Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Coca-Cola 600

Welcome back to another edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes, where even Noah couldn't keep his boat afloat after the non-stop rain at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Are you one of those lonely souls mad that David Reutimann snookered 'em -- yep, that's the first recorded use of that word on FH -- to win his first career race Monday afternoon?

If so, get over it. First time winners are fun to see, and when the race officially ended he was the car leading everyone else. Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and the rest of the field didn't have to pit, but they did -- and that's just the way it goes.

I'd still like an explanation as to why NASCAR decided on a start time of 12 p.m./EDT for the Monday make-up of its longest race.

It wasn't hard to see that the Charlotte region was to get a brief lull from the rain in the Monday morning hours, with the rain probability picking up steadlly as the afternoon wore on. And just on cue, showers hit the track just as the field took the green flag.

The reasoning behind that probably had something to do with a west coast audience with a three-hour time difference. My recommendation of a 10 a.m. start would have meant at 7 a.m. wake up call for fans on the left coast, and likely a drop in viewers.

That, then, brings back the question we had with the late start of this year's Daytona 500: what's more important, a race ran closer to completion or a few more bucks in advertising revenue? I think we're seeing what side is winning that battle.

Brian Vickers is gonna win one of these doggone races at LMS at some point. That No. 83 Toyota has now been more than good enough to win the last three Coca-Cola 600's.

In 2007, he had power steering issues that led to more issues. 2008 saw a loose lug nut break the wheel as he sailed into turn one, sending the tire bouncing into a trackside motorhome and Vickers into the turn one wall.

This year? He was the only car to pass Kyle Busch under green flag conditions during the Coca-Cola 340.5, just as he was Saturday during the Nationwide race. He's now led 339 career laps at LMS without a win after pacing 33 on Monday.

Wanna know how far Michael Waltrip Racing has come since its inception prior to 2007? Just look back two years ago at the Coca-Cola 600, when both Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann wrecked in qualifying and missed the show.

Now, they're in victory lane.

Joey Logano's brake adventures turned to a learning moment during Monday's rain-postponed and shortened race.

"We lost our brakes after one of the rain delays," said Logano. "I was taking care of my brakes and getting in (the corners) easier and actually was running faster that way. Apparently there's something there and hopefully it will help us in the future."

Monday, it was good enough for the now-19-year-old to tie his career-best Cup finish of 9th for a third time.

I wouldn't have said this at Daytona, but I'll be surprised if he doesn't win a Cup race this season. He's finding a major part of winning at this level -- confidence.

1988 Cup champ Bill Elliott made his 800th start in Monday's race, and afterwards he joked about the on-again off-again rain showers giving the aging driver a break from his laps in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford.

"I told them it sure was nice of them to throw in a few 'old man cautions' in there with those red flags to let me get out and rest a few minutes," joked Elliott.

The No. 21 finished 15th.