The 2008 NASCAR Season Invades the Talladega Superspeedway this Sunday for the AMP Energy 500

Time to rev up the engines people. (In case you're not a fan of NASCAR like most of us...)

For the rest of you who are fans of oval tracks and the exhilarating art of turning left, the 2008 NASCAR season resumes at the Talladega Superspeedway for the AMP Energy 500 this Sunday.

The top three finishers in Kansas were Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. Johnson still leads the pack with 5575 points, closely followed by Edwards with 5565. Biffle is right behind at third trailing by 30 points. Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick rounds up the top five of the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Expect all five to come out strong, each looking to take the advantage as the season's Sprint Cup race heats up. Things to know heading to race number 30? Ten of the top 13 finishers were Chasers, the exceptions being David Ragan, 8th, AJ Allmendinger, 9th, and Elliott Sadler, 10th.

Jimmie Johnson, the race winner, did have the dominant car, starting on the pole and leading the most laps, 124 of 267. Kyle Busch finished 28th with mechanical problems, and Tony Stewart, who started 41st, finished 40th after his splitter was damaged during a trip through the infield grass.

Matt Kenseth led 49 laps and finished 5th, while Edwards led 31 and Casey Mears, 29. Martin Truex Jr., who looked strong in the early going and led 27 laps, finished in last place with a broken transmission.

Although there was not a huge shakeup in the points, a few important things did occur like Jeff Gordon moving up two spots to 6th. His 4th-place finish was his best thus far in the Chase and Gordon impressed fans with his determination to fight through illness all weekend.

Gordon is the last of the Chase drivers still within a one-race point's deficit behind 1st. The six are Johnson, Edwards, Biffle, Burton, Harvick and Gordon.

All the drivers from 7th through 12th are now more than one race out of 1st in terms of points. They are Clint Bowyer, 7th, Dale Earnhardt Jr., 8th, Matt Kenseth, 9th, Denny Hamlin, 10th, Tony Stewart, 11th, and Kyle Busch, 12th. Stewart took the biggest hit in the points, falling four spots to 11th. The three Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Hamlin, Stewart and Busch, now occupy the bottom three spots in the Chase standings.

The most exciting moment of the Kansas race was Carl Edwards' wild attempts to pass Jimmie Johnson on the last lap, employing a technique he said had worked well for him in video games.

Video games? Heh heh... Don't expect video games to save Edwards this Sunday.

Who will win the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship? Bodog sportsbook has the odds.

Kyle Busch 2.00

Dale Earnhardt Jr. 6.50

Jimmie Johnson 7.00

Jeff Gordon 11.00

Want more odds? Visit Bodog for more NASCAR betting odds and the best betting lines on some of today's biggest sporting events.

2008 NASCAR Season Sprint Cup