Greenies. Steroids. Jet Fuel. Video Tape. Unapproved Wings. Wide Receivers Pushing Off. Running Over the Commitment Cone. Sports Fans Wonder: "Where is the Line?"

Words need to have meaning.

Words like cheating.

In sports, much like in relationships there are rules and people break those rules all the time.

Since the entire steroids scandal in baseball, the word "cheating" has been getting thrown around at the drop of the hat.

That leaves me wondering if that word has lost meaning.

So I've got to ask: where is the line between breaking rules and cheating?

Here is what I mean....

At Texas last weekend, Greg Biffle ran over the pit road commitment cone while trying to avoid a wreck and get onto pit road.

Running over that cone is against the rules. He got hit with a black flag and had to start at the end of the longest line on the restart.

Is that cheating?

How about getting a Hummer from an intern who is built like an H2?

Is that cheating?

Just for the sake of argument, let's say that one would be considered cheating.

Could there be mitigating factors (hypothetically speaking) that would allow it be viewed as a simple rules violation (like leaving the seat up) if the recipient of said SUV happened to be married to the person who is going to be our next president?

What if instead an intern in a blue dress, the Hummer was coming from F Da Eagles Heather? Whether it's cheating or not, I could at least understand it.

How about the case of Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Michael Irvin. No, I'm not talking about Irvin's activities at the Dallas Cowboy's White House.

This is about what he did on the field. Irvin is in the Hall of Fame today because of his ability to push off of covering defenders without getting caught.

Is that cheating?

This year in NASCAR there have been a number of major penalties handed down. The year started off with Michael Waltrip getting busted for having "a jet fuel like substance" found in his manifold (after further investigation, a cone of silence settled upon the NASCAR enforcers and on Michael Waltrip Racing about what really happened).

Is that cheating?

Later, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. got popped for using an "unapproved" wing mount on his car. Shortly after that, Hendrick Motorsports got nailed because both Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon had bent there fenders to give them more down force.

Is that cheating?

Even the Michael Waltrip incident doesn't even come close to an entire laundry list of things the late, great Smokey Yunick managed to pull off. Say what you will about Smokey. The man was an innovator. An amazing, genius of an engineer.

My favorite Smokey story is the one when NASCAR pulled his gas tank after an inspection (this was pre-fuel cell) and he was able to THEN start his engine and drive away. Smokey had found away OUTSIDE the rules -- not AGAINST the rules to get more gasoline in the car by having a longer fuel line.

Is that cheating?

There is a line out there somewhere. It's just that I'm not sure anyone cares where it is.

It's just easier to slam somebody by calling them a cheater.

Reports Say NASCAR Tests Then "Confiscates" Eleven Engines for Excessive Horse Power Following Texas

Two different reports now say that NASCAR found excessive horse power in the engines of eleven cars on Sunday including those driven by Chase leader Jimmie Johnson and second place Chase driver Jeff Gordon.

The Roanoke Times says the other cars involved include those driven by Chase drivers Martin Truex Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, and Matt Kenseth as well as those of Ryan Newman, Dave Blaney, Kasey Kahne, Ricky Rudd and Brian Vickers.

The report at AutoRacingSport.com says the cars were all about 5% over the 750 HP limit (some where as high as 788 HP).

However, that is not a hard limit and engine horse power can change due to a variety of factors including weather, drafting and engine heat.

In the event NASCAR decides that over a quarter of the teams have replaced their watered down Sunoco gasoline with fuel from BALCO, the current Chase standings could be thrown into chaos.

If multiple teams found an "edge" that allowed them to "discover" extra horse power, the conspiracy theories will run amok within the Black Helicopter community and the debate among NASCAR fans over the definition of "cheating" will become heated and passionate.

Painting of the 2007 Johnson/Gordon Martinsville Finish

British artist Rob Ijbema is on a mission. He's painting a car every day during the 2007 racing season.

He's done 206 so far, including NASCAR, F1, Rally Cars, Sports Cars and Indy Cars.

He's also got some classics. I've posted one Rob has done of Swede Savage from the tragic 1973 Indy 500 (isn't Swede Savage just one of the greatest driver names ever?). I was just a young pup at the time, but I remember watching the race when it happened on TV and then hearing the news on the radio a month later when things didn't work out.

Rob has given The Black Flag permission to feature some of his work from time to time.

The finish at Darlington in the Spring when Johnson edged Gordon is the first one I'm featuring.

I'm not going to pretend to be an art critic (not that there's anything wrong with that), but I absolutely love these paintings.

Check out his Car-A-Day Blog.

If you just want to see the NASCAR paintings, you can go here.

Yes, Rob will sell you his paintings. He offers a 9"x6" acrylic on paper original for $100.

Now, I'm sure some of you might think that's a bit pricey (Tony Stewart Fans are thinking "$100 is ten cases of Schlitz, no way" -- no guys, $12 goes into $100 eight times and you get $4 back) for something just bigger than a post card.

Keep in mind this is one-of-a-kind original work.

He's not just running this off on some color laser jet someplace. What he is asking seems like a very fair price.

Listen, I almost didn't do this post because he has the most amazing painting of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. I'm in love with and I just know one of you people are going get to it before I do.

Is a Day Trip to Massachusetts in the Future for NASCAR's Two Baddest Bad Boys?

Dave Moody at Motorsports Soapbox reports that Kyle Busch will be moving to JGR in 2008 putting Busch under the same roof as Tony Stewart.

At this point, this report is merely a blog report without any sources quoted for attribution.

Although there is no confirmation as of this writing, there is no marriage I have hoped to see more than this one.

If it happens, I will be crashing the wedding and shamelessly shedding tears of joy.

Juan Pablo Montoya (although he has been behaving himself lately), Tony Stewart and the Busch Brothers comprise The Holy Trinity for any good NASCAR blogger.

If one of them isn't making news, it's usually because two of the others are.

Having Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch in such close proximity of would be my wildest dream coming true.

It isn't like they have gotten along that well publicly till now either. There have been plenty of signs that they needed to get a room and just get it over with.

Short of Jimmy Spencer leaving SPEED to sit on top of Stewart's pit box, there is nothing I can imagine that would be a more explosive mixture of dangerous chemicals.

Unless of course it was Jimmy Spencer becoming Kyle Busch's crew chief at JGR. It'll never happen, but I didn't think this one would either.

It's a real interesting choice at an organization founded by one of the greatest team builders in history.

J.D. Gibbs had to call his Daddy to bail him out just to prevent a homicide between Stewart and (by all accounts a relatively easy to get along with) Denny Hamlin.

If he couldn't make the chemistry work between Stewart and Hamlin, how is Gibbs the younger going to handle Stewart and Busch?

I'M JUST HOPING HE DOESN'T.

The image that keeps popping into my mind is the video from the 1960 Daytona 500 where they started 68 cars and took out 37 in one wreck.

That's what I'm counting on here.

Then again, maybe what J.D. Gibbs is counting on is the current head coach of the Redskins retiring at the end of the coming NFL season and being available in time for Daytona.

Just for the record, I'm not saying anything about Stewart or Busch like what Junior fans like to say about Jeff Gordon.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

To see my full breakdown on the Top 20 Race for the Chase Standings, click here to go to The Black Flag HQ.

Chase Notes

• With eight races to go, the bubble has tightened. Jamie McMurray, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch are all within one race striking distance of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. This is all a product of McMurray's win and Tony Stewart wrecking Denny Hamlin which subsequently ruined Earnhardt's day.

• Busch is now 121 points out of the chase. The 100 point penalty is starting to loom very large for him.

• Mark Martin continues to have an amazing year. He's running part time and is only 266 points out. He isn't going to run enough races to make it, but the guy has been a machine.

• Hamlin's 43rd place finish didn't hurt him from a chase perspective (although the win would have helped him in terms of bonus points. With the new chase rules, all that matters is that you make the chase and how many wins you have.

• The consequences for Stewart could be a bit bigger. He is 243 points ahead of 13th right now. That's nice, but not safe. DNFs were his Kryptonite last year and he needs to finish races if he doesn't want to make things too exciting.

• Greg Biffle has had a frustrating year. But somehow, he is still managing to hang in there. He's 204 points back which is tough, but possible.

• Martin Truex, Jr. continues to run better than Earnhardt. Who saw that one coming?