Clint Bowyer

The Kansas Kid is on fire. Another top 10 for Clint Bowyer and he vaults up six more spots in the points standings to eighth. Not bad for basicly a brand new team. "You know we've had good speed with our 5-Hour Energy Toyota since day one at Daytona," said Bowyer. "I'm very, very excited about our group of guys. I think (crew chief) Brian Pattie had done a very good job. " And now the series goes back west for the third time in the young season. And Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Tony Stewart made it 2 for 2 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, pulling ahead when Clint Bowyer ran of gas with two laps left to win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. Stewart is on a roll when it matters most, following last week's Chase opening victory with another strong performance at New Hampshire. Both of his victories this season have come in the Chase and have propelled him to the top of the points standings. The outcome was a complete reversal of last fall's race at New Hampshire.

Matt Kenseth had a dominating run at Texas, breaking a 76-race NASCAR Sprint Cup winless streak Saturday night. Kenseth led 169 of 334 laps at the 1½-mile, high-banked track for his 19th career victory, his first since California in February 2009. Since his other win at Texas in 2002, Kenseth had four runner-up finishes, including last fall behind Denny Hamlin, and six other top-10 finishes at the track. This time, the No. 17 Roush Fenway Ford was only trailing late behind Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch when both of those drivers were out of sequence on stops and trying to stretch fuel in hopes of catching a caution.

Multiple reports out of Chicagoland Speedway say that a deal between Clint Bowyer and Michael Waltrip racing will soon be announced. ESPN.com says the deal could be finalized by the end of the week. Team owner Michael Waltrip tweeted on Friday, "MWR has had very productive conversations with Clint and a sponsor. Today, however, we are not in a position to make a formal announcement. " According to a report by Sirus/XM NASCAR radio, that sponsor is 5 Hour Engery. They currently sponsor the Nationwide Series Car driven by Steven Wallace.

Defending SprintCup champion Tony Stewart made a bold move to take the lead on a late restart and held off Jimmie Johnson for a redemptive win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.     Frustrated by a pit mishap at Las Vegas a year ago, Stewart dipped below the two leaders from the second row to take the lead with about 30 laps left in the 400-mile race. He pulled away from Johnson on three more restarts over the final 17 laps for his first win on the 1.5-mile tri-oval in the desert.

On Sunday, Clint Bowyer was in California, piloting his number 33 Richard Childress racing Chevy to a 7th place finish of the season. On Monday, he returned to his hometown of Emporia, giving up a couple hours in sleep and a couple dozen degrees to be on hand for the ground breaking of a new community building he is helping to build. "This a big day for me, I was very excited about this program, still am. I cant wait to see it happen," said Bowyer. The 6,000 square foot building on the grounds of the Lyon County Fairgrounds, will be able to hold up to 300 people for events like wedding and concerts.