There’s word going around that you’re thinking about becoming a NASCAR driver. Please say it ain’t true. We know you’re a decent driver in the IndyCar Series and that you’ve won at least one race in the five years you’ve been there, but NASCAR?

We thought that with all your endorsements and the adulation afforded you, you’d want to stay there and build up your resume a little bit more, maybe even win an Indianapolis 500 race, before you decided to mix it up with the “good ol’ boys”. Have you considered coming up through the ranks to get a feel for what it takes to throw around a 3400 pound car as opposed to your own that weighs a mere 1565, or did you want to dispense with the Camping World and Nationwide Series altogether and just start at the top?

We imagine that NASCAR would welcome you. Just think of all the attention you’d get ... and the endorsements?

We would like to see women racing in NASCAR, too, but there are others, past and present, like Janet Guthrie, Louise Smith, Shawna Robinson, Erin Crocker and Chrissy Wallace who came up through the ranks, like their male counterparts, to develop their skills and pay their dues before they were mentally and physically prepared to take on such a demanding sport. Even with their experience, Erin and Chrissy are still trying to secure solid sponsorships and the A-list status that goes along with it.

It’s contract renegotiating time for you this year. Use the opportunity to sign on with your friends at Andretti Green for another year or two and prove to the rest that you have what it takes to be a NASCAR driver and not just a female NASCAR driver.

What was it about this 2.66 mile racetrack that resulted in a near catastrophe this past Sunday? SAFER barriers, roof flaps and restrictor plates were supposed to eliminate the bedlam of years past but Talladega still remains one step away from disaster in the minds of many. Will the answer lie in what’s done after someone gets killed or is there another way to avoid the inevitable before it’s too late?

In 1987, Bobby Allison earned a few frequent flyer miles when he went airborne and slammed into the fence not far from where Edwards did, which led to restrictor plates being mandated for Talladega and Daytona that same year. It brought the speeds down but in recent years the cars have been inching up toward 200 mph and beyond once again. In 1994, roof flaps came into reality to prevent further excursions into the upper atmosphere and in 2002, Talladega went through an extreme makeover when SAFER barriers were added to decrease the effects of wall impacts. That sounds great but there’s one wild card left in the deck and that’s the drivers themselves.

Like all living things on this planet, race drivers find a way around obstacles that are put in their way and the ones at NASCAR are more adept than most. We’re not talking about breaking the rules here; we’re talking about maximizing what you already have at your disposal. It became apparent in restrictor plate races that your ability to move toward the front of the parade required a “buddy” and a whole lot of bump drafting. Find one and you are good for an additional 5-7 mph. This tactic works fine as long as nobody makes a mistake. Get out of shape and you’ll send a sizeable number of your peers to the garage for the remainder of the day.

Cutting too fine of a line, late in the race can make you either a hero or the master of disaster and NASCAR had left it up to the drivers to establish an unwritten rule as to what was acceptable when one chose to engage in the art of bump drafting. It seems at this point that over-aggressiveness and risk-taking tends to override reason to the extent that the intervention of a higher power is needed to avert something no one would ever want to see.

It seemed unlikely that Mark Martin would ever stand a real chance of winning. After all, he’s 50 years old. Sure he has had a noteworthy past, sure he knows how to negotiate his way around the high banked turns of Talladega and Charlotte, sure he has the desire and sure he has some Hendrick prepared equipment to work with now but was all that really going to be enough to pave his way to victory lane, even once? The testosterone level alone that’s omnipresent in the NASCAR garage on any given day would seem sufficient to move those of his ilk to the back of the bus and keep them there with the rest of the field fillers like Cope, Marlin and Andretti.

Money can buy a lot of things and in the case of NASCAR; the coin of the realm is speed. After leaving Roush, Martin retired and then returned on more than one occasion to race with equipment that was marginal in preparation and short on funding. For a lot of fans it really didn’t matter, though. It was just good to see him back once again mixing it up with the kids. Little did they know that there was still a tiger lingering in the tank, waiting for a chance to reassert himself once the planets were in alignment and the moon was full and bright.

. . . Danny “Chocolate” Myers that is. I don’t always agree with the things I hear on Sirius NASCAR Radio but today “Chocolate” had some comments worth repeating from this afternoon’s call-in radio show. Once again, there was a controversy during this weekend’s Nationwide race in Nashville and it was no surprise that Kyle Busch was at the center of it. Keep in mind that Busch’s 19 year old teammate, Joey Logano, came in first and Busch, a dismal second or that’s the way it seemed during the post race interview, when Busch the Younger demonstrated his complete lack of charm, sportsmanship and social appropriateness. It was glaringly apparent that the driver of the #18 car was majorly “ticked” about coming in second and he made it abundantly clear that Logano didn’t deserve the win as much as he did.

Many of the callers today felt that Busch was out of line as well and “Chocolate” took up their cause, saying that if he (Busch) is going to accept the millions he’s paid and if he’s going to live in the house by the lake, then he owes it to the fans to live with the ups and the downs the wheel of fortune bestows upon him. Sure Busch has a right to his opinion and sure he has to live with the results of his behavior but if you can’t, won’t or don’t have anything to say that’s going to further your own career, zip it, and don’t do your best to minimize your own teammate’s accomplishments. Accept the fact that the kid flat out drove you and leave it at that.

Richard Petty had a few words to say on Fox’s “Sean Hannity’s America” program last evening when he appeared as a member on the show’s Great American Panel segment. When asked about this country’s desire to become independent from its ties to foreign oil, he stated, “It’s not that we don’t already have enough oil here to be self sufficient ... if they’d (the government) just turn us loose, we’ll do it” ... “It’s hard to change what we’re doing now because we’ve got used to doing it that way”. In regard to the deep bow Obama made (which the White House denies) when meeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia at the G20 conference in London, Petty added, “it took a lot to get us where we’re at, and the U.S. got to be where it is by not bowing down to anyone ... we’re not going to give that up just to be friendly”.

Petty presented Sean Hannity with one of his signature cowboy hats at the conclusion of the program at which time the host said he was going to use it as a fundraiser for his favorite charity, Freedom Alliance, which benefits children who have lost family members through the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was a welcome change to hear from an individual who views the world in terms of simple logic and common sense. The “experts” might learn a thing or two if they were willing to adopt this approach the next time they gather to address the issues this world faces.

It was a long time coming, 47 races in fact, since Jeff Gordon was last able to drive into Victory Lane. Never before was there such a lull in his career; never before did he have to listen to waves of criticism about him losing his focus and his commitment; never before did the champagne taste so good.

His victory today at Texas has quieted those who were forecasting that his shooting star was slowly being consumed in the atmosphere on its way back down to earth. One victory doesn’t make a season but it was clear that 2009 is going to be very kind to the kid from Vallejo California. The skill, mastery and preparation that has always been the hallmark of Hendricks Motorsports came together once again through the restructuring efforts of Steve Letarte who made sure, during the off-season, that this year wasn’t going to be a repeat of 2008. The star that was once threatened with extinction has assumed a new orbit, one leading it even closer to the place of prominence it once occupied.

David Caraviello’s recent article, “Fallacy of an Abandoned Past” on www.NASCAR.com made some interesting points regarding his contention that there’s a sizable contingent of race fans who have been wrongly “hammering NASCAR for abandoning its past”. Caraviello then goes on to express his belief that this is not necessarily the case because there are still many time honored tracks in operation today, like Martinsville (NASCAR), Darlington (NASCAR), Rockingham (ARCA/formally NASCAR), Indianapolis (IRL/NASCAR), Bristol (NASCAR) and so on that represent preserved time capsules of the past. According to his figures, 14 out of the present 22 Sprint Cup Series tracks were built before 1970. No one can dispute the fact that NASCAR, unlike MLB, NHL, MBA and NFL hasn’t held onto a preservationist stance, steering clear of the fickleness other major professional sports organizations have displayed by jumping towns and tearing down revered stadiums and arenas for reasons that appear, on the surface to generations of fans living there, thoughtless and arbitrary at best.

Caraviello’s points are well taken but he’s missing the other half of the equation, one that has nothing to do with the venues in which these races take place, one that has nothing to do with better food concessions, mega parking lots or luxury suites. It has everything to do with the people that pay the money to see these races.

NASCAR’s roots are deeply imbedded in the lore and the mores of the South, predicated upon non-elitist ideals. It was a sport for the common man and his family, one that embraced an acceptable connection with the hard edged reality and craziness that characterized the “shine” industry, practiced on country roads throughout the southeast. On weekends, it took the place of the radio, later the TV. It was a place to go to see friends and to be seen in rural areas that often offered little more. Local heroes played to the crowds on Saturday night and went back to their mundane, repetitive minimum wage jobs on Monday.

Over time, a sport that was mostly an afterthought on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” became the stuff of dreams for sponsors and investment companies who were no longer color blind to the green that grew wild in them thar hills and before long, fans found themselves squeezed out by fences, staggering ticket prices and hard aluminum benches. Sure, most of the old racetracks still looked the same. You could even close your eyes for a moment and imagine Fireball or Petty or Pearson or Mantz or Yarborough blasting by but when you opened them, the reality was that you weren’t going to get an autograph, the food you ate was going to stay with you for a day and any attempt to say a word to your hero was going to be met with a rebuke from a security guard that probably didn’t share your passion for the sport.

The present financial downturn has been catastrophic in so many ways to so many people but even these clouds have a proverbial “silver lining”. It has forced all of us to re-evaluate and take a look at what’s really important in our own lives and to find ways of doing more with less. Not being the exception, NASCAR has had to do the same and it has become clear that continued growth in the racing industry hinges upon not just keeping the old tracks in operation but upon redirecting energies toward re-engaging and celebrating the fans and their families in a way that will make every race for them the stuff that will be passed on for generations to come. From 1948 onward, this approach came natural during NASCAR’s infancy and adolescence. Looking back to what made it so appealing then can provide the means to make it even more appealing in the future.

C’mon Kyle, it was only a painted white line on the racetrack but you crossed it today in Martinsville – that line of commitment to yourself, your sponsor, your fans and to the rules of the sport. NASCAR didn’t want you to engage in some mid-race bodywork by scrubbing the k-wall just to straighten out your rear fender after it was redesigned by Ron Hornaday’s Chevrolet with only a few laps remaining in the rain delayed Kroger 250. It looked like you were coming into the pits but you knew you only wanted to win, you wanted to stop your tire from rubbing, you wanted to maintain your points lead in the CAMPING WORLD Truck Series. You figured everyone, especially NASCAR, would understand your reason for doing so but after you received the penalty for the infraction and at the end of the race, got out of your truck, threw your helmet in the rear bed and literally ran across the track for sanctuary, you once again said you didn’t care what anyone thought of you.

There seems to be a disconnect between your behavior and what the MARS, Incorporated etiquette coaches have been trying to teach you all along, and it looks like you need to return to the classroom for a refresher course straight away.

It might just be another “that’s racin” situation, the overused catch-all phrase that explains and makes sense of racetrack aberrations that sometimes defy description or then again, it might be explained away in terms of the behavior exhibited by one who lacks a measurable amount of impulse control.

We’re on top of the world when we own hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place, your opponent is up to his neck in unpaid mortgages, besides being low on cash, and he just landed on your property late in the game. When the situation is reversed, we want to throw down our game piece, knock everything off the board and storm out of the room. I did that when I was 10 years old but I sure as hell didn’t do it when I was 23 years old.

It was interesting to hear the caller’s comments on today’s SIRIUS NASCAR Radio about Kyle Busch’s attitude and his “get out of the way” driving tactics. Busch the Younger supposedly went on record recently saying that he didn’t care whether he was liked or disliked, adding that he wasn’t prepared to assume the burden of being the most popular SPRINT Cup driver, having to live up to the expectations of the NASCAR Nation and all that. This seemed to grind the sensibilities of a lot of fans but do they have anything to really be upset about?

Those who initially considered Kyle a flash in the pan, slathered with beginner’s luck, now have to concede the fact that he truly is talented on the track. His public relations skills, on the other hand, leave considerable room for improvement by any measure of the stick. Even so, who can deny that there are many similarities between “The Wild Child” and Earnhardt Sr.? The “get out of the way” driving style was perfected and implemented by “The Intimidator” for years on end and now there’s a wunderkind doing the same thing? That’s not acceptable in the minds of many. If you look beneath the surface, the only difference: one is named Busch and the other is named Earnhardt.

What a difference a year makes. Who would have thought that: 1) tickets were going to be made available to the denizens of Thunder Valley for the first time in 13 years, and 2) Travis Kvapil’s loss of the Golden Corral sponsorship for his Yates Ford Fusion may be the first harbinger of the recessional malaise that’s beginning to tighten its grip upon those, whose performances fail to impress the keepers of the corporate bean vaults.

1. It’s beyond comprehension how any venue can sellout 160,000 seats for fifty-three straight events. Up until the last minute this year, Bristol wasn’t sure if it was going to make a Guinness Book record setting fifty-four straight but it did. The positive in all of this was that a significant number of corporate sponsors decided to do something else this weekend, thus making room for those that had been shut out the ticket competition for over a decade. A little bit of “corporate conscience”, either intended or unintended, goes a long way today.

2. Like it or not, NASCAR’s top 35 “lock-in” rule has taken on a whole new meaning following the Food City 500 because those that were assured a spot in the program for the first six races this year, based upon last year’s performance must now be in the top 35, based upon their performance in 2009. This means that some teams may be walking the proverbial plank of the ship scheduled to arrive in Martinsville next weekend. To make matters worse, drivers like Kvapil, Menard, Mayfield, Gilliland, LaBonte and Bodine are now faced with a no warranty situation that will not only not guarantee their place in the field but also threaten the commitment of sponsors who are jittery about supplying the funds necessary for them to continue anyway.

There’s competition amongst the rodents and there’s room for only one of them in town. It’s been twenty-nine years since so much attention has been heaped upon a member of the Geomyidae family. Mr. Gopher reigned supreme in “Caddyshack” but there are some new kids in town and they’ve taken up residence on the FOX-NASCAR Channel.

Digger, FOX’s gopher groundskeeper, maintains the grassy areas around the embedded raceway minicams and pops up making his presence known when there is a break in the action. He was a B-list attraction in 2008 but like most of his ilk, he’s managed to attract four additional groupies with names like; Lumpy Wheels, Marbles, Grampa and Annie aka Digette, catapulting himself and his pals to A-list status in 2009, as evidenced by the twenty-five or so licensed products that are now available for sale.

What began as just a mindless diversion, now has become a point of contention for many NASCAR devotees, who contend that cameo appearances of cartoon characters, during race broadcasts, have no place on, under or around the track.

What do you think?