Nationwide Series at Darlington.

Seems like all the drivers are still a bit antsy from Talladega, am I right? I mean, they were wrecking from the drop of the green flag! Too Tough to Tame proved itself tonight, because in my opinion that was a very entertaining race, and I can't wait for the Southern 500 tomorrow night! Some of the occurrences that stuck out to me tonight were: Keselowski redeeming himself from a mediocre start to the Nationwide season, Cole Whitt's climb through the field, the ratio of Cup to Nationwide drivers in the top ten throughout the race, and Carl Edwards' comments from the booth.

Keselowski -

Brad has been pretty quiet in the Nationwide series in 2012, don't you agree? We're all pretty used to seeing him out front in Nationwide, but it hasn't been like that as much lately.. from my perspective. A stat that was displayed tonight showed that Keselowski's average finish was 7.5 in the first four races, whereas in the previous four, not including tonight's, his average finish was 18.5. That just doesn't seem like typical Keselowski to me! He finished third in tonight's race, and honestly, I was glad to see him up there again. Hopefully we can see more of the 22 battling up front for the duration of the season!

Cole Whitt -

After going to a backup car, Cole Whitt started tonight's Nationwide race in 42nd place. The Nationwide series rookie steadily climbed through the field to finish in 10th place. With the wrecks and commotion tonight, it would have taken a lot of patience to climb through that field. Cole will be making his fourth start in the Cup series tomorrow at Darlington, driving the Turn One Racing 74 car.

Cup drivers to Nationwide drivers in the top ten -

In 2012, a common pattern in the Nationwide series has shown that Cup regulars are truly being challenged by the Nationwide regulars. Tonight, to see what the stats reflected, I recorded the top ten at five points during the race, to show where Cup and Nationwide regulars were running. Here they are: 
*Nationwide regulars bolded. 
Lap 1 (qualifying order) -Stenhouse Jr., Hamlin, Dillon, Kurt Busch, Logano, Sadler, Scott, Hornish Jr., Kahne, Allgaier
Lap 35 - Hamlin, Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Logano, Sadler, Kahne, Dillon, Hornish Jr., Keselowski, Scott
Lap 70 - Hamlin, Stenhouse Jr., Kurt Busch, Logano, Keseowski, Sadler, Hornish Jr., Dillon, Scott, Kahne
Lap 112 - Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Logano, Sadler, Keselowski, Dillon, Hornish Jr., Stenhouse Jr., Kahne, Scott
Lap 147 (finishing order) - Logano, Hamlin, Keselowski, Hornish Jr., Dillon, Stenhouse Jr., Scott, Kurt Busch, Buescher, Whitt 

It's a pretty even ratio, wouldn't you say?

Carl Edwards -

Last but not least, wasn't it awesome to have Carl in the booth for the race tonight? He gave amazing commentary from a current driver who has been on the track this weekend, and knows exactly what it's like out there. Having Carl's perspective from the booth illustrated what it's like to be IN the car, not just what's going on around the track. I loved having him in the studio, and I hope he reports more often. Also, he already has a career when he's done racing, because he's a great commentator.

...And ladies, we all know that Carl looked GOOD in that suit tonight! :)

Not the best picture, but it's hard to pause anyone on a good face!