As seen in the video footage of the accident, Bobby LaBonte was left limping his way over to the infield care center. It was then learned that LaBonte was taken to the hospital in Elmira, NY with what Petty Enterprises VP Robbie Loomis described as discomfort in his rib and abdominal area, but NASCAR officials later stated that Bobby was released from the hospital and cleared to resume competition.

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NASCAR Rivals: Bobby Labonte Injured by Watkins Glen Mele’

Incase you missed the action on Saturday afternoon, here’s some video to show you how the cars were handling on the regular slick tires before the teams converted over. The video also carries footage of a drivers such as Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Sr. competing in a 1997 exhibition race at Suzka Circuit in which they raced in the rain, and a practice session at Watkins Glen where they practiced in the rain.

As you can see, the tires didn’t bode so well for drivers such as Stanton Barrett made a few “turns” around the track, but here, take a look at the first 9 minutes of the race with grooved tires, and you can really see the improvement in the handling.

And, just for good measure, I can’t show you highlights of this race without showing you some footage of Carl Edwards with what was undoubtedly the funniest moment of the race:

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NASCAR Rivals: Slicks vs. Grooves

Video footage of the wreck involving Busch and Harvick:

Although these two drivers have mixed it up with one another plenty of times earlier on in their careers, this incident was one of pure mistakes, and both drivers seem to have taken it that way.

When reporters caught up with Harvick following the incident, he remained optimistic, stating, “We will just go onto Pocono. Hopefully we will be good, and I think we will be fine for the Chase.”

Busch manned up and accepted responsibility for the accident. “I was just trying to let a guy go underneath me and I got loose and I collected both of us. I hated that somebody else got caught up in my mess,” he said. “The car just wasn’t handling very good, trying to make it where we could go and pit at the next caution. It just snapped loose on me.”

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NASCAR Rivals: Kurt Busch Spins and Collects Kevin Harvick

The incident really started when David Reutimann got into the back of Sorenson coming out of Turn 2, which got him loose going through the next turns, leaving him pinched up near the wall going into Turn 3.

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NASCAR Rivals: Mike Bliss, Reed Sorenson, Scott Wimmer Wreck at Gateway

Lining up for the final restart for a two-lap shootout to the checkers with Kevin Harvick behind him and Johnson out in front, Busch timed the restart perfectly and was able to get side-by-side with Johnson going through the first set of the tri-ovals before ultimately making the pass and picking up his seventh Sprint Cup win of the 2008 season.

Let’s take you back with some video footage of that remarkable move that Kyle Busch put on Johnson to get the win:

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NASCAR Rivals: Kyle Busch Gets Jimmie Johnson on the Restart

Below is video footage of the final restart, and at the end of the clip are comments from Carl Edwards following the race.

Here is the clip from when the show came back from commercial, and they continue to go through the post-race interviews. About 2 1/2 minutes into the clip is the response from Gordon following the incident.

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NASCAR Rivals: Jeff Gordon Spun by Carl Edwards on Final Restart

Video footage of the wreck between Montoya and Busch:

Following the race, reporters caught up with Montoya to discuss the incident. The Colombian native insinuated that the feud between the two drivers had been brewing for fifty laps when Kyle was pinching him up against the wall as he tried to make the pass, and then that Busch was beating and banging on his car.

“He runs good? Yeah. He has great cars? Yeah. I thought we had a decent car today, and I don’t appreciate when people race me like that,” Montoya said. Marty Snyder then asked Montoya if he intentionally spun Busch, to which the driver responded, “Well, yeah. The same way he did to me.”

Despite the fact that Montoya may have won some fan votes for his brutal honesty, Kyle Busch was none too pleased with the outcome of the altercation.

“We came to that caution flag, and he thought he beat me to the flag. I was just trying to get around who was in front of us, touched him on the door, and he turned left and spun me out. I don’t know what his beef is, but NASCAR should probably fix it,” Busch said.

Montoya later responded, “I think they are giving me a penalty, and it’s okay for what I did. He hit me under caution, he hit me under green, and I retaliated. Did I go too far in retaliating? Yeah. The only reason I did that was that I was just defending myself.”

While it was refreshing to hear a driver actually speak honestly about his intentions on the track, perhaps Montoya would have been a bit better off to stay quiet on the situation. NASCAR wound up penalizing Juan two laps, taking him from what would’ve been a 26th place finish and dropping him to 32nd.

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NASCAR Rivals: Juan Pablo Montoya Intentionally Wrecks Kyle Busch

But, wait … I believe there’s two more, the most recent of which came this past Sunday at Infineon Raceway at the Toyota Save/Mart 350. With only a small handful of laps remaining and Stewart 2nd and Kevin Harvick in 4th, Harvick got into the turn to fast and clipped the no. 26 Ford of Jamie McMurray. McMurray then got into Stewart, once again taking a winning opportunity out of Smoke’s hands, though he did somehow manage to come back for a top-ten finish.

That wasn’t the first time that Harvick took the race out of Harvick’s hands this year, though. When the series ran at Bristol back in March, Harvick was racing Stewart for 2nd place in the last five laps of the race when Harvick got down on the apron going through turn 2, and he climbed up the track and got into Tony, sending him from 2nd to 14th just like that.

Despite attempts from the media, Stewart refused to show any angst towards Harvick following the incident at Sonoma this past Sunday, and all indications are that the two are still on good terms. But, of course, anytime they feel that their friendship has hit a rough patch, I’m sure Kevin will be more than willing to wax Tony again. Eeeewww.

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NASCAR Rivals: Kevin Harvick vs. Tony Stewart

It’s been tough to find a fan in America that wasn’t happy to see Dale Earnhardt Jr. FINALLY reach Victory Lane this past weekend at Michigan. While the majority of the NASCAR garage area was also happy to see the likeable Dale Junior get the win as well, some drivers brought into question the validity of it, particularly due to the fact that on several occassions during the final caution period he would pass the pace car by several car links, and then slide back behind it by shutting off the ignition in an effort to save fuel. This is something that many drivers did not believe to be a legal move per the NASCAR rulebook, including 3rd and 4th place finishers, Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers.

Below is the post-race interview from Matt Kenseth (preceded by Kasey Kahne’s short press conference) in which he questions NASCAR’s decision. It should also be noted that Kenseth was equally – if not more – unhappy with NASCAR’s decision not to give him his spot back after a NASCAR official interfered with his pit stop on pit road.

Brian Vickers also commented on NASCAR not penalizing Earnhardt for passing the pace car, stating, “There were a lot of things that happened there at the end of the race that are big question marks in my mind, and passing the pace car under caution was just one of them. You’re also supposed to make it around the track unassisted. There were guys pushing each other on fuel mileage strategies. That’s not right. It’s definitely not legal, but they let it go.”

Vickers was also preturbed with the fact that they placed Mark Martin’s no. 8 car in front of him during the final caution period, on which he commented, “And, then obviously the call to put the 8 car back in front of us. I don’t know why that was, but it definitely cost us a shot at the race. And, it was blatantly, obviously wrong. It wasn’t like we were side by side, we were seven cars ahead of him two laps before the caution came out.”

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NASCAR Rivals: Kenseth, Vickers vs. NASCAR Rulebook

During Sunday’s race, the two drivers became acquainted with one another on the track not once, but twice. The two first got together when they both spun on lap 57 as they battled for position:

The two then collided once again as they spun out on lap 68, this time collecting David Gilliland and Terry LaBonte in the process:

Hornish went onto finish the race in 42nd place and has now dropped to 34th in the points standings. Carpentier managed a 32nd place finish, but remains in 38th overall, 397 points out of the top-35.

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NASCAR Rivals: Patrick Carpentier vs. Sam Hornish Jr.