treat Lee White and Toyota for their accusations in USA Today today like they were an ankle-biting Chihuahua and be done with it,” Roush said at Atlanta.

As the weekend went on, however, multiple drivers sided with White. Dale Earnhardt Jr. called Roush’s defense that it was a simple mistake “ridiculous” and “really comical.” Elliott Sadler called Roush’s defense an insult to his intelligence.

So the sniping between Roush and Toyota is nothing new.

This latest incident could simply be the latest volley. Or it could be Roush pulling out the big guns. If Roush follows through on his threat of litigation, we’ll know the answer.

For all we know, the part could be a Roush Fenway can opener. Until Roush details what the part was — or is forced to reveal it — we’re left to guess as to how important it may have been. Obviously we can’t expect Roush to disclose every detail of the part, otherwise it wouldn’t be proprietary.

We should find out soon enough. The teams are due to arrive in Martinsville on Friday; by then, someone will likely have something to say.

(Photo by Terry Renna/Associated Press)

There’s no better moment in sports, really. Shot, horn, swish, ballgame in the NCAA tournament. Think about all the names that stick with you over the years because of it — Tyus Edney, Bryce Drew, Christian Laettner — because of moments like that.

But such moments are rare, which only adds to their luster. As much as the NCAA tournament is about buzzer beaters, it’s about those upsets too.

George Mason was bounced by Notre Dame in Denver this year, but the Patriots’ run to the Final Four in 2006 is still almost unbelievable. I was at each of the games in the D.C. Regional and in Indianapolis; all this time later, it’s still almost surreal. Looking back at their win over UConn is still breathtaking. Even as the score graphic morphed from the lower right to the bottom of the screen — the ultimate finality — it still felt surreal.

Completely off-topic, I know. But it did get me thinking: With the success of Davidson and Western Kentucky this weekend, what are NASCAR’s five biggest upsets?

I limited the responses to the recent past, since 1990 or so, since that’s what I know best.

Here you go…

5. Brian Vickers wins at Talladega (Fall 2006): Vickers’ own mistake didn’t cost him a thing. While attempting an ill-advised pass against then-teammate Jimmie Johnson, Vickers knocked Johnson into Dale Earnhardt Jr., taking out the top two cars in the event’s final laps. After that season, Vickers parted ways with Hendrick Motorsports to join Toyota’s Red Bull operation and is still seeking his second win.

4. Jeremy Mayfield wins at Pocono (June 2000): Mayfield, a moderately successful driver with Penske, had two career wins heading into a rain-delayed Monday race at Pocono. Running second on the final lap behind Dale Earnhardt, Mayfield closed in on the Intimidator’s bumper and nudged him out of the way. After the race, Earnhardt was furious; but that moment proved to be the high-water mark for Mayfield. Since then, he’s won only twice (once in 2003 and again in 2004) and has never had more than five top-fives in a season.

3. David Gilliland wins at Kentucky (Busch race, 2006): Gilliland drove for the ultimate underdog, an under-funded Busch team. Yet at Kentucky, everything fell into place, allowing the upstart team to beat established powers like J.J. Yeley and Denny Hamlin (both of Gibbs Racing), Kevin Harvick (Childress) and Greg Biffle (Roush). Gilliland parlayed the victory into a Cup ride with Yates Racing; since moving to Cup, he’s had two poles, one top-five and three top-10s in 56 races.

2. Derrike Cope wins the Daytona 500 (1990): As Earnhardt tried again for that elusive victory in the 500, all was going according to plan. He was well ahead in the final laps, but a piece of debris cut a tire. Earnhardt was forced to slow drastically as Cope sped by for the most unlikely win in the event’s history. Cope also won a second race that year — at the first race at Dover — but from 1991 onward, Cope had no wins and only four top-fives in 308 races. He last ran a Cup race in 2006.

1. Alan Kulwicki wins the Winston Cup title (1992): Even in the early 1990s, the multi-car team model was widely employed. So when Kulwicki, a driver for a single-car team, won the season championship, it was an upset of historic proportions: His title is still the last won by a single-car team. It was also one of the most exciting finishes in Cup history, as Kulwicki’s battle with Bill Elliott went to the final race in Atlanta — a race which Elliott won, but lost the championship to Kulwicki by only 10 points. The following season, Kulwicki had two top-fives in the first three races and was ninth in points; on April 1, he was killed in a plane crash in Tennessee.

(Photo by Chuck Burton/Associated Press)