Before we get started with the action that has already been going on at Chicagoland, let’s recap where we left off.

While in the lead, Kyle Busch wrecked on the final lap as he was trying to hold off a charge by Tony Stewart during Saturday night’s race at Daytona. Busch ended up in the wall with a 14th place finish. Stewart won his 2nd race of the season and padded his lead in the point standings.

Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

During a press conference following the race, Stewart said he’d like to talk to Kyle about the finish. “I don’t know at what point this week,” Stewart said. “It probably won’t be tomorrow since tomorrow is kind of an off day and all of us cherish having a Sunday off like this, but that is important to me.  It is important to talk to him about it.  His opinion matters to me.  So yeah, it will happen.  I mean, I’ll have that conversation, I just don’t know when it’ll be.”

On Wednesday from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Stewart said he spoke with Busch the day before. “I checked first of all just to make sure he was all right,” Stewart said. “When something like that happens, you want to make sure that both guys are on the same page with what happened, and we definitely were.  I mean, there was no question on either one of our parts of what happened.  I mean, we were instantly on the same page with it.  It’s just part of racing.” Stewart went on to say, “Kyle knew that my job was to get to his quarter panel, he was trying to move up to defend his spot, and nobody in his position would have just stayed there and let somebody drive back by him.  You’ve got to do something, and he wasn’t trying to wreck us, he was just trying to make me make a move to slow me down.”

Kyle had a different story when he spoke with the press on Thursday at Chicagoland beginning with: “I thank him for, I guess, checking on me to see if I was alive.” Busch said Stewart “dumped him” to win. “I think NASCAR can take a step in looking at it, and if the second-place driver bumps the leader, then black-flag him… he doesn’t get the win.”

Onward and forward…

Week #3 in The Race To The Chase with more night racin’ on the schedule. This weekend we’ll join the series @ Chicagoland Speedway.

It’s a track current points leader Tony Stewart knows how to get around. “It’s a place I like,” he said. “This place is getting racy as far as finally being able to move around and change lines and run anywhere from the bottom to the top. It’s a fun track because of that.”

Stewart is tied with Kevin Harvick with the most wins @ Chicagoland with 2 each. Stewart won in ’04 and ’07. Harvick won consecutively in ’01 and ’02.

Kyle Busch is the defending race winner. He swept both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series races last year. “Winning both races at Chicago last year, it was just a great weekend,” Busch said. “It was special, but there have been several special wins the last couple of years….. But winning Chicago last year and beating Jimmie was definitely neat.”

There are 8 races to go until the top 12 in the point standings will get locked into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Isn’t it hard to believe? We’re exactly halfway through the season. 18 races down with 18 remaining. We’ve seen 11 different race winners with 3 drivers winning their first in the Sprint Cup Series. All 4 manufacturers are represented in the top 12 and all 4 have also won a race. There has been 8 different pole winners with Brian Vickers winning the most during the first half. And…

Brian Vickers won the pole Thursday night with a lap of 29.322 seconds. It’s his 5th pole this season and first @ Chicagoland. His Red Bull Racing teammate, Scott Speed qualified second. It’s the first time Red Bull Racing has claimed the front row.

Photo Credit: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR

Jimmie Johnson qualified 3rd followed by Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott, David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose. Tony Stewart qualified 32nd.

For the starting line-up, click here.