Marketing has taken a very prominent role in NASCAR over the last two decades.  The selling power of guys like Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Jeff Gordon and now Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has brought NASCAR from country music and Budweiser to rock 'n roll and fine wine.  Some teams have sponsors lining up to make sales pitches, whereas it used to be the exact opposite.

Let me point something out before I run with this thought any further: I am all for adjusting the race distances when necessary.  I read this week the idea of shortening all races to around 300 laps/miles and only counting green-flag laps.  Having essentially lived at the local dirt tracks in western Pennsylvania as a kid, I'm a huge fan of not counting caution laps.

But changing race distances should be reserved for strategic purposes, not marketing.  The LENOX Industrial Tools 301 (as in, "we go the extra mile")?  Come on guys, really?  The Aarron's 312 and 499 races are bad enough, but at least those are product/service tie-ins, and not just a mockery of cheesy, over-used, we-can't-think-of-anything-better marketroid drivvel.  Has NASCAR really come to this?

Officials have spent the first half of the season trying to convince us that they want to "get back to basics" this season.  Well, guys, listen up.  The list of ways to get back to basics boils down to these things that made NASCAR so entertaining for five decades before it became the Mongolian Cluster$%@& is is today:

1. Drivers used to have personalities.  Darrell Waltrip was known for his big mouth when he was young.  The fist-fight in turn three at Daytona in 1979 was one of the biggest reasons NASCAR has "made it" in mainstream sports.  And Jimmy Spencer knocking Kurt Busch's block off?  That was a thing of beauty.  And if the talking heads at NASCAR want us to believe them when they tell us they're letting the drivers be themselves this year, they really should try harder to convince us than privately telling the drivers to shut up about the new car's problems and actually fix the problems.  Actual quality goes a lot further in the long run than perceived quality.
2. Let them race.  All the boundaries NASCAR has put up "in the name of safety" has taken away the exciting, ballsy moves guys used to make.  Telling them they have to race between the yellow line and the wall, have to cross the commitment line entering the pits, can't race back to the yellow flag, etc. reminds me of the carnival scene from The Jerk (with Steve Martin) where he is explaining to a guy what he cn win if his character can't guess his weight: "Uh, anything in this general area right in here. Anything below the stereo and on this side of the bicentennial glasses. Anything between the ashtrays and the thimble. Anything in this three inches right in here in this area. That includes the Chiclets, but not the erasers."
3. Include the manufacturers.  Now, more than ever, Ford, Chevy and Dodge need NASCAR.  This is an American sport and, while I generally have no issue letting foreign manufacturers compete, I do take issue with the amount of money NASCAR is allowing Toyota to pump into the system while the other three are struggling to simply break even in the marketplace.  Sure, it's their own fault they've fallen by the wayside in auto sales, but NASCAR essentially kicked the manufacturers out of the sport when they went to a common template.  The manufacturer battle used to be a very entertaining part of the sport; now it hardly gets mentioned, because you have to see the stickers on the front of a car to know what company "made" it.  There is no manufacturer identity, and therefore no reason to actively participate.  Toyota has taken advantage of this, and the fact that their entry into the sport was the number one story line entering the 2007 season.
4. Get rid of the cookie-cutter tracks.  I don't think I need to elaborate on this one besides this statement: the fans want variety, and we aren't getting it anymore.  In a four-race span during the chase, the series goes to Texas, Charlotte and Atlanta -- three tracks with nearly identical layouts.  At the very least, take two of those races out of the chase and give us something unique.
5. And, finally, stop giving in to the almighty dollar.  It may be vital to the sport, but it shouldn't drive every last decision you make.  The founders of the sport are, no doubt, turning laps in their graves right now.

Now, on to the predictions.

This looks like it could be an off-week for Toyota.  Only one Toyota wound up in the top 10 in each of the first two practices, and the best in Happy Hour was Kyle Busch in 12th.  To top it off, only two qualified in the top 20 (A.J. Almendinger in 10th and Denny Hamlin in 12th).

From all appearances, this could be a battle between Juan Montoya and Kevin Harvick.  Montoya was in the top three in each practice, and was the fastest in both race-trim runs.  A weak qualifying run may hamper him, though, as he has a long road ahead of him from his 32nd starting spot if he plans to get to the front.  Harvick was first, sixth and fourth in the three practice sessions, and has a much-better fourth starting spot.  The other contenders are the usual suspects: the three J's (Jeff, Jimmie and Junior) from Hendrick Motorsports, who all had solid practices -- although Junior (fifth) is the only one of the three starting in the top 15 tomorrow -- Kyle Busch with solid but unspectacular practice runs, and Greg Biffle.  The darkhorse could be Dario Franchitti, who 1) is well-rested from his injury recovery, 2) has been no worse than 13th in practice, and 3) starts seventh tomorrow.

My call?  Kevin Harvick wins the LENOX Industrial Tools 303 -- because, with the history this place has, there will be a wreck in the final few laps of the scheduled distance, making the drivers "go the extra two miles."

Finally, a fantasy update.  Sunday Drive 2008 is still hanging around the top five in the Monster Milers.  Last week I gave up fifth spot, but thanks to a close battle at the top and five bonus points from yesterday's qualifying, I've got a three-point margin on sixth place.  If not for engine woes for Boris Said, it probably would have been a better week than fifth out of 14.

This week's team is Clint Bowyer, Bobby Labonte, Robby Gordon and Brian Vickers.  Not exactly a team full of all-stars, but I'll live with it.  Bowyer won here last year and has been okay in practice, as has Gordon -- another past-winner.  It could be a good week or a very slim one -- there's no in-between with this unpredictable group.