Joshua and Cheryl have been offering up their own personal sets of HeartRacers~HeartBreakers for each race. The moments that stirred them for whatever reason will fall in the HeartRacers category, and anything that makes them wince, cry, or throw stuff will be HeartBreakers. All cawsnjaws readers are invited to add on their own to share with everyone.

It was a chilly night in Concord, North Carolina, but the fans were ready for some exciting racing. Would tires be an issue? Would Jimmie Johnson reclaim his crown as ‘King of the Lowe’s House’? Lots of sub-plots were leading into this race.

HeartRacers:

• Wasn’t it cool to see all of those racing legends together at the track during the pre-race ceremonies? Ernie Irvan, Bobby and Donnie Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Buddy Baker, and Richard Petty were among the illustrious drivers being honored prior to the race for being past winners at the track. That’s a whole lot of racing history hanging out together.

• Wally Dallenbach lined up another NFL player as a guest passenger in his car for ‘Wally’s World’. Steve Smith, wide-receiver for the Carolina Panthers, seemed to have a great time during the ride.

• Country music singer and former ‘American Idol’ contestant Kellie Pickler delivered a rousing version of the National Anthem.

• The biggest HeartRacer this week was seeing Benny Parsons in the booth and hearing that he’s been told by his doctors that he is cancer-free. That was great news!

• Some HeartRacers ‘Hey, great jobs!’ go out to three drivers wearing Chevy bow ties: Tony Raines (No. 96 Chevy) for finishing seventh; Joe Nemechek (No. 01 Chevy) for finishing ninth; and Sterling Marlin (No. 14 Chevy) for finishing 11th.

• Terry Labonte (No. 44 Chevy), the Iron Man from Texas, started at the back of the pack in 43rd, but finished 21st. His brother, Bobby Labonte (No. 43 Dodge) started 21st, but finished fifth. Three cheers for good performances from two of NASCAR’s favorite brothers.

• Kyle Busch (No. 5 Chevy) started the race in 18th place but finished in sixth. What is remarkable about that is what he went through to get there. He experienced a little bit of everything good and bad (such as leading the race, and a pass-through penalty for speeding), but always managed to find his way back up to the top ten.

• Fans of Jeff Burton (No. 31 Chevy) must have felt a chill when, on lap 310, he was heard reporting a vibration in his car to his team. However, it was not the loose tires that he feared, and he went on to finish in third place. While he had much to be happy about, most importantly retaining and stretching out his lead in the Chase standings, he appeared terribly disappointed in post-race interviews. It was obvious he felt he had the car that could have won.

• No, Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevy) did not win the Lowe’s race, as he has done multiple times. But the good news is that he didn’t experience any harsh luck this week, and came in second.

HeartBreakers:

• We wonder who is going to get frowned at by their boss for being responsible for the green flag waving on lap eight, when a few safety vehicles were still on the track.

• Mike Bliss (No. 49 Dodge) and Mike Skinner (No. 72 Chevy) barely had their tires warm on lap one when they got tangled in a wreck that started with Todd Bodine (No. 4 Chevy) tapping Robby Gordon (No. 7 Chevy). This relegated Bliss to 42nd and Skinner to a 43rd place finish. This incident also affected Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Chevy), who ended up finishing 28th. The only good news for Hamlin was that enough of the other Chasers had bad luck that he only fell one spot in the Chase standings to sixth.

• Saturday night’s Busch series surprise winner, Dave Blaney (No. 22 Dodge), did not fare so well in the Cup race. While he did finish ten positions up from his starting spot of 36th place, who knows what may have happened had he not spun on lap 16 and sustained some damage.

• While it is certainly a HeartBreaker to have seen Mark Martin (No. 6 Ford) getting into a bad crash with J.J. Yeley (No. 18 Chevy) on lap 242, the attitude he expressed in post-wreck interviews was inspiring. He smiled and waved at his fans, and indicated that his sky had not fallen. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a great role model last week; this week the honor goes to Mark Martin. Perhaps that’s why the racing gods saw to it that he only ended up falling one spot in the Chase standings to fourth.

• Unfortunately the saddest HeartBreaker this week must go out to Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevy), whose engine blew on lap 301. He fell three spots in the Chase standings to tenth. He, too, deserves kudos for being calm and matter-of-fact in post-race interviews, despite his bad luck.