In January, NASCAR VP of Competition Robin Pemberton loosened the reins on drivers with an instant-classic phrase: “Boys, have at it.” On Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards sent Brad Keselowski’s No. 12 Dodge flipping into the air – and with it, all of NASCAR’s hopes for the first controversy-free week of the young season.

Keselowski’s flight was a terrifying inversion of the wreck on the final lap of the spring race at Talladega a year ago, the infamous wreck in which Keselowski sent Edwards pinwheeling into the fence at almost the exact same position on the track.

Whoa. One of the more frightening wrecks I’ve seen in a long time. Bad Carl. Bad, Bad, Carl.

I was hoping Kurt Busch would win in Las Vegas, my old hometown, but instead he won at Atlanta Motor Speedway, my new home track.

Kurt Busch won two races Sunday: the Kobalt Tools 500 and the Carl Edwards 25.

In a race that went 16 laps — nearly 25 miles — past its scheduled distance, after Edwards retaliated against Brad Keselowski for an incident earlier in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch took advantage of a strong restart to grab the lead during the second attempt at a green-white-checkered and crossed the finish line .482 seconds ahead of runner-up Matt Kenseth.

Congrats Kurt!

The good times kept rolling for Dale Earnhardt Jr. during Saturday’s final practice session for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

One day after admittedly spending most of his practice time in qualifying trim and having that pay off with his first pole since April of 2008 — 68 races ago — Earnhardt remained wicked fast during Happy Hour with a top lap of 185.517 mph at the 1.54-mile track. The only one faster during the final tune-up session was Mark Martin, Earnhardt’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate who posted the fastest lap of the day at 185.524 mph, making the circuit in 29.883 seconds — just .001 quicker than Earnhardt’s top lap.

I bet he was happy he didn’t hit the wall in practice. I’m actually looking forward to a great race tomorrow.

Dale Jr. got the pole? Maybe I should change my mind and make it a point to watch the race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. captured the pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a blistering speed of 192.761 mph.

Earnhardt’s lap on a cool Friday evening was faster than any pole-winning speed for a Sprint Cup race in 2009. Mark Martin was the pole-sitter last year in the spring race with a speed of 187.045 mph.

Who knows, this could be a non-Johnson win race. Hey! Shut up! It could happen!

Ryan Newman isn’t doing so hot this season.

Ryan Newman can look at the bright side: he’s not off to as bad a start as last season.

Newman, 32nd in points after three consecutive finishes outside the top 15 (two of which were outside the top 30), actually is having a better start to the 2010 season than he did in 2009. After three races last season, Newman was 33rd in the points.

Not a problem. He’ll bounce back.

Could this be the key that brings back interest in the Sprint Cup season?

NASCAR is finally about to lose its wings.

“We’re hoping within the next two of three races that we’ll be able to be at a point where we say it’s time to take the wings off and put the spoiler on,” NASCAR president Mike Helton said Monday.

While Helton didn’t provide a specific date for the expected removal of the wings from the cars, that timeline coincides with the March 28 race at Martinsville that most teams have expected to be the first with the more traditional-looking rear spoilers.

I honestly don’t see why they need to regulate anything as far as the body of the car goes. If the guys want to race a car, let them race a car. At least it would be interesting to see what happens.

No one is ignoring Jimmie Johnson’s run of victories, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t bored with the sport because of them.

Perhaps much of America’s racing fraternity is sick of hearing about Jimmie Johnson. Perhaps they are tired of watching him and crew chief Chad Knaus cavort about in Victory Lane. Heck, shortly after they did so for the second consecutive Sunday at sold-out Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a uniformed police officer and genuine race fan in far away Charlotte, N.C., actually approached me out of the blue and implored that “something had to be done” about it.

I was trying to figure out how to squeeze in more time for other stuff on the weekends anyway.

What did I tell you? The excitement I had for this season was left in Daytona.

Jimmie Johnson won his second straight race by passing teammate Jeff Gordon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to claim NASCAR’s Shelby American.

Gordon led 218 of the 267 laps, but he took just two tires on the final pit stop and it cost him the victory.

Johnson took four tires and restarted in fourth, but rocketed onto Gordon’s bumper as soon as the race resumed. He chased Gordon for 17 laps, finally scooting past him with 17 to go.

So… How many races should I plan on missing? I’m serious. They need to do something, because I know I’m not the only one.

Being a Vegas boy myself, I look forward to seeing Kurt race tomorrow. I hope he pulls off the win too.

Kurt Busch visited Victory Lane last year at his home track.

He was there to congratulate his little brother, Kyle, who became the first Busch brother to win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

He wants his own party this year.

Kurt Busch shattered his brother’s track record Friday with a pole-winning role at Las Vegas, the track he and Kyle Busch consider to be among the most important on the series. The Las Vegas natives watched construction of the track, hopeful to one day get a chance to race there – and maybe even win.

J.C. Elder, known as “Suitcase Jake” during his long tenure as a NASCAR crew chief with the likes of star drivers David Pearson, Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip, has died. He was 73.

Elder died Wednesday of natural causes at Autumn Care of Statesville, the Bunch-Johnson Funeral Home said Thursday.

Elder was the crew chief for Pearson’s 1968 and 1969 series champions and directed Earnhardt to his first Cup victory in 1979 at Bristol.

Rest In Peace, J.C.