Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch and teammate Denny Hamlin were making headlines before the Amp Energy 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway started, as both topped 200 mph in practice on Friday. Busch was also 13th fastest in the first session when it came to two lap averages.

Busch has one Cup win at Talladega, coming in 2008, and the last time the series was here in April Busch came away with his second top ten finish. If the top contenders in the Chase have trouble, and the No. 18 can overcome his 23rd place average finish and avoid the “Big One”, the championship hunt could have four men in the hunt when the series rolls into Texas next week.

Rowdy was also able to win his 21st NASCAR Series win of 2010 on Saturday after a controversial finish in the Camping World Truck Series Mountain Dew 250.

Busch will start 32nd on Sunday.

Jeff Burton

One of the big stories leaving Martinsville was the hard racing we witnessed between Richard Childress Racing teammates Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick. The two were obviously angry with each other with on their respective radios.

Burton explained to the media on Friday that he and his teammate in the No. 29 are “both very competitive people” but also added “RCR is like a family, and sometimes families argue amongst themselves and carry on probably more with your family than they do with people they don’t even know. That is probably what happened with us last week.” The two had a meeting at the shop this week and everything seems to be clear heading into ‘Dega.

Burton is winless at Talladega Superspeedway in 33 career starts at the track, his best finish of third coming in 2001. Heading into this weekend’s Amp Energy 500, Burton is 246 points out of the Chase lead, but his help will be vital to teammate Kevin Harvick’s championship hopes. On Friday, Burton qualified fifth.

Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin sits six points behind Jimmie Johnson and just 56 ahead of Kevin Harvick, but he doesn’t want any help when it comes to winning his first Sprint Cup title.

Hamlin told the media on Friday not only did he not want teammates Kyle Busch of Joey Logano to take out his championship contenders, but he didn’t want the No. 29 or No. 48 to wreck at all.

“You almost don’t want anything to happen to anyone, because you want to beat them straight up- 10 weeks, no questions about it,” Hamlin said. “For me, if we left Talladega and (the points battle) was just the way it is, I’d be perfectly fine with that.”

Hamlin will start Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 from the 17th position.

Matt Kenseth

Friday did not get off to the start the Roush Fenway team might have wanted to- Matt Kenseth, along with his teammate Greg Biffle, were in the garage for most of the opening practice with vibrations. Kenseth was able to run 16 laps during the first session and finish seventh fastest, and ran 20 laps in Happy Hour and was 17th fastest.

Kenseth qualified 27th for Sunday’s race.

Kevin Harvick

The last time the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series paid a visit to the Talladega Superspeedway it was Kevin Harvick in victory lane, ending a 115 race winless streak, dating back to his win in the 2007 Daytona 500.

Since then, Harvick has won two other races, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona and the Carfax 400 at Michigan, led the points for the majority of the season, and now with four races to go sits 62 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson.

If Happy wants to reclaim the top spot in the points standings, he’s going to have to recapture that Talladega magic he found in April- and get that golden horseshoe from the No. 48. Harvick will start the Amp Energy 500 from 14th.

Carl Edwards

Carl Edwards hasn’t finished in the top ten at Talladega since a ninth place finish in this race in 2006, has four DNFs and an average finish of 22nd. Roush Fenway Racing didn’t get off to a great start this weekend, but if the top contenders were to have bad days, the man sixth in the Chase and 213 points out could make some noise as this Chase for the Cup closes out.

Cousin Carl will start the Amp Energy 500 23rd.

Thanks to Scene Daily, NASCAR.com, Jayski, Hampton Road's Dustin Long and Racing Reference for the information, quotes and stats used in this piece.