Unless it rains a lot again, the 2013 Daytona 500 will be February 24. (Getty)

As tracks started announcing their upcoming race dates, the 2013 schedule was beginning to be pieced together, and NASCAR gave the complete answer on Tuesday when it released the official 2013 Sprint Cup Series schedule. And it's pretty much the same as this year's schedule.

All 10 Chase tracks remain the same, and eight of them keep their order in the Chase. The only swap comes between Kansas and Talladega, as Kansas moves up to the fourth Chase race after being the sixth Chase race this year.

With Easter weekend falling on the final weekend of March, the spring Martinsville race remains on the first Sunday in April. The last off weekend of the season will be Sunday, July 21st.

The complete 2013 Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series schedules will be released later in the fall. The complete Cup Series schedule is below:

Kurt Busch will be going from Phoenix Racing to Furniture Row Racing in 2013. (Getty)

Kurt Busch will be switching teams at the end of the season again as Furniture Row Racing announced Monday that he would be behind the wheel of its No. 78 Chevy in 2013 replacing Regan Smith.

"Though we have made strides as a resourceful single-car Sprint Cup team, we are not where we want to be, which led us to the difficult decision of making a driver change as we move forward," Furniture Row Racing general manager Joe Garone said in a release. "Kurt's exceptional driving talent has the capacity to take a team to another level. We look forward to having Kurt join our Denver-based organization and feel his racing experience will play an important role as we plan ahead to 2013."

[Chase Power Rankings: Cue the Imperial March]

After parting ways with Penske Racing after a tumultuous end to the 2011 season, Busch, the 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, has spent this year at Phoenix Racing and is currently 25th in the points standings. He was suspended earlier in the season for the

Jimmie Johnson leads Brad Keselowski by one point after two Chase races. (Getty)

In the season's first race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 12 Chase drivers all finished in the top 13. On Sunday, the second race of the Chase, the stranglehold at the front of the field loosened just a little bit.

This time, all 12 Chase drivers finished in the top 18, including in the first seven positions. However, six of those seven drivers at the front were the top six entering Sunday's race. And the drivers that finished in 17th and 18th were Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr., who were in 8th and 9th place after Chicago, respectively.

So that means the Chase right now is essentially divided into a top half and a bottom half. None of the bottom half are out of it by any stretch of the imagination, but if the drivers in that top half continue to clog the top 10, well, there won't be any room to make up any ground.

1. Jimmie Johnson 2096 points, (2nd place on Sunday): Johnson did exactly what he needed to do to blunt Hamlin's gain from Sunday's victory, finishing second and

After running out of fuel in the waning laps at Chicago, Denny Hamlin sent a tweet shortly after the race that said "This is 1 week of 10. We will win next week."

A prediction? A guarantee? A (wait for it) Ruthian calling of his shot? Not really the case, Hamlin said on Friday.

"It was really meant to be nothing more than just, 'Hey, we'll get them next week. We'll win it next week.' People were just taking it a little further than that, but I'm racing — doing the best I can — and that's all I'm going to do."

[Related: Familiar name takes over Chase lead]

Well, whatever it was, it turned out to be prophetic. Despite starting 28th in line after a poor qualifying run, Hamlin dominated on Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to collect his fifth win of the season and close within seven points of Chase points leader Jimmie Johnson through two races.

New Hampshire's flat mile can be a tricky place to pass, but it wasn't for Hamlin early — or at any point during the race, for that matter.

On Friday, Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke publicly for the first time since the decision earlier in the week to replace Tony Eury Jr. as Danica Patrick's crew chief at JR Motorsports. A week earlier, the team parted ways with Tony Eury Sr.

Junior said that the decision to part ways with Eury Jr. — an original partner in JR Motorsports — was a mutual one. He also said that his plan for JRM for 2013 would be two full-time cars running for the title and then himself in a car for 3-5 races. To hear Junior's comments directly from the source, give the play button a push.

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The hood of Jeff Gordon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles car. (Hendrick Motorsports)

If you're a child of the late 80s and 90s like I am, then I can assure you that Thursday's announcement of Jeff Gordon's special paint scheme for the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 13 was not your run of the mill paint scheme press conference.

This one involved the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Remember spending weekends as a grade schooler with not a care in the world watching TMNT cartoons?  When you look at Gordon's car during the race, you'll probably have fond flashbacks to the time long before smart phones, *NSYNC and the Car of Tomorrow.

Leonardo dons the hood of the car, which is fitting because he was the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and that fact is not up for debate. Why? Because he had two swords, and dual swords beat out nunchuks, sais and a bo staff in any type of dual. If the Turtles were to ever mutinize against themselves, there's no doubt that Leonardo would be the last one standing. (Nickelodeon, which currently airs the third incarnation of the

(Getty)If the past two Chase races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway are any indication, Sunday's Sylvania 300 will come down to fuel mileage. And Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer should be in the mix.

Two years ago, Stewart was running first and Bowyer was second when Stewart ran out of fuel a lap from the finish. Bowyer finished first. Stewart was 24th and never really regained his title hopes. Bowyer's were looking good -- until his car failed post race inspection and he was docked 150 points. He went from being 35 points behind Chase leader Denny Hamlin to being 185 points behind. He finished 10th in the Chase.

In 2011, Stewart and Bowyer were dueling again, but this time the roles were reversed. Bowyer was leading and ran out of gas in turns 3 and 4 as the duo was coming to the white flag. Stewart drove by and took his second Chase win in two races on his way to the title. Bowyer, who wasn't in the Chase, finished 26th.

This year, nine Chasers enter with New Hampshire victories to their name:

Denny Hamlin coasted to the finish line out of fuel on Sunday, dropping from 9th to 16th. (Getty)

Shortly after his final pit stop of the day during Sunday's Geico 400 at Chicagoland Speedway, Denny Hamlin, the points leader entering the Chase, found out that he was going to be short on fuel.

"We didn't get the car full," Hamlin said. "We decided to make an adjustment and not put all the fuel in it and it just -- he told me I was four laps short and it puts me in a box. I'm trying to hold my position and trying to slow down and just couldn't slow down enough there."

Hamlin had run comfortably in and around the top 10 all day, and was poised to finish 9th. When the checkered flag flew, he was 16th, coasting to the finish line, sure enough, out of fuel.

It was a seven point drop for Hamlin, who was positioned to be within 10 points of race winner and new points leader Brad Keselowski. Instead, Hamlin is 15 points outside of first place after the first race of the Chase.

Here's how all the Chase drivers did on Sunday:

1. Brad Keselowski, 2056 points, (1st place on Sunday): The pass