He is :) his team is right there now, right in striking distance of the points lead, starting to click those top 5s off.. I think he's gonna challenge for his first win of the year on Saturday at IMS. And I agree, this year's title fight so far has been great. 6 drivers within a race worth of points from the lead.. for a while I thought it was gonna be Regan and Sam, now Elliott is starting to gel with his new team at JGR, Vickers is starting to heat up, Austin has caught back up.. I dunno who to take now (but I'd love to see Austin or Regan Smith).
Road courses, definitely! Trucks are finally going road course racing in September (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park), Nationwide has two in August (Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen) and Cup at the Glen. I'd definitely love to see another road course, maybe two, for the Cup schedule. Sonoma WAS great, loved seeing Truex finally get that win. I think he has another one in him before the Chase starts, and if he doesn't get back into the top 10 that'll make the wild card race interesting for sure.
Haha yep, been an Earnhardt fan for life. :) I've got 3, 8 and 88 stuff all over my walls! Tony is awesome too; I knew he could turn his bad start to the season around when the calendar turned over into summer.