Click here to follow us on Twitter @circletrackplus

What a difference a week makes. (My guess is this isn't the only time someone led a column with this sentence.)

NASCAR slapped a new set of rules, reducing downforce, on the cars for Saturday night's Quaker State 400 in Kentucky, and it looked like the 1.5-mile track had been coated with that old "bear grease" used at Darlington in the 1970s.

Kyle Busch's Toyota was fastest. What a surprise. He's adept at hanging loose. Before he won, though, he, Joey Logano, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards put on an actual duel.

No foolin.’

Next up is New Hampshire, a flat mile where the old regulations will be back in place. NASCAR plans to use a "high drag" set of rules at Indianapolis and Michigan, and the "low downforce" setup again at Darlington on Labor Day weekend.

That is, as it stands right now.

Two observations: (1.) The Kentucky rules worked well, and it will be tempting to use them more than the current plan, and (2.) "loose" at Darlington is going to be a good bit more hazardous than "loose" at Kentucky.

Are we at the dawn of an era in which NASCAR adjusts the rules week to week? It sure was fun to hear positive reviews of a race, particularly a week after the last-lap mayhem and hand wringing of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Daytona conquest.

Kentucky's track surface is as wide as the Missouri River. Darlington's is as narrow as Cripple Creek. The term is "enough rope to hang yourself."

Naturally, I can't wait. As Bud Moore once said to me, "By God, your ass got something to write about now."

That was back when I was young and still capable of typing with my butt cheeks.

For a week, the rules changed the balance of power in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Joe Gibbs’ four Toyotas all finished in the top five. Logano’s Ford finished second. Brad Keselowski, Logano’s Penske Racing teammate, was as fast as the winner for most of the night.

Where was the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet juggernaut? Oh, scattered about in seventh, ninth, 21st and 27th.

This, too, will pass.

Challenges remain. NASCAR officials often cite controlling costs as a goal of their rule changes. Unfortunately, no one ever gets to save any money when constant changes keep them, well, constantly changing.

But there’s hope, Matilda! Gather ‘round the TV, kids. Tell your cousins to come on over. We’re gonna watch the race. And maybe cut a watermelon.