In a race where teammates raced like archrivals to the checkered flag, Kyle Busch surged ahead of Matt Kenseth with a crossover move on the next-to-last lap and won the Furious 7 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race by .791 seconds over his Joe Gibbs Racing stablemate at Chicagoland Speedway Saturday night.

What do Fireball Roberts, Curtis Turner, Glen Wood and Tom Pistone have in common with George Halas, Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Gale Sayers and William "The Refrigerator" Perry?

They all "played" at storied Soldier Field in Chicago.

Halas, Butkus, Payton, Sayers and Perry, of course, are among the most famous of the NFL’s legendary Chicago Bears, whose home field is the great arena dating to 1926.

I dread this time of year. People ask me, "Who is going to win the Chase?" Some of them are on the radio. Some are behind the counter at the Cheapo Gas and Smokes. I could easier predict the final score of the football game on Oct. 2 between Southern Utah and Weber State.

I'm going with Weber State, which wears purple. Furman, where I went, wears purple. When in doubt, I go with purple. Also, Weber State is the Wildcats. Purple schools tend to be Wildcats: Weber State, Northwestern and Kansas State. Furman, however, is the Paladins, so I'm not as sure about Weber State's chances against Southern Utah, but I am surer about Weber State than I am the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

The gang of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas have put together some dominant performances this summer but none more so than Matt Kenseth's overpowering victory in Saturday night's Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

Kenseth, who started in the second spot, led 352 of the race's 400 laps to cruise to his fourth victory of the season and 35th of his career. The win also locks Kenseth into the third seed on the Chase grid. 

When NASCAR CEO/Chairman/anointed one Brian France introduced the Chase to the Championship, he said he was looking for “seventh game” moments. Thankfully, the sanctioning body has been able to produce more defining moments than we usually get in a seven game World Series.

Take this weekend for example. We're not even in the post-season and we could have a classic moment in Richmond.

While it's highly unlikely there will be a new winner Saturday night in Richmond– the last one was in June in Sonoma, race No. 16 of the 26 events that comprise the regular season – that possibility exists. How exciting would be be if , say, Tony Stewart were to win and make the Chase.

Pandemonium and confusion reigned.
   
These words best describe what took place in NASCAR’s Miller 400 on Feb. 23, 1986 at the old Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway.
   
Two of the Cup Series’ biggest, most colorful stars—champions Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip—crashed in a wildly controversial wreck while battling for the lead with three laps to go. The incident enabled Kyle Petty to ride from fifth place into first and score the initial victory by a third generation driver in the circuit’s history.

It's down to one race. The final chance for drivers who may have caught tough breaks or just flat out underperformed during the season to try and make NASCAR's Chase for the Championship.

There are four drivers who can make the Chase regardless of who wins Saturday night at Richmond -- others aren't so lucky.

Once in a great while, even in NASCAR, things work.

Such a night was Sunday, when Darlington Raceway, that obsolete, misshapen track closer to the deep, blue sea than the devil, put the entire sport on its aging shoulders and rescued it from a self-induced coma.