Some of our famous Q-ers were at the Lowe's Motor Speedway tonight for the race, and I almost missed it, due to work, but I managed to get home on time for the green flag, only to see Sam Hornish Jr have problems almost immediately.  He spun twice within the first ten laps, but once he got those problems over with, the drivers settled into for the long mid race run.  That is, until the rains came.  Luckily it was only a light rainshower, and the red flag did not fly.  The teams pitted under the yellow, then continued around the track, just trying to keep the track as dry as possible.

By lap 43 the cars were back running full force, with Johnson in the lead, Kenseth challenging and Kyle Busch in a pretty pink M&M's car running 4th and challenging.

Kyle's car wasn't the only pink car in the field this weekend.  Elliott Sadler and Michael Waltrip were also in pink cars, running in support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.  Yes, these are guys, definitely, but what better way to show support and love for the women in your life than to drive a pink car.  Kudos to all three of them.

Jeff Gordon's car was "Megatron" one of the Transformers in the new transformers movie, and to be honest, it was a pretty cool looking car.  Ryan Newman was also in a Transformers car for the race, the "Optimus Prime" painted car.  In case you didn't know, Megatron is the bad guy, while Optimus Prime is one of the heroes.

Kurt Busch didn't have a special paint scheme thies weekend, but he was running with the pride of his wife, Eva.  She competes in dressage, and had spent the earlier part of the weekend competing, making the trip after her competition to be by husband Kurt's side for the race.  Oh, and she did score some Blue Ribbons.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin Truex Jr were also in special paint schemes for this race, Truex Jr in a paint scheme sponsored by DJ Hero, a new interactive music experience released by Activision, while Montoya was in a Lysol sponsored car.  Montoya's blue car seemed to bring him luck and speed as he was able to pass most everyone in his path in the first third of the race.

Denny Hamlin was leading just as the first third came to a conclusion as he passed Dale Earnhardt Jr, who remained frustrated and puzzled about the performance of himself and his team.  They had been strong in earlier practices, but as the track got more rubber from the tires worked into it, and the air and track temperature dropped, the setups teams had had for practice sessions were virtually useless.  Dale Jr went a lap down, once again forced to ride around the track, not even close to being a contender for the lead.

Kyle Busch brought out the 4th caution of the night when his car just "stepped out" on him.  Luckily, no damage was done and Kyle was able to get into the pits, along with all the rest.

Others weren't so lucky.  Carl Edwards was back in 37th, Brian Vickers was in 36th and Montoya was in 35th, all with problems early on.  With les than a hundred laps to go, Kasey Kahne, the new owner of the Lowe's house had taken the lead from Gordon and the tope ten did not look anything like the top ten had in the first 4 races of the Chase.

Jimmie had moved into second, getting past Matt Kenseth, an early leader of the race, on the inside with less than 70 laps to go.

The laps were winding down quickly and when Max Papis had engine failure, the restart with 38 to go had Jimmie Johnson on the inside with Kasey Kahne on the outside.  Jimmie took off like he'd been shot out of a rocket, and we all had to know that somehow another caution was going to fly.  Certainly that is what happened when David Gilliland hit the wall.  Chad Knaus had an expression on his face that was self explanatory - a restart and a huge lead once again gone.

Mark Martin was the recipient of the free pass, and took the opportunity to pit for tires.  Not half a dozen laps later, Carl Edwards watched his championship hopes go up in smoke, literally. 

Oh, and with 28 laps to go at Lowe's Motor Speedway, only 3 chasers were in the top ten.  Restart saw Jimmie take off once again, with a crapload of other drivers, desperate for a win, fighting behind him.  Tony Stewart went  4 wide, and the result was a run through the grass for Greg Biffle.  No damage was done, and Biffle was able to get back on the track.

With ten to go, Jimmie had the lead, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and  Jeff Gordon were hot on his heels.  Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Casey Mears and Kyle Busch also wanted to be part of the picture and were racing for the best finish they could pull off.  Matt was  able to get by Kasey with 5 to go.   With two laps to go, the front three seemed to be set, but Joey Logano was fighting Jeff for 4th position, but Jeff was able to hang on to that position and moved up into third in the points standings by virtue of Juan Pablo Montoya's struggles earlier on in the race.  Montoya finished in 35th and dropped three positons, but was not the worst finisher by far.  Edwards and Hamlin both finished behind him.

Oh, and those Q-er's at the race? Well, I'm betting MissAJrFan (my adopted daughter - and no I'm not explaining how that came to be) and 18packabs both enjoyed themselves immensely.  Why wouldn't they?

As the teams head off to Martinsville, another short track, next weekend, and with his win at Lowe's, we can say for sure it is Jimmie's championship to win, but this fan believes "it ain't over until it's over".