When we go green flag to checkered flag at Martinsville Speedway for Sunday's STP 500, we make over a dozen yellow flag stops in between. It was one of those day's at NASCAR's oldest track and it was a great one for Virginia-native Denny Hamlin at his home track.

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Flag to Flag: Would Kevin Harvick continue his domination this week? Could his teammate Kurt Busch score a win in his second race back from suspension? Could the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota's sustain speed and notch Toyota's first win in almost a year? The cliche, "There's a reason we run the whole races," sure applied in Sundays Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway - it actually turns out the extra nine laps spread over two green-white-checkered finishes decided the race. Brad Keselowski foiled the above plot lines to win his first race of the season and only needed the last lap to do it at a track in which he had never even notched a top 10.

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Flag to Flag: Sunday's CampingWorld.com 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway was "The Kevin Harvick Show. The driver of the No. 4 Jimmy John's Chevy put on a clinic, taking the pole and the race, capturing his second-straight win, his fourth in a row at PIR, and his seventh-straight top two finish, dating back to last season. Harvick had the pole, but Team Penske's Joey Logano (8th) led the first 25 laps, with Harvick then taking the lead almost all of the rest of the way. Brad Keselowski (6th) took the lead for 52 circuits on lap 119, when Harvick pitted for tires under yellow and Kesewloski stayed out front.

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For the first time in a while, I got to take in a race from, really, the best place one can possibly take one in - the grandstands. Sunday was also my first trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, situated just north of Sin City and right next to a beautiful mountainscape in the Nevada desert. There's something that gets lost on racing when you don't see it in person or when you do, you see it from behind the glass of a press box. Just sitting in the stands, with the crowd, with fellow fans reminds you of why you became a fan and helps you feel the heartbeat of NASCAR nation. Every media member should do this at least once a year. It changes the perspective, it sharpens it. And since I was out there enjoying the race more than just covering it, here are a few quick takes from the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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Was this Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 even going to run at Atlanta Motor Speedway? That sure didn't look to be the case Sunday morning with substantial rain drenching the track. But the skies let up around 10 a.m. and left time for track drying and a slightly delayed start to the 325-lap race. Several contenders had to start near the back: Saturday's winner Kevin Harvick (2nd) blew an engine in Happy Hour.

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