I have to say this: I am a little confused. First you tell the drivers and the fans that you are going back to basics. Then you tell the drivers you are not out to silence the drivers. Now you tell them to shut up.

Look, I get there are 43 critics out their telling you they don't like this and they don't like that on this new car. I will cut you some slack on that. I mean as fans we know this is the first full year of the new car and we can expect some  problems.

We can only hope that changes will be made.

But come on, these guys are sitting in these cars week-in and week-out, struggling to find a handle and the speed in these cars. Yes, some teams got it, and yes, some teams are still searching, but where else can these drivers go other than the trailer to voice there concerns?

The media is there outlet. Yes, the last few weeks there have been a lot of complaints, but obviously these drivers don't feel like they are being heard when they talk to you one-on-one.

You have hardcore fans who are leaving the sport because they are tired of watching their favorite drivers mind there Ps and Qs, and I don't blame them.

You want to keep your core base. Let these drivers drive and let them complain all they want.

Look, it's up to you to do something about the issues. Let these drivers run their mouths off all they want, bashing other drivers and themselves.

They will have no one other then themselves to blame for loss of interest in this sport. But don't censor them-don't you have enough to deal with? If you are going to allow drivers to have a voice, why are you telling them to shut up?

Another thing-when Danica Patrick won in Japan last month all this talk of women in motor sports was reignited. Which was great, but NASCAR still has its stigma of not many females being behind the wheel or in the garages.

When last week's lawsuit was revealed I was disappointed. NASCAR is not immune to the very things we scoffed at when the NBA was dealing with Isiah Thomas' legal troubles. 

If you read this lawsuit, it's absolutely unacceptable that these issues were not addressed.

We know there are things that are said and comments made and most of the time no offense is taken. But when it gets to the level this was reached, how could NASCAR officials not be aware? How could other officials turn a blind eye and ignore what was happening?

Say what you will about the amount she is looking for, or the timing, but these are serious allegations and can destroy the "clean" image NASCAR has worked so hard to build.

NASCAR needs to address the issue, not go around the issue and place blame on this woman. They need to have harassment classes and training so that if an official sees something they know what to do and who to go to.

I can bet they have things like this in place, but obviously something was missed. They need to face this issue head on and make it clear that this behavior is unacceptable, no matter what level of the circuit you are in.

Smoke was in Chicago last night promoting the July night race at Chicagoland. He won that race last year after JJ spun out with less then 50 to go. He was at 10pin bowling alley in the city bowling some frames with local media and disscussing how he feels about Chicagoland and how much a win here means. Really cool to see.

Nascar around here isn't very big often only around the race do we hear about NASCAR and its frustrating, I know we don't have any local drivers in the top three series right now, but the only time you hear about it on a Sunday is the 15 second clip of a crash and the winner. I know it's not a popular sport around here and people don't ask about did you see the speeds posted at Dover a few weeks back around the water cooler, but this sport is popular and it is growing both in northern markets and around the world. I look forward to the race in Chicagoland becuase its a chance to show off this great city and the suburbs and what we offer to amazing fans and such.

Local media is at the track for pole day and maybe the raceday but it doesn't top the sports segment becuase baseball is in full swing and Bears minicamp is starting up so to them there is more important sports stories to cover, and maybe they are right, but for the thousands of racing fans that don't see the race a 15 second blib is not enough. I am not asking for a full fledge hour of nascar but give a driver interview or something. Do justice to racing fans locally. We have tracks around here; Rockford and Milwaukee and dirt and short tracks I would love to see something once in awhile on those drivers gritting there teeth through those races.

I write this because last night a local station went to the clip with Smoke and they cut it off and went to the reporter placing a bet of bowling a strike and the station reporter buys dinner, funny stunt? yes, but I would have loved to hear the rest of the interview. I am not sure if they only asked him 3 questions but thats all they showed, and they cut it off which made me a little peeved.

I know this sounds silly to write about but I feel like if your not in the south or south east racing is a backburner sport which to me is untrue, I would love to see more racing up here not adding more races to schedule but maybe take a few of those duplicate races that seem not neccessary off the race and replace them. Maybe the media would pay more attention to racing in the midwest and northwest.maybe these drivers at in the USAC and ARCA divsions would get more light on them. There are so many sponsorship oppurtunites in this market and its untapped due to low exsposure.

Would it kill the media to cover longer then the winner? probably not? a story once in awhile on racing locally would be great for these teams struggling with higher cost to operate.

All I am asking for is just more then my 15 seconds....

So I sat after the race Sunday trying to figure out was it worth it? Did he really hurt his Chase chances? Did he  just make winning the cup even harder and is it really the end? And as you are reading this these questions can apply to a myriad of drivers and all of which have been somewhat disappointing for different reasons.

First off Smoke, now I picked him actually as my runner up this year. And not because he couldn't win the cup but because I thought another driver to win. This year for him seems alittle off, I am not sure if it's the contract talks or the fact that he's had so many almost and too many  how did that happen?

He seemed to have the 600 at hand. Great pit strategy and  great stops it was all but sealed a win before the summer heats up, but a flat tire deflated that chance. At Dover a accident that was not of his making but thats racing and thats how it goes. And he settled for a 41st finish. At Long Pond, he had a good car, crew worked on it all day  great pit stops  and on the final one, a mistake he will admit was all him, speeding relegated this former champ to a 35th place finish and more importantly clinging to the 12th place in the standings, not where you want to be with less then half of the regular season left. We know this driver can heat up but I think this year will be different. Too much talk of contract and in the end losing focus on what they need to be doing this year, winning races and psitioning themselves.

 Should Tony have to make a choice about where he will drive in 2010 ? No. He has to fufiill  his contract with Gibbs otherwise it going to cost him big time.  But these apparent leaks to the media is unacceptable, and Tony playing with the media holding media sessions at the track to discuss something like  this  is ridiculus. The choice will come and I doubt that choice will be made anytime soon public to the media. He needs  strong finishes  now, and he needs to postion himself into the chase. even without wins he's a threat.  But he has to make the Chase first.

Now my pick to win the whole thing is Gordon. And I say is with great hesistation. I don't doubt this team can rattle off wins but you first have to win one to rattle off those wins. They have a great pit crew and they  have been perfect on pit stops but  the car just won't drive the way Gordon likes it too and that is the problem. They have been testing like crazy and trying to find something and lately they have been driving better and seeing results, but Sunday's final pit call really hurt them, why LeTarte pulled him down because they didn't run well on  old tires well everyone else had basically old tires.

So why force him to come down and  get mired back in traffic when he could have finsihed with at least a top 10 if not a top 5. We will never know what would happened if  he had stayed out he might have finsihed exactly in the same spot but when you are struggling  like they have been you gotta take a shot. This team can run better and expect to run better.

 But something needs to change something needs to happen with the 24 for them to realize they ar e running out of chances to just get top 15 top 10 finishes. They are chase contenders for now, but  something gonna have to happen....


Now I think Kyle Busch is an amazing talent but this weekends trifecta was boneheaded. I read all the articles claiming he is young let him do it, he has nothing to loose.  if he is able to do it why not? Why not?   Because even though everyone wants to say running in three different states didn't affect him at all in the cup, was not watchign the same race, he never was higher than 17th place on sunday. And thats not because of poor quals its because he crashes  his car in the final two  minutes of practice.

  Limited amount of sleep can lead to lack of focus yes he got some sleep, but traveling  on any person can take its toll but multiple flights in less then 48 hours did you expect something different? Yes you did all wins in all three series, but when you are driving a 3400 pound car at speeds well over 150 mph limited amount of sleep has its  toll on your focus. right now it cost him points  but when the chase starts he  will be a higher seed, but even so  his focus needs to be on cup.

He is the given favorite to win the whole thing but its early enough in the season when  races like Sunday can change alot .  Especially when all three series are in  three different states. Wheres the leadership? He might have a lot of talent but he is  still a 23 year old. 

Look its only race 14. And plenty of racing to be done. I think the players in right now will change. I said it early in the season  the drivers who were running so well early on like the Ryan Newmans, and Kurt Busch's and the Clint Boywers will come back and thats what happened. It comes in cycles and I Know Smoke and Gordon will each score more than one win, and will be real  threats come September but first they gotta  figure out what happened?