26 races are now complete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' 2011 season, meaning that the 12 Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers are now having dreams of ice cream, sugar plums and the Sprint Cup trophy. The previous 26 races, though, still meant something. Before we leave them in the dust, let's take a look back at the meat of NASCAR's 2011 season.

HOT: NASCAR's loop data system captures some pretty cool data these days, recording speed, passes and much more during the course of every event. Best of all? NASCAR's crack stats team crunches those numbers in a recognizable format giving us this — a way to recognize who has been the best in many areas in NASCAR's first 26 races. The results are in, and some may surprise you:

Best average running position: Kyle Busch, 9.96
Most green flag passes: A.J. Allmendinger, 3,202
Fewest times passed under green: Carl Edwards, 2,109
Total times w/ fastest lap: Kyle Busch, 594
Most laps in the Top-15: Kyle Busch, 5,945 (79.5%)
Highest % of laps led: Kyle

The cool, dreary day in Atlanta Tuesday thankfully didn't reflect the on-track Sprint Cup action as the Hendrick teammates put on one of the better dirt-track-on-pavement shows of the season. Better yet? We may finally know who the real championship contenders are. All that and more, coming right up:

HOT: A day removed from Jeff Gordon's throwback win — with the four-time champ holding off the five-time champ Jimmie Johnson while piloting a race car that was as squirrely as it was fast — and a day after the No. 24 team reveled in Gordon's historic 85th win, it's pretty easy to see which teams are making their move to start the Chase strong.

Gordon's win, of course, puts him on the list, but Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski have joined him in a dead heat for who will be riding the most momentum before the Chase for the Sprint Cup starts after Richmond. For proof, look no further than the number 3.3.

In the past three races, 3.3 is the exact finishing average for each driver. Johnson

New Bristol produces, so does Brad Keselowski and what's happened to Kevin Harvick? That & more in this week's H/N...  

HOT: The battle for second between Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Gordon in the closing laps of Saturday night's race at Bristol reflected exactly what the new Bristol is: a place where hard racing is the name of the game. It was a complete flip from when the only lane to race at Bristol was on the bottom, as Truex held Gordon at bay by running the highest of high lines in the corner.

However, the real story of the battle is how it likely went quite a way in ironing out a wrinkled on-track relationship between Gordon and Truex.

Gordon and Truex first tussled at Bristol — the old version — in 2006 when Gordon spun the rookie while Truex was a lap down. Truex was able to continue, but later tried to retaliate a bit by holding Gordon up. In an odd twist of the story, Tony Stewart was immediately behind and ended up spinning Truex again — ending his day.

Truex's ire was again

Rain drops were avoided all around NASCAR this weekend while hair pulling became a pit road sport. Meanwhile, two Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are heading in opposite directions. What gives? That & more in this week's H/N...

HOT: Well, we've been here before.

Remember 2008, when the Tiffany & Co.-designed Sprint Cup championship trophy was ready to be carved with Kyle Busch's name? Then a 23-year-old Shrub, Busch had snapped off eight wins during the 26-race regular season and easily garnered the top seed for the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup. The championship stars had aligned for another Busch NASCAR title.

But quickly, Busch's 30-point cushion in the point standings faded. There was a crash at Loudon, and then an engine failure at Dover. He finished a lap off the pace in the third race at Kansas and later 29th in the halfway point at Martinsville. It was a humiliation in the clutch, a disappointment in the playoffs. Busch finished the season 10th in 2008 with plenty of blame to go

We're hitting Chase for the Sprint Cup crunch time after Watkins Glen with now just four races left in NASCAR's regular season. Of course, nothing is ever regular about any NASCAR season — just look at Monday's last lap. We dissect what Boris Said said plus Denny Hamlin's positive Chase outlook in this week's rain-delayed Hot/Not.

NOT: Denny Hamlin hit hard — really hard — when something failed on his car and he slammed headfirst in to the Turn 1 tire barrier at Watkins Glen on Monday. Hamlin, of course, walked away from the crushing hit with no serious injuries and will race again this weekend at Michigan.

It was a hit awfully reminiscent of the oft-replayed Jimmie Johnson crash in a 2001 Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen, when the now-five-time Sprint Cup champion lost his brakes. Johnson walked away from the foam-cushioned blow.

They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, but I'd range to guess Hamlin wasn't particularly looking to follow in Johnson's Watkins Glen

It rained in Pocono? You don't say. We cover the track's response, Carl Edwards' big, new term-less contract and fail to make any Rex Ryan jokes about Brad Keselowski's win in this week's Hot/Not. Strap in, folks.

Friday, before all of the rain at Pocono Raceway, it was officially confirmed that Carl Edwards will remain a Roush Fenway driver for at least the next couple of seasons. Keeping Edwards is of course a coup for Roush, seeing how ridicuously good the Missouri driver is at pushing any sponsor's brand.

Oh, and it turns out Edwards is a pretty decent driver, too.

Owner Jack Roush even admitted that he went to absurd lengths to show Edwards each and every detail about Roush Fenway Racing that would help his No. 99 toward finally winning a championship in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In fact, Roush said he would have felt "really stupid" and "horribly exposed" had Edwards decided to jump ship.

With the signing of Edwards, life, it seemed, returned to being hunky-dory at RFR — at

If the stands are half empty at Indianapolis, did they really have a race there? Also, how fair is it that rules dictate restart position — not actually-earned track position? Jump in to that and more in this week's NASCAR temperature gauge. Mind you, it might be broke from that dag-blasted hot weekend in Indianapolis.

NOT: Elliott Sadler wrecked in qualifying for Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series finale at Lucas Oil Raceway and had to start in the back for the 200-lap race. Being the shortest race on the Nationwide calendar, his odds of contending looked slim.

Incredibly, Sadler managed to advance and spend 164 of 204 laps inside the top 15, making a race-high 36 green-flag passes. By Lap 120, Sadler was in the top 5.

A caution that came out on Lap 190 for Trevor Bayne's blown engine seemed to put Sadler, with a car capable of fast laps in traffic, in good position to complete his storybook run to the front. Only Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Justin Allgaier were ahead.

Then, Allgaier's