Sprint Cup N's & Q's: Kansas 400

If there was any doubt about the impact of clean air in NASCAR, Kansas Speedway pretty much cleared it up.

Simply, the undisturbed air that the leader has on the front nose of his race car gives a decided handling advantage. And don't just ask Tony Stewart, but ask the two other drivers that took two tires during the race's final pit stop on lap 239 -- Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart, who got a jump on the lap 241 restart, got the clean air and held off Jeff Gordon and his four new tires while Kahne and Johnson fell to sixth and ninth respectively.

Gordon tried to claw back to Stewart's bumper after working his way past Greg Biffle for second, and appeared to be pulling closer and closer to Stewart. But Gordon reached a point -- at just over a half second behind Stewart -- that he could just go no further. A factor at that point could have been Gordon's tires wearing away due to his hard driving effort, but Stewart's two tires should have equalized out that effect.

Drivers have noted time and time again -- both with the old and new car -- that closing behind another car often causes a dramatic handling shift. A lot of the change has to do with the decreased air on the nose of the trailing race car, causing the tires to have less force pressed into the track.

The lower pressure on the front end can cause the car to feel tight and not want to turn as well with the front tires.

The Kansas Speedway media center is apparently a chair lighter today after a humorous exchange between Stewart and the assembled post-race media.

Prior to Stewart's post-race press conference, Jeff Gordon had answered a question about the championship format and mentioned something along the lines of Stewart having a big lead had the Chase not reset the field.

Well, NASCAR.com's Joe Menzer wanted to ask a question to Stewart related to the topic, and it set off one of Stewart's infamous sarcastic banters with the NASCAR media.

Here's a little bit of the transcript:

Joe Menzer, NASCAR.com: "Jeff Gordon was in here and mentioned--"
Tony Stewart: "He came in here? Jeff Gordon came in here?"
JM: "Yeah."
TS: "Wow."
JM: "I know, you're amazed."
TS: "That's awesome man. I never would have thought Jeff Gordon would have come in here."
JM: "He was sitting right there, I believe."
TS: "He was sitting right here?" (as Stewart pointed to the chair he was sitting in)
JM: "Yeah, man."
TS: "Oh my God, I'm sitting in the seat Jeff Gordon sat in. That's awesome. Can I take this home? I mean I won the race. Can I take this chair home? Alright. I'll send somebody back for it after I leave. Go ahead, I'm trying to contain myself."

Stewart didn't have to send anyone back, as he wheeled the chair off the stage himself after making another comment that he wants Gordon to sign the chair. All reports say that it made its way into the No. 14 hauler and didn't return from it.

So goes the story of Tony & the Chair.

Roush-Fenway Racing has to be walking a little taller after Sunday's race.

Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, the only two RFR drivers in the Chase, wound up 3rd and 10th, respectively. Late pit calls probably took Biffle from the race win, but he's certainly got to be happy with the results.

Edwards wasn't pleased with his car for much of the day, but still salvaged a decent finish at a track that he certainly expects to do better at. Remember, one year ago Edwards made the bonzai move into turn three on the last lap and came up just short of beating Jimmie Johnson for the win.

While those two may be somewhat pleased with their results after a season of struggles -- the team hasn't won a race since Fontana in February -- Matt Kenseth's No. 17 is actually showing life. Kenseth was a contender up front for the second race in a row and looked to be a contender through the stretch until his engine went south.

Jamie McMurray got lapped and David Ragan got caught up in an early wreck, so not all was good for Roush. But baby steps for the team in the right direction are still steps in the right direction.

After receiving an unusual warning about car measurement tolerances from NASCAR last week, the cars of Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin were once again transported back to the NASCAR research and development center following the race at Kansas.

And there's a possibility that will be a norm for those two cars for the rest of the season.

NASCAR warned those teams that they were within thousandths of an inch of the maximum allowed body measurements after Dover, and has decided that make sure both the No. 5 and No. 48 stay in conformity. Hence the reason both cars were taken back to the R&D center, which is above and beyond what NASCAR normally takes back.

NASCAR is fully in its right to take any car it wants back for inspection, and if it wanted, it could take every car back to the R&D center for testing after race -- though that's highly impractical.

Normally, the sanctioning body takes just the winner's car and a car drawn randomly back to the R&D center for a tight inspection. Sunday, those cars included Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch.

Lots of folks have wondered if NASCAR is trying to sweep something under the rug with Johnson and Martin, but honestly, look at the bigger picture. Think about how tight the Chase would come if both teams would have been penalized with points after Dover.

Think Jimmie Johnson & Mark Martin being reeled back to the pack would draw some interest? I'd say so -- and that would be in NASCAR's favor.