Off weekend thoughts and observations

Despite the fact that the Sprint Cup had the weekend off, several drivers didn't bother resting. Instead, they just kept racing. Carl Edwards, for one, didn't do much resting. He road his bicycle 200 miles from his home to Gateway International Raceway where he later won the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. He was followed to the line by Joey Logano, Jason Keller, Jason Leffler and Brad Keselowski.

Meanwhile in Kansas Johnny Benson earned his second win of the year in the Craftsman Truck Series by besting rookie and teammate Michael Annett, Matt Crafton, Dennis Setzer and David Starr.

Off weekend thoughts and observations

I often wonder how much free time drivers in the Sprint Cup Series get during a year. With 36 points races on the schedule (not counting the All-Star Race, Shootout and Gatorade Duel's) they only get 3 weekends off during a season. Yet, on the last off weekend of the season, seven full time Cup drivers could be found at one of the two NASCAR sanctioned events this weekend. That's not counting all the drivers racing on local short tracks around the country (Kenseth, Harvick and Sauter where just some I know about). I guess if its really in your blood you never really take a break from racing, huh?

Talk about hometown pride. Carl Edwards win at Gateway was his second in the Nationwide Series at the track that Carl considers his hometown track. He said in victory lane that winning that race means more to him then pretty much any other race in any of NASCAR's top divisions.

Joey Logano continues to impress. This 18-year-old put on another show on Saturday and came home a convincing 2nd behind Edwards (the second time Logano has finished 2nd to Edwards). Yet, i'm still very apprehensive about the idea of moving Logano straight into Tony Stewart's soon to be vacant No. 20 Sprint Cup machine. As good as Logano may be i'm a strong advocate of experience. I think Logano may be better served spending his 2009 season racing full time in the Nationwide Series before making the full time move to Cup in 2010. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Food for thought: Three of the top 10 finishers in Saturday's race at Gateway were less then 20 years old. Logano (18), Cassill (19) and Buescher (18) are certainly showing their stuff against the veterans of the sport like Edwards (28), Keller (38) and Leffler (32). Wait, those are veterans? Wow, things sure have changed a bit haven't they?

Elsewhere this weekend Johnny Benson continues to prove just because your not racing in the Sprint Cup doesn't mean your a bad driver. Benson's win at Kansas (his second this year and 11th of his career) moved him into the Craftsman Truck Series point lead, all of 1 point ahead of Matt Crafton. Former champion and constant championship threat Ron Hornaday sits third, only 5 points behind Benson.

One thing i've always liked about the Craftsman Truck Series is how competitive the racing is. It doesn't matter if your at Daytona, Bristol, Kansas or anywhere else for that matter. The racing is always good. On top of that, it seems like everyone has a chance to win. For example, nine different drivers have wins this season in the Trucks. Guess how many of them are Truck only drivers. Eight. Yes, eight. Kyle Busch is the only one who isn't a full time Truck driver (he has two wins).

More food for thought: The two youngest drivers in the top 10 in the Craftsman Truck Series points are 8th place Erik Darnell (25) and 2nd place Matt Crafton (32). After that, the next youngest driver is 7th place Terry Cook (40). Maybe they should rename the Truck Series the Veterans Series.

Marcos Ambrose and JTG/Daugherty Racing have entered this week's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the first attempt at a Sprint Cup race for the new team. Is anyone else interested in just how well they perform?