Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Autism Speaks 400

Since we're a little late on this week's edition of Sprint Cup Notes & Quotes, we're gonna do both a rewind of last weekend's festivities at Dover and a bit on Wednesday night's Prelude to the Dream. Capisce? Capisce.

Prelude to the Twitter - Can't be in or around the booming metropolis that is Rossburg, Oh., (Pop: 224) for Wednesday night's Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway? No problem, FH has you covered with live twittering from the fourth row up behind the start/finish line just for you! Follow us here: www.twitter.com/FanHouseRacing

Rain, for the love of Pete, go away - What happens when you invite 20-plus NASCAR drivers to compete in a charity race at a half-mile dirt oval? Well, they bring rain -- just as they have for three of the past four NASCAR event weekends.

Today's forecast and radar doesn't look great, but the track is ready to do all it can to get the surface race ready. In fact, last season's edition likely saw more rain the day of and the crew got the surface ready to race on. Remember, you can't exactly use a jet dryer on a dirt track, but the flipside is that a little bit of moisture in the surface is OK.

The good news is that the rain is expected to blow through the area by mid-afternoon. If you're going to the race or just have nothing to do at work today, click over to the track website for updates throughout the day.

Stremme's likin' Indy - Goodyear has been back at Indianapolis Motor Speedway once again this week working on tire combinations to avoid the series of 10 or 12 lap sprint races that was last year's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The weather's been hot and sticky in the Circle City with rain each night, but that's just how Goodyear needs it to be.

When the race gets underway in July, conditions will be much the same. Knowing that, the words from Penske Racing's David Stremme are definitely music to a fan's ears. Here's what he told ESPN.com:

"They brought a tire that has really even wear," Stremme said. "We got to a full fuel run [about 30 laps]. Goodyear has done their homework."

Let's just hope it stays that way for the final test later this month at the 2.5-mile oval when over 12 teams will take to the track.

Jimmie Johnson says no thanks to dirty air - Wanna know how good Autism Speaks 400 winner Jimmie Johnson's car was on Sunday at Dover? Just look at how he came back from the pit road snafu.

Unlike most times this season, the car in the lead didn't pull away from the field with the clean air hitting his nose. The two tire stop for Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart might have been to blame for that, but for Johnson to fly though the field and pass at least 10 or 12 cars in the final 35 laps or so was impressive.

That car was hooked up both in traffic and out front -- something you don't see much these days. Of course, Johnson wasn't about the let a race he dominated to fall to the wayside. He's certainly no Denny Hamlin.

Kyle Busch post-race comment counter - This week's tally for NASCAR's most highly regarded star of the future? Oh-for-three.

Busch didn't make a single comment to media or PR folks after not winning the Truck, Nationwide and Cup Series races this week. Take from that what you will.

Kasey Kahne a happy man - We all know that Kahne hasn't exactly been pleased with the performance of his Richard Petty Motorsports race team this season in large part due to the fact that they hadn't implemented the new Dodge engine.

Well, he finally got it for Dover and nailed down a sixth-place finish.

"The new motor had plenty of power which made the car fun to drive," said Kahne. "We've made some really big gains in the past few weeks."