Jeff Gordon

All you had to do is watch what Kyle Busch did on Saturday night at the Bud Shootout to know, the kid can drive a race car. In fact, with all due respect to former champs Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, he might just be the greatest wheel man of our time. But, is he a champion? As good as Kyle Busch is from February to August, when NASCAR's chase for the championship begins, Rowdy Busch seems to disappear, and sometimes even implode. So it begs a second question, does he have a champions mentality?

Matt Kenseth took the pole Sunday at one of his favorite places after setting a track qualifying record of 191.864 mph at Kansas Speedway. Kenseth won the fall race at Kansas last season, and hasn't finished outside the top 10 since having engine trouble in the 2009 race. He has finished in the top five at Kansas five times. Carl Edwards will start on the front row for the first time at Kansas after qualifying second with a lap of 191.748. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified third.

So NASCAR heads to my home track, the Kansas Speedway. I still remember what this area was like before they built this monstrous track on the gateway to the great plains. They will be repaving and reconfigure this track as soon as the race is over on Sunday. And this is the only time that this race will be run in the spring (the normal dates are summer and fall). So I asked a couple of the drivers, can you use the notes you have and will you learn any thing this week that they can us when they return?

To quote the great poet LL Cool J "we're going back to Cali, Cali, Cali, were going back to Cali, but just once this season. " OK maybe the song didn't go exactly that why, but you get the point. NASCAR races to the beautiful edge of the left coast, Fontana, California and the Auto Club speedway. This is the only date for this track in 2011, and honestly unlike what happened in Atlanta, I think this is the right call. There's no rich history at Auto Club speedway and southern Cal does seem all that interested in having to races.

One year ago, racing Daytona was all about having a dance partner. But this season, it is more likely the racing will be closer to a flash mob than Dancing with the Stars. Between the changes to the cars to discourage two by two racing, and the heat this race will get closer to the pack racing that NASCAR wants. Though it's possible you could see both. "One thing about pack racing is that there is a price to be paid. Nothing is for free," said Jeff Burton.  "If you put everyone in a pack, you know what that price is. I've been doing this for almost 20 years and I know the result of pack racing.

The Chase is on, and all bets are off. The only thing about this of year, is nothing predictable. I mean, don't ask me whose going to win, I picked Carl Edwards to win it all in the preseason. Brad Keselowski jumped out to the early lead after winning at Chicagoland on Sunday. But it is just one race. "There's still nine weeks left," said Keselowski. "Any time you win, it's a bit of a mission accomplished for that particular weekend, but the Chase isn't about one particular weekend, it's about 10, and there's a long road to hoe. " And anything can happen it one race.

Some call it the tricky triangle. And the nickname alone should give you good insight into what will make this weekend's race so unique. With just three corners instead of the unusual four, there is nothing like the Pocono Raceway on the NASCAR circuit. Things get a little trickier this weekend, because the track has been repaved, so no one really knows what to expect. "Obviously it's going to be really fast and I think they have put a lot of effort into making the race track safer with the barriers all around the track," said Kevin Harvick.