On reflection, it’s a wonder that any racing reporting is “balanced”. Winston provided free cigarettes in the press box and they routinely gave away other items. When they announced the No Bull 5 events, each reporter got a nice cap. I have a long sleeve Winston sweatshirt, and a very nice Winston Gore-Tex rain jacket. Slim Jims were freely available in the media center as were other sponsors’ products. You could walk to any transporter and they generally had some of their sponsor’s products available.

And while the reporters were sitting in the infield media center before race day eating and smoking, each drivers PR person was delivering press releases so the reporters wouldn’t actually have to, you know, go out and talk to the drivers. A few of the old school reporters would go in search of stories, but most of those post-race and post-qualifying driver quotes you read come from those press releases.  The drivers are taken to the infield media center after qualifying and to the press box after winning a race for a question and answer session, and those answers are typed up by the track’s PR person for use by all reporters.

I guess what I’m saying is that reporters covering racing are not quite like reporters covering news events. Maybe they were in the old days, but the modern day race reporter can barely be bothered to get off his butt and go seek out a story. Of course, there are exceptions, but I think for the most part race reporters could probably do their jobs from their own home.

YOU GOT TO KNOW WHEN TO HOLD ‘EM: If I hear one more gambling cliche from the broadcast booth, I’m going to explode. It’s just as bad when they come to Nashville with the music cliches (actually, NASCAR hasn’t had a race in Nashville in over 10 years; they call the super speedway located in Gladeville “Nashville Superspeedway”; I just hope the city is getting some licensing fees for that).

THE ANTHEM, AGAIN: I guess the singer of the National Anthem before the Cup race did a good job, but if I didn’t know the words already, I’m not sure I would have understood her. Again, the Anthem is not a “showcase” song. Just sing it like it was written.

WINNING ISN’T EVERYTHING: The Cup Series has a tie for first between Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch. Neither driver has won a race. Of the three drivers who have won Cup races, only one is in the top 12 in points. A Grand National regular has yet to win a race in that series so no one with points in that series has a win. The same is true for the Truck Series.

DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION: Robbie Gordon is on “probation”, supposedly for an altercation he had in the garage area with Kevin Conway. Seems that Gordon provided Conway (and his sponsor) with a car to drive last year, and has the gall to expect them to pay for it. And Conway has the gall to expect to be paid for winning “rookie of the year” while he was driving for Gordon. Lawsuits abound. I’m not sure what the deal is with Conway; he seems to have a sponsor in his pocket and can buy rides coming and going, but not enough talent to get the job done.

TV RATINGS: So the TV ratings for the Cup races this year are up over last year. Not sure why that is, unless it’s the “Bayne Effect”. Ratings rose after Dale Earnhardt’s death, probably because people wanted to see who would get killed next. Maybe the “Bayne Effect” is people tuning in to see what unknown driver will win next. I suspect that once they see that racing at the other tracks is not like racing at Daytona, the interest will fade. If they were putting on good races, the grandstands would be fuller.

BEST FINISH BY A WOMAN: So, I completely missed the Las Vegas Grand National race, so I missed Danica!’s 4th place finish. I guess some people are saying she got the finish based on better gas mileage.  I have mixed feelings about “gas mileage” races, but I guess since everyone has to go by the same rules, it doesn’t matter if you get the finish by passing a ton of cars on the track or passing them while they’re in the pits.

START AND PARK: There was apparently some controversy over one Cup team not just starting and parking, but announcing their decision to do so. Dave Blaney crashed his Baldwin Racing car in practice and the only car the team had left was their Las Vegas car. So rather than risk that car in the race, they decided to start and park. But what NASCAR seemed to have a problem with was the fact that the team issued a press release stating their intentions. I personally don’t see what the big deal is. If they’d have done it without the press release, why would that have been different? I think what NASCAR didn’t like is having their nose rubbed in the start-and-park problem directly. Not sure what the solution is, or if there really is a solution. As long as a car is fast enough to qualify for a race, there’s really not much else that can be done once the race starts. Perhaps if they only awarded points to the top 35 finishers that might stop it.

A SELLOUT: They announced that the grandstands at Phoenix were sold out for the Cup race. I didn’t really pay attention to the stands, but I did notice there were quite a few people on the hill. And while I completely forgot to watch the Grand National and Truck races, I hear there were a ton of empty seats for those races. Someone needs to learn about supply and demand.

REPAVING: Phoenix is repaving their track, and not just repaving it, but doing a slight reconfiguration. The reconfiguration is designed to facilitate more entertaining racing. Well as I’ve said before, the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one.

E15: I hate to see NASCAR giving in to the green folks. But they’re slowly doing it. This year, they’ve mandated that the fuel be E15; that is, 15% ethanol. It’s bad enough that consumers are forced to buy E10 (in most cases; there are a few places where you can still purchase gasoline without ethanol), but I don’t understand why NASCAR felt it necessary. Well, actually, maybe I do.  As in most things, follow the money. The National Corn Growers Association has paid NASCAR to be an official “partner”. So, thanks, NASCAR. You’re not only pushing an inefficient fuel (gas with ethanol results in lower gas mileage), but you’re contributing to higher food costs (you want to eat that corn or drive on it?).

WHAT’S THE POINT?: So, after six races in NASCAR’s top three divisions, only one race winner has earned points.  Another win in the Cup series by a driver not running for the championship probably won’t happen again this season, but I daresay in the Grand National division, it’ll be the norm. I predict that the 2011 Grand National champion will be someone who will not have one any races in that series.

LOST VEGAS: The next race in the Cup series is at Las Vegas. Other than the first Grand National race held there, I’m not sure any of the races have been nail-biters; they’ve mostly been snooze fests. Who knows? Maybe the new cars will help that. I firmly believe that NASCAR should choose racing venues based not on some “market” but on the excitement that the venue provides. One driver leading 200 laps in a Grand National race is boring, and that’s one reason fans are staying away in droves.

CELEBRATING DEATH: I’ve always been uncomfortable observing the day that someone died, and that was true for the 500.  That silent lap three nonsense was just that, nonsense. You want to pay tribute to Dale Earnhardt, do it at the race closest to his birthday at the end of April. Celebrate his life, not his death.

DANICA!: I’m still a Danica fan, but after Saturday’s performance, I have to wonder about her dedication to stock car racing. It seemed like during one of her radio transmissions, she was wondering why the car that had been pushing her suddenly wanted her to be the pusher. Hello? Danica, where were you all week? Did you just show up during practice and then leave? Why in the world did you not know (or did someone not tell you) about the two-car draft?

ANTHEMS AND FLYOVERS AND FIREWORKS, OH MY!: If you have a recording contract, does that exempt you from having to audition to sing the National Anthem? Apparently it does. Saturday’s anthem was performed by a pretty well established country artist, and she got some words wrong and just went too crazy with the melody. And Sunday’s was only marginally better. I’ve said it over and over: the National Anthem is not a song you “jazz” up with your improvisations or use to show your vocal range. You sing it note for note, word for word. I’m beginning to believe that tracks should just get the closest military band to come and play the anthem; they never screw it up. Regarding the flyovers, those were pretty impressive. I don’t recall seeing fireworks go off at the point of the anthem where it refers to it, so maybe people have finally stopped doing that.

THE GRAND NATIONAL SERIES: With NASCAR’s mandate of having to choose the series in which you’re awarded points, we the Grand National series will have a series regular who’s the champion for the first time in I don’t know how long. I daresay that we’ll also have a champion who hasn’t won a Grand National race. NASCAR should limit the number of Cup drivers in the lower series. Not awarding them points is just stupid, especially since they have “holes” in the points awarded (e.g. no one was awarded first place points in Saturday’s race).

THE TRUCK SERIES: It was good to see Michael Waltrip win the Truck Series race Friday night and for him, very emotional.

COLLUSION: One thing that I absolutely did not  like about the Daytona 500 was the collusion among drivers. And that’s just what it is: collusion. It’s bad enough when two or three drivers who drive for the same owner talk to each other during the race, but there were reports that some drivers were able to talk to 10 or 15 other drivers. NASCAR needs to put a stop to this right now, before it gets more out of hand.

PHOENIX, EUROPE: Next week’s race is at Phoenix, where they apparently use the metric system. The race is the Subway Fresh Fit 500 which sounds more impressive than the Subway Fresh Fit 300. Hey, ISC, this is the United States of America! We don’t use the metric system here. Just how stupid do you think we are?

•  At first I thought the two-by-two racing was going to be exciting. And parts of it were. But after having a few hours to think about it, I miss the three-wide, ten-deep racing that we used to have.

• NASCAR has made more rule changes to limit this two-by-two racing. Of course, they did that before the Shootout too.  Supposedly the cars won’t be able to stay behind one another for long due to cooling issues. I guess we’ll see what happens Thursday.

• With the new package, it looks like you don’t want to be first or second. Being in third or fifth place seems to be the place to be.

• Hey, Danica? Why don’t you like Nashville? (Actually, to be accurate, why don’t you like Gladeville?)

• I think it’s going to be funny seeing all those Jeff Gordon fans wearing AARP shirts and caps.

• It’s time for a Cup car running #3 to be on the track. Don’t really care if it’s a Childress car or a EGR car or a Front Row car. Ten years is long enough for a number to be “retired.” I see Daytona wants a silent lap 3 during the 500 to honor Dale Earnhardt, Sr. Why not a silent lap 7 since he won 7 championships? Or a silent lap 76 since he won 76 races? I’m sorry, but this deification of Earnhardt is a little tough to swallow. I’ve always questioned the taste of commemorating the death of someone instead of their life,  like on their birthday.

• Hey, Charlotte? How’s that NASCAR Hall of Fame working out for the taxpayers? If NASCAR wanted a hall of fame, they should have built it using their own money.

• How about that all Hendrick front row? Can Little Earnhardt back it up with a good run on Thursday and Sunday?

• Why does determining the starting lineup for the 500 have to be so complicated? Before NASCAR enacted the “35 cars get a provisional” rule, it was relatively simple: you had to finish in the top 15 (or 14 if the pole sitter was outside that number). Then they went on speed for the next six, then the seven provisionals. I still don’t like this whole deal where 35 teams get a guaranteed starting spot. You want to mix up the championship, how about a race where Jimmie Johnson doesn’t qualify?

The Twin 150′s should give us a better idea of what to expect during the 500. Despite the Shootout, I’m still looking forward to the 500. After that, not so much.

FOUR WIDE, BABY! - A few years ago, John Force and his family had a reality show called Driving Force. Watching that got me a little interested in watching drag racing…not to the extent that I planned my weekends around it, but if I happened to be channel surfing and came across it, I’d stop and watch. And that’s about the extent of my interest these days. But when I heard that they were going to race four wide at Charlotte last weekend, I had to make sure I watched. I set the DVR for the Saturday qualifying and the race on Sunday. Saturday during Funny Car qualifying,  two cars lost their bodies in the same race. That was quite a site, and thankfully, no one was hurt (one guy even made it to the finals). The rain on Sunday forced the postponement of the Funny Car and Top Fuel finals, so I didn’t get to see that until I got home. The above mentioned John Force won the race, with his daughter Ashley finishing second. I have to say the four-wide format is a lot more interesting than two wide. I was surprised that the grandstands were only about half full; I would have thought the uniqueness of the format would have drawn a full house. Ah well, Bruton Smith says he’s going to build another one in Las Vegas. Maybe it’ll catch on.

ECONOMICS 101: It’s no secret that NASCAR races are no longer selling out. Bristol had tickets available on race day I hear. I think NASCAR needs to hire an economist. And the first thing that economist will tell them is that when there’s too much supply and not enough demand, you’ve got a problem. What NASCAR needs to do is remove about six races from the season. They go to some tracks twice that they shouldn’t even go to once. Fewer races should meet the current demand, and give the sport time to grow back into a longer season schedule.

PROMOTION 101: Bruton Smith’s four-wide drag strip is an example of a promoter thinking outside the box. NASCAR needs to do the same thing to garner more interest in their product. Here are some ideas stolen taken from Saturday night races:

1. Double points – have two or three double-points races during the season. That would give some drivers a chance to make up some ground. Having those at places like Talladega and Bristol would make it even more interesting.
2. Heat races – we already have “heat races” to determine the starting lineup at the Daytona 500. Why not do it at a few other tracks? Have four heat races with the top five in each race moving to a semi-final.  Then the top five in each semi move on to the final.
3. 50 lap points races – Remove the pit crews from the equation, and put the whole thing in the drivers’ hands. Take the top 10 or 20 from qualifying or heat races, and let them go.

NASCAR needs to realize soon they need to do something to get their product back in the minds of sports fans.

MARTINSVILLE: And finally, how about that finish at Martinsville? I DVR’d the race, and unfortunately, wasn’t able to avoid finding out who won. So rather than sit through three hours of the race, I watched it on 2x Fast Forward. I could still see who was leading and only slowed it down to see what caused the cautions. But I did watch the last 30 laps in real time. Knowing who the winner was, it was interesting to see how that last pit stop played out. Not sure if it was luck or skill that won the race, but congrats to Hamilin for making it exciting.

OLD TIMERS: I tuned in to see the last 20 or so laps of the old timer’s race at Bristol on Saturday. The concept of the race is interesting, but the reality of it is that some drivers are too old to be in it. Think about it: their reflexes are not what they used to be, but they’re still going 120 mph around the track… in late model cars. Despite what the announcers said about “how safe” the cars are, both drivers that were involved in that late-race wreck were knocked out, and it’s a wonder neither of them were killed. Put them in Legends cars at Charlotte and let them have at it, or put them in retired Cup cars with smaller engines so they can have the benefit of truly safer cars, or make them take a reflex test before they can drive in it.

SPOILER ISSUES: No, this isn’t about NASCAR going back to spoilers in the Cup series. This about ESPN interviewing the winner of the Grand National race during the red flag period of the old timers’ race. I had just started watching the race on my DVR and saw the promo for the old timers’ race, so I decided to stop watching it and watch the old timers’ race. Then ESPN interviews the winner of the Grand National race, and that left me with no reason to watch it. Thanks ESPN. I guess you don’t understand that a lot of folks have better things to do on a Saturday than sit in front of a TV watching a race. I watch races on my own time, not yours.

THE FEUD: Everyone’s been talking about Brad and Carl’s feud. Most of the talk seems to be centered around how Brad deserved what he got because he has a “reputation” for wrecking people. You’re kidding, right? He deserved a cheap shot by a driver who only came back on the track to wreck him? <sarcasm> NASCAR put Edwards on double secret probation for three races, so I’m sure that got his attention and he’ll never do it again </sarcasm>. Maybe Keselowski has wrecked a lot of people; I don’t know. But it reminds me of when Ernie Irvin came on the scene and got the same kind of reputation. He finally saw the error of his ways and apologized to everyone at a drivers’ meeting. Or when Kyle Busch moved to NASCAR, he wrecked everything but the pace car. Or even someone named Carl Edwards, who also wrecked his share of people when he started. The point is, racing contact is one thing, but intentionally assaulting someone is something completely different.

BRISTOL: I’ll have to say I liked the Cup race more than I thought I would, even with Johnson’s win.  There were enough lead changes to keep the race interesting, and no one was able to get the lead and run away with it. That’s all I ask as a fan.

LAPS-DOWN DRIVERS: That brings up another point: should a driver who can no longer make up any laps be allowed to stay on the track? Edwards premeditated attack on Keselowski would not have been possible if NASCAR had a rule that prevented drivers back on the track if there’s no way they can make up any laps on their next competitor.

AN EXCITING FINISH (NOT): Edwards also robbed the fans of an exciting finish in the making. It was evident that Montoya was going to challenge Kurt Busch for the win, but Edwards idiocy quashed that.

HEY, JACK, HERE’S THE BILL FOR MY CAR: Penske and the 7 or so teams who wrecked after the first green/white/checkers should send Jack Roush and Carl Edwards the bill for the repair of their cars.

EXCITEMENT: The Atlanta race was definitely better than the Las Vegas race. While a leader would get out ahead by a couple of seconds, he couldn’t stay there.  The cars behind would gradually reel him in, and pretty soon there was a challenge for the lead.

BRISTOL: Bristol is up next, and I’m probably in the minority on this when I say that I’m not really looking forward to it. I’m not sure why people think the Bristol races are so great. NASCAR is starting way too many cars for that size track. Maybe there’ll be a dozen start-and-parkers who’ll pull off after a couple of laps.

BIFFLE KUDOS: Good on you, Greg Biffle, for buying a short track to keep it running. I wish that were an option for the Fairgrounds Speedway here in Nashville, but short-sited elitist leaders are trying to get rid of racing as fast as they’re running off the music tourism industry.

ANOTHER SNOOZER: Two snoozers in a row for NASCAR. Too bad that yellow light didn’t malfunction more often.

CROWD CONTROL: Those stands sure did look pretty full during the Cup race. But then I looked closer and it seems that in the first 10 or 15 rows of one section, the seats were painted random colors to appear as if someone was sitting in it. I guess that’s one way to do it.

THAT’S IT: Normally I’d try to come up with several more of these little RacinDeals, but there’s just nothing worth my time. Maybe Atlanta next week will give us one of those close finishes again.

WHERE’S DANICA?: I watched the whole Grand National race on Saturday,  and not once did the announcers update us on where Danica Patrick was running. Not once! No, not once, but about 30 times it seemed. I have to agree with Kyle Busch on this one: she hasn’t done  anything to garner that kind of attention, other than being female. And it’s really kind of sexist if you ask me. I thought it was very interesting that the ESPN announcers quickly tried to lower expectations for Danica by telling us how other Indy Car drivers did in their races at California Speedway. They didn’t give us any context, just finish positions (would have been nice to know if any of those drivers led or was taken out in a wreck not their fault).

START TIMES: I’ve seen ads on Speed touting the  consistent start times for Cup races. Apparently Fox doesn’t expect its viewers to know the difference between when a race starts and when coverage starts. The TV listings showed the race starting at 2:00 pm, when in fact it actually started at 3:00 pm (actual green flag was closer to 3:15 pm). Fox needs to separate their pre-race coverage from the actual race coverage. I nearly wasted a whole hour of DVR recording time because of their fake start time.

YAWN: Wake me when the race is over. If ever there was a race that indicated a need for competition cautions, that was it. And the Grand National race would have been the same except for the green/white/checker finish.

IS DIGGER WITH DANICA?: I noticed a lack of the stupid cartoon “Digger” during the first half of the race. And in the second half, they only showed the cartoon during caution laps. Maybe they finally got the message that people didn’t want a cartoon taking up half the screen when they were racing.

NO, LITTLE E IS WITH DANICA: Was last week a fluke for the 88 team? Are they back to their back-marker ways? Is he regretting leaving his dad’s team now?

THE PACE CAR: I wonder if NASCAR had to install one of those ignition cut-off switches in the pace car?

WHO’S IN THE BOOTH?: There’s a lot of talk about why Bill Weber wasn’t in the both. Supposedly there was some kind of incident with him. So they put Ralph Sheheen in his place. Ralph’s been in the booth before in the old TNN days, but TNT’s overall announce crew is just not cutting it. They just have two races to go, so that’s a small blessing.

LAP COUNTS: What’s with the extra lap in the New Hampshire race? I assume it has some significance for the sponsor, but if the broadcasters don’t tell you what that significance is, then what good is the gimmick?

TRUCK SERIES FUTURE: NASCAR is reportedly trying to figure out what to do with the Truck Series. When NASCAR started the series, it was to be a low cost entry level series. They raced on short tracks and tracks that the Cup Series didn’t visit. It was different, it was refreshing, and it was some of the best racing you would ever hope to see. Then they ruined it. They got rid of the halftime break, so then teams had to have pit crew members to go over the wall. That automatically increased the cost. Then they started dropping the smaller tracks in favor of the larger ones (like Daytona). I don’t know how long Camping World’s contract runs as title sponsor, but I suspect that if they don’t renew, the truck series will be no more.

DOUBLE FILE RESTARTS: What does it say about a racing series when the sanctioning body has to put all the leaders in a double file restart just to bring some excitement to a race?

MAYFIELD’S SUIT: Jeremy Mayfield will be in court this week, seeking to get his NASCAR suspension overturned. I started out on Mayfield’s side in this mess. After all, why go through all this trouble if you’re guilty? I was critical of NASCAR’s drug policy, but I stupidly based my criticism on what I read in the media. When I actually read the policy, I didn’t see anything that I could disagree with. What sealed it for me was talking to the doctor at work who administers my company’s drug tests. She said that the only way to test for methamphetamine is to actually take it; there’s no way methamphetamine can be synthesized in the body from a mixture of two other drugs. The amphetamine that is synthesized shows up differently on a drug test, and doctors know to look for it. Of course, all of this assumes that the drug he tested positive for was methamphetamine; I assume that information will come out in court. If Mayfield wins this first court battle and gets reinstated, he plans on going to Daytona to race. You have to know that NASCAR is going to test him again before allowing him on the track, and if he fails that test, he’s toast.