NASCAR Ennui!

ennui

Main Entry: en·nui
Pronunciation: än-ˈwē\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Old French enui annoyance, from enuier to vex, from Late Latin inodiare to make loathsome — more at annoy
Date: 1732

: a feeling of weariness and dissatisfaction : boredom

Ennui is the most appropriate word for my feelings as the NASCAR season wound down. I found myself feeling apathetic and tired while watching the last race of the year.

Is it from the suspicion that my favorite driver, David Gilliland, may be looking for a ride soon?

Could it be from watching races that are becoming cookie cutters of each other?

Or, am I suffering from the same feelings that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. proclaimed, of the season being just too long?

Or, am I worn out from watching the same few drivers be the point of discussion all season long?

Or, could I possibly be finding the racing to be not as exciting?

Or, are the Television broadcasters not keeping me riveted to the screen?

Or, am I over-saturated with information, from 6 hours of TV on race day, to internet news, to Sirius radio?

Or, is the economy starting to impress me with the fact that I may not be able to afford to attend as many races as I had scheduled. I had solid plans to attend 4 races next year, but I will be fortunate to actually make it to two races in 2009.

I suspect, all of the above!

Wide Awake Racing Attitude!

The Coca-cola 600 was a race that was predicted by media and fans to be long, boring and a snoozer. I am sure there are fans out there who are on that bandwagon, but there is a field of NASCAR drivers who have a different attitude.

In fact, the racing in the NASCAR's top three racing series can be summed up in one word - ATTITUDE!

The Ohio 250 race at Mansfield was such a typical mess. For some reason the half mile tracks and the trucks seem to mix it more than the Cup drivers at Martinsville. Rookie Donny Lia smacked David Starr out of the way to steal the win. His jubilant attitude was evident in his post-race, however the final comment shows a different attitude.

You know, I got into (David) Starr right there a little bit and hey, that's last lap racing and I'm sure he owes me one now but that's cool. You know if it’s the last lap and I'm in his position then I'm going to anticipate him hitting me anyway whether I did it today or not. That's just short track racing and you know, I just can't believe we are here right now it’s just really unbelievable."

David Starr gave an impressive interview after the race, marked by the amazing amount of restraint in his comments. The 'read' certainly does not show how David was struggling to control his emotions. That struggle said far more than any angry outburst could have.

Can you talk about the last lap?

"It was just good short-track racing. He (Donny Lia) got a run underneath us, I guess. I left a hole open, and he got into me in the left-rear, as you can see. It's all beat up back there. It was just enough to break my momentum. Once we broke the momentum, we broke traction in the rear. We just drove into turn three on a prayer. He had the preferred line. It was a great race. I just feel bad this Red Horse Racing team. They did a heck of a job. Jamie Jones (crew chief) did a heck of a job. We had a good truck the whole race, we just didn't finish it off. Not a bad finish, but we're disappointed. We thought we should've won the race. That's just good short-track action. You just never know what's going to happen until the end."

Saturday’s Nationwide event at Lowes Motorspeedway, the Carquest 300 had more attitude than a bar full of retired Air Force pilots. Kyle Busch, in a non-Gibbs car, vowed to break the Gibb’s winning streak, and he succeeded!

"I said before the race that hopefully we could bring this Dollar General Toyota home in first, and the Joe Gibbs Toyota could be second. And fortunately, tonight it worked out that way……"That JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) team has been pretty stout this year and I've been fortunate enough to drive their cars a couple times and it's really been nice to see how fast those things are. But we had our Braun Racing car pretty fast tonight too. It sucked that we brought the streak to an end, but I'm glad that at least it's a JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) driver streak.

Amazingly, the attitudinal happenings were all taking place behind Kyle this time, involving the next three cars in the finishing order. Brad Keselowski, during a caution period, place his front bumper under the rear bumper of the car of Denny Hamlin, lifting the rear wheels a tad, or maybe it was a shove. Denny pulled back even with Brad, and then made a move into Brad’s car, damaging the left front of Brad’s car. Dale Jr, in 4th place, moved forward to give Hamlin another shove to the rear.

The emotions of that on-track episode spilled over into the pits, in the form a melee between the crew members of JR Motorsports and Denny Hamlin’s crew. (image courtesy of Getty Images)

Even more tense, were the two drivers, during the post-race press room interview. Watch for yourself!



In my opinion, Denny came off looking a bit worse than Brad. Hamlin fans will probably disagree. The real shame though, both of those boys? men? used to race with each other in Dale Jr’s DMP sim league. I would think that at one time they were friends. It does not appear that there is any friendship left between Denny and the Jr Motorsports drivers.

The Big Show on Sunday, Humpy’s Last Hurrah, the Salute to the Troops, had many salutes of other kinds! Mostly digits on hands wedge between A-posts and window nets.

Jeff Gordon:
YOU JUST HAD A CONVERSATION WITH KYLE BUSCH. WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT? “I don’t know. I guess he doesn’t like people to race him. You know, Kyle and I never had any issues. But I raced him hard tonight just like I did everybody. And when track position is as important as it is here, you’ve got to race every single car for every single position. And I wasn’t going to give anybody an inch and I was racing for position. He’s got an issue because he gave me the finger and you know what? That’s not necessary for a guy he just didn’t like racing him the way I did.”

Really Jeff? Then talk to your buddy, Jimmie Johnson. I heard he was displaying the same finger to at least one other driver during the race! Was it necessary then?

Tony Stewart, on his radio, was wondering what was going on with Juan Pablo Montoya, saying he had ‘gotten’ bad again. Patrick Carpentier should realize that he doesn’t get points for every pinball hit he makes.

David Gilliland was the recipient of the ‘What in the HECK was THAT award.” He suddenly went from a 20th place car in the lucky dog position, to having his hood bashed in by the loose wheel from Brian Vickers machine. Fortunately, David was not physically hurt, nor were the fans in the infield. It is always a scary moment when a 75 pound wheel goes flying in the air. Hmmmmm! I wonder what happened to the tether those wheels are supposed to use? And Brian said he was going to send some 'stuff' over to the camper site. I wonder what he would give David?



And, as America spends this Memorial Day Monday relaxing and visiting with friends, remember the real reason for this holiday. Thank a member of the military today. The ones that survived can be thanked verbally. The ones that didn’t, please send a prayer of thanks for them. And remember, we wanted out drivers to show emotion. We have it, but we must accept it from all drivers, whether or not we like that driver. Thank the military for giving us the freedom to speak our minds!

Sliding through the Marbles!

Three days later, there is, amazingly, still more fall-out from the Sprint Fan Vote, which allows a driver to be voted into the All-Star race.
Fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr, were tasked, by no less than Jr himself, to vote for Elliott Sadler. And now that it has been reported on NASCAR.com that Sadler finished third in the fan vote, the Jr. Nation is concerned that they are not quite as powerful as they believed.

Claims have ranged from voting bots and macros being used, to Budweiser 'buying' the vote. Even this morning's discussion on The Morning Drive (Sirius) has David Poole and Mike Bagley speculating on reasons for the actual voting stats not being revealed.

Fans of Elliott Sadler are claiming that Sadler really should have been the one winning the vote (if he had not crashed), as they are sure that Robby Gordon does not have enough of a fan base. (Oh, how wrong they are! Robby has a large and passionate group of followers. Anyone who was around back in the day of the Trackpass '11th man' voting will remember how it was impossible to go against the tide of their voting!)

It would be awesome if Sprint would release those numbers. However, I will not hold my breath waiting for the results to be published. After all, this was a vote sponsored by the series sponsor, and as such, they can make the rules.

Speaking of Sadler fans, there is a large contingent claiming that AJ Allmendinger never apologized for the accident with Sadler. It amazes me that they are still complaining, even after AJ's post-race comments have been widely published. In fact, AJ's comments post-wreck were broadcast. However, if one does not want to hear anything, it is a simple thing to keep the fingers firmly plugged into the ears while shouting 'LA LA LA LA LA!'

Great news for fans (and unofficial students) of Diandra Leslie-Pelecky! She will be a guest on Sirius Speedway this week, and it appears she will be a regular guest. If you haven't found her Stock Car Science blog, check it out. Her book, The Physics of NASCAR, is a must read.

More great news! If we can judge the entry list correctly, it appears that Travis Kvapil will have Lumber Liquidators on their #28 Ford Fusion for the Coca-Cola 600. According to an interview from Travis on "Trading Paint" (Sirius) last week, Travis said there was a sponsor for this race in the works, as well as a few in the future.

I also neglected to bid a fond farewell to Dale Jarrett. While it is sad that he will not be behind the wheel any longer, it will be wonderful to have him in the ESPN broadcast booth.

And don't forget, this week qualifying will be on THURSDAY! Get your fantasy picks in soon!

Mutterings while Meandering through the Marbles!

• Humpy Wheeler has declared Carl Edwards to be his pick for the All-Star. I am fine with that. However, he also declared Tony Stewart to be the Dark Horse pick. What? In what universe would Tony ever be a dark horse? Sheesh!

• The All-star Fan Vote is driving me nuts! We saw, a few years ago, Martin Truex, Jr win the vote, and at the time, he was not a regular cup driver. He made it in purely on the strength of his relationship to his team mate and friend, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. We saw Kyle Petty be voted in, due to a sponsor offering a 'bribe' to the driver's charity. (A worthy charity! Yet, the sponsor received a ton of collateral publicity from this effort, including the several hundred of thousands of dollars worth of extra television impressions from having the car in both of the event's races.) We saw SpeedTV hawking votes for their own 'talking head', Kenny Wallace.
  
  And NOW, we have Dale Earnhardt, JR giving his personal endorsement to Elliott Sadler. Most prefer to think that he is doing this out of pure friendship for that funny talking Virginian. However, one has to wonder if the business association of the VLPClub is more of a factor. I also have to wonder why Tony Stewart has not endorsed Elliott. Surely those fans would vote in Sadler too?
  
  (BUT, what if Sadler does not make it in on the voting? Would that mean that not even the power of JR can get him in the race?)
  
  My main gripe is that drivers who are hovering in the bottom of the points are making it into the All STAR race. And frankly, they do not deserve to be there! While I would love to see my favorites, David Gilliland or Travis Kvapil, make it in, there is another deserving driver...David Ragan, who is certainly one of the most improved drivers of the season. Will any of those three have a chance when the Junior Nation follows the directions of their idol? I keep thinking that the drivers should EARN their way in, by driving their way in. I guess we will see!

• Boos! Kyle Bush has certainly polarized NASCAR fans into a Love-Hate relationship. There are not many who actually seem to reside in the middle. Fans appear to either adore him or despise him! At best, you will hear the statements that start out with "I think he is a great, talented driver, BUT......" followed by all of the reasons to NOT like him. I don't think we have had this kind of response to a driver since Darrell Waltrip first arrived on the NASCAR scene.

• Booze! Richmond and Darlington both resulted in a rain of beer cans being lobbed onto the track. At Darlinton, a whole cooler actually was tossed out. If fans keep this up, then all of the tracks will become the same as Las Vegas Motor Speedway...no coolers, no beer brought in!

• Speaking of David Ragan...How about that kid, eh? The driver formerly known as a 'dart without feathers' is now in the Chase points. Good job David!

• And speaking of surprises to the points....David Gilliland is sitting at 21st, and look at Travis Kvapil in 18th! Those Yates drivers are still showing the world how to get it done without major sponsors. There are quite a few Big Dollar sponsors (Best Buy) who are on cars (McDonald's) that are much further down the points scale ( Stanley). Hmmmm! That is a GEM of a thought! I might have to grab a Bud to think about it some more! Of course, I will only grab that Bud after I get home from visiting my local Napa store after shipping my package via UPS!

• And what in the world is THIS about? Jon Wood is not eligible for the Sprint Showdown, and yet Chat McCumbee is eligible? As badly as NASCAR gets 'dissed' for its lack of consistency, this one is just astonishing!
  

Until the next post...tune in to the Burn-out Challenge on Speed, before the All-star! I predict that Kevin Harvick will win!

M&M's, Pedigree, and Weapons of Mass Disgust, Oh My!

Richmond International Raceway - a race track that inspires drivers to claim it is the penultimate racing experience. Fans claim the same, and I must say I would be included in that claim. I visited RIR 4 years ago, and reminisce fondly on the whole experience.
The fans attending the race on May 3rd received a more exciting show than the value of their tickets implied. This race will compare to the most memorable races in the annals of NASCAR history, only because of the quirkiest of events.

First, Kudos to my favorite driver, David Gilliland! While Freecreditreport.com has extended their agreement with Yates, it is widely speculated that the car decorations are 'gratis' until the next big-time sponsor can be found. "Gratis or not, I am grateful for the logo's and I will be wearing purple and black as long as the FCR pirate hat continues to adorn the quarter panels.David had a marvelous run, starting from the 40's (when will the Yates cars start qualifying better?) and ran as high as 14th. Sadly, he was involved in the lap 230 fiasco that sent several cars to the garage. David's car was one of three that never returned to the track. His team mate, Travis Kvapil, finished 16th, and is now 19th in driver points with David sitting 20th. Not bad for two teams that are sorely underfunded! I am sure there are some big dollar sponsors out there who want some exposure! At any rate, this driver will continue to show the promise that came from his Cinderella-like win in the Busch series a few years ago.



Denny Hamlin certainly appeared to be the class of the field. Every restart had the hometown hero charging away from the pack, and he seemed to be unstoppable. Disaster struck for the 11 team when a tire was going down, and Denny stopped the car on the track, forcing a caution. Parked two laps by NASCAR for the infraction, he would certainly have gone down as many laps, if not more, with a green flag stop or a tire blow-out.

Denny's forced caution set the scene for one of the most talked about events of the last two days. Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were racing side by side, when a 'racing deal' caused Jr. to spin, backing into the outside wall. The anger from the fans was evident in single digit gestures, booing, and the traditional "Jr got dumped" rain of beer cans, aka Weapons of Mass Disgust.



A Sunday afternoon spent browsing the internet shows there are three sharply divided camps on the Jr. vs Kyle subject.

• Group one is made up mostly of media, and a few fans who 'have no dog in that hunt.' The opinion's seem to agree that a racing deal happened. The members of this group are pretty sure that Kyle did not intend for it to happen, and should not be penalized by the Jr. Nation.
  

• Group two is the "I hate Jr and will now love Kyle" faction. Any driver that is involved in a battle with the scion of the man called Senior is automatically moved to the top of their list! They dismiss 17 Cup wins as a fluke in their sureness that Jr. is over-rated.
  

• And the third group is the one that will cause this event to never, ever be forgotten. Fans of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will not forgive this one easily. Already nicknamed Vile Kyle on more than one message forum, an arrogant attitude will force this driver to endure boo's and catcalls during driver intros for years in the future.
  

Many fans are already busy writing a plethora of emails and letters to every media venue available, to Gibbs racing, and are busy creating a hate-mail campaign to Mars, Inc., the sponsor of Kyle Busch. The anger directed to Kyle Busch will overflow to Mars being instructed on the sanity of sponsoring such a controversial driver, with threats to never ever purchase any of the products ever.

Kyle's attitude reared it's head in the Richmond Nationwide race on Friday. A post-race scuffle with Steven Wallace caused Kyle to mouth some pretty self-damning statements. Kyle is showing the world his attitude with statements such as

...he's probably not even driving Ritchie Wauter's Super Late Models anymore either.

and

We've got a lot of things that go on, but this is just a little piece of the pie. I race in the Sprint Cup Series...

The most amusing quote though, was

"That's Rusty Wallace's kid so I'm not sure you're going to be able to talk to him much and get through his head...

One cannot help but reflect "Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle!"

One also wonders if Mars got more than they expected. With the announced intent to acquire Wrigley, they may well have two of the most despised drivers on the NASCAR series driving cars under their banner. Oh my! Kyle Busch and Juan Pablo Montoya as 'mates! Who would have thought! And oh, by the way....congratulations to Clint Bowyer, the forgotten winner!

Monthly Miscellanea from the Marbles

Actions Have Consequences:

The internet has been rife with commentary about Tony Stewart and his various altercations with other drivers. So many times, we hear from Tony that 'it was someone else's fault', or that 'someone does not know how to give and take', or that 'it was not intentional.' One wonders how often he told his buddy Kevin Harvick that it was indeed intentional. Kevin is still not happy with Tony, and as of this writing, had not answered Tony's phone calls. One can only claim innocence for so long, before even the best of friends start questioning the motives.

In fact, this is the second 'friend' Tony has had an issue with. Denny Hamlin was not running to fall back into Tony's good graces, and indeed Coach Gibbs had to be called in to break up the battle.

Tony should understand that espousing the philosophy of 'give and take' requires some giving before the taking. When one is handing out the BS, one should expect that the people who know you the best to recognize the BS when it is directed at them.

Tony Stewart, the day after:

A few fan boards have reported that Tony Stewart, on the Monday after his Indy/Brickyard win, was trying to prepare for his Sirius show. There were some technical difficulties, and he and Matt Yokum supposedly were talking while assuming they were having a private conversation. The microphones were 'hot', and Tony was said to have commented on how 'effing' hungover he was, and that he was peeved he had to attend his fan picnic that day. Since I quit listening to him several weeks ago, I cannot verify this. I did try to tune in to the beginning of the replay on Tuesday, but they were replaying a "Best of..." show. That in itself is unusual, as I was told that "Best of..." Show was specifically for the off week. I will say, there was some hysterical stuff going on with a Carl Edwards interview and the happenings at a bowling alley in South Carolina! (THAT was Tony at his best!)

Merger Mania

The DEI/Ginn deal is still having far reaching repercussions. Marty Snider interviewed Dale Earnhardt JR, and replayed a portion of that interview on Sirius this week. Dale Jr commented that 300 employees in Mooresville would be out of jobs. Some boards are reporting that Claire B. Lang's XM show claims the layoffs have started. There are some serious issues reported about Ginn's level of debt. One hopes that DEI used Due Diligence to research the debt load.

Ironically, some of the 'net flak has been targeted at 'leader' of TEI as being the person who is the evil boss screwing the workers. And yet, if TEI...oops..DEI had not had the merger, there would be a whole race shop shut down. This way, some of the workers do get to keep their jobs.

Yates/Newman/and whoever else....
Newman! *sigh* Hey, has Robert Redford ever wanted to be a sponsor? I am heading to a race this fall just to hopefully stalk Paul Newman! Stalking Redford would make it a perfect day for me!

Other than a gorgeous Senior Citizen, what other benefit does the Y/H/N/L deal create? I can see that Yates can use the engineering. And now, they may need the sponsor support. But what does the N/H/L part of the deal get? One hears that a certain grandson of a certain 'first name of IRL' may be the biggest beneficiary!

Sponsor Merry-Go-Round!

M&M/Mars is receiving almost as much buzz as Budweiser. Ironically, both of these icons are swarming around Ray Evernham! Go figure! Evernham is having the crappiest of seasons, and yet the sponsors are knocking on his doors!

There are many, many Sadler fans that may have to eat their words, as well as some M&Ms. They were so quick to holler "I will never eat M&Ms again! " Wow, enjoy some Crow with those candy covered chocolates? Does Crow melt in the hand? Hmmmmm!

One has to wonder what in the world is going on with the Powers That Be at Mars. Their former driver has broken not one but two contracts. This same driver received many complaints in the last year as not being known to treat his fans especially well. (Expired Tylenol was the only noteworthy item in an expensive Fan Club Pack.) The other driver under consideration has been noticed by me in a previous blog, and now members of the media, as having little grace under pressure. His negative comments about other drivers have soured some of his fans, even if he can move his butt enticingly in commecials.

Other message boards wonder why a family owned company would even pursue a team whose owner 1) admitted to having a personal relationship with an employee and 2) verbally and publicly threw one of his employees under the bus for job performance. One wonders about potentially far-reaching splatter from impending lawsuits from the Wronged Girlfriend or the Jilted Engineer. It would not be the first law-suit experienced by Ray. Any publicity from such a lawsuit could splatter right back onto the sponsor.

There are many that would take great joy in seeing the current bearer of the M to end up ahead of the previous bearer. If Ray does not get his group of drivers together, it could happen. In the meantime, David Gilliland is slowly but surely building a fan base. He is also still in inferior equipment, and yet slowly but surely gaining on his scores. He is even being noticed by some 'Hot Sheet' and other gambling odds sites as a prospect!

Can he ever...?

Can Kyle Busch ever get through a race without controversy? He plays the "I am a bigger man and can apologize" card, and then he peeved Jeff Burton. The good thing is, Jeff is a behind-the-scenes type of guy, when it comes to driver relationships. Kyle's saving grace is that he can driver the wheels, and the decals, off of his cars.

NASCAR broadcasts:

TV: So far, after one Cup race, and a half season of Busch races, I am not impressed with ESPN. The 'draft track' was silly. Tim Brewer had some great tools at his disposal, but was thrown under the bus over the placement of Jimmie Johnson's fuel pump. There were a lot of commercials, but then, when the $$ are thrown out there, you have to expect that. I am not yet ready to go Pay Per View.

Trackpass gives me the 'fill-in coverage' I need. Radio scanners and Race view give me at least 85% of the picture, even when my driver is up front for a bit, and ESPN forgets to talk about him. Uh oh! I just realized, that I am paying, in essence, a pay-per-view to get the coverage I need!!!! Hmmm!

Best Broadcast Bang for the Buck: Sirius Radio channel 128

• The day starts off with the Misfits, aka The Morning Drive...Marty Snider and David Poole. Their discussions quite often jump into the argument stage, but always make you think!
  

• The Driver's Seat, with John Kernan as host, is fabulous! John is so knowledgeable and comforting to listen to, and has such good rapport with Buddy Baker (love love LOVE Buddy's stories!)and also Ricky Craven, John Andretti, and a cast of thousands!

• Sirius Speedway has the most longevity of the group, and has the most fun! Regular reports from Juan Pablo Montoya, Ray Evernham, and Brendan Gaughan give me targets of tuning. I will listen to each of them each week! Dave Moody and team have me giggling hysterically at least 5 times in each broadcast! This group has a knack of bringing out the real driver in their interviews!
  

Congrats to Brendan Gaughan, our Las VegasNCTS driver who is going to be walking down the aisle this month. It is a special woman who can tolerate his zaniness, but those of us that have met him know that he is a special person. Best wishes for a happy happy life, Brendan! And Mrs. Brendan!

Speaking of gambling....what is going on with the drivers enticing fans into gambling or poker sites? How long can the fans really expect the drivers to really show up! What kind of profit do the drivers receive? Hmmmmmm!

We will wait with anticipation to see what the next month brings! In the meantime....Happy Racing!

Tony Stewart, Again and Again!

The July race at Daytona has traditionally been a 4th of July extravaganza, complete with wonderful fireworks as the winner enters Victory Lane. This year, there were fireworks of a different nature starting in turn 4 of the 15th lap.

Denny Hamlin was leading, and team mate, Tony Stewart, ran into the rear of Denny. Both cars wrecked, and caused secondary wrecks involving Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Reed Sorenson. The melee was startling enough, but what happened in the garage later is where the fireworks show really started.

The media was waiting for Tony, and they got exactly what they wanted! Dave Rodman, of NASCAR.com reported Tony's tirade against Denny.

"The No. 11 just stopped for no reason, right in the middle of Turn 4," Stewart said. "I'm sure he was getting tight because for three laps in a row we were catching him through the center and the exit of the corner.

"All of a sudden he just stops on the exit of [Turn] 4 in front of 42 cars and I guess expects all of us to drive around him. I don't know. It's tore up two really good racecars."

While the above statement was hauntingly similar to Tony's comments about David Gilliland at Michigan, Tony decides to add fuel to the fire by stating:

Stewart said Hamlin had "tried to crash us on Friday in practice and didn't get it done so he finished it off [Saturday]."

Now, it is eerily similar to what Tony has said about other drivers, including Gilliland.

Rodman even reports:

Stewart's frustration was doubly evident, as, when his crew told him over the radio that Hamlin's No. 11 crew was going to help push Stewart's car toward the garage, he said "don't let them touch this [expletive] thing."

Tony takes it a step further when holding court with a camera crew from ESPN's Nascar Now.

We got one team mate here that is a superstar and he wants to be his own one man band and he is about to succeed at it.

It is obvious that something is bothering Tony to the point of pain. Is it that he is the only driver in the top ten to not have a win? Is it possible that his team mate, Denny, won before Tony won? Is it possible that Tony has surrounded himself by folks who reinforce his bad behavior and in fact, encourage it? Is it possible that the 'fix' of moving back to Indiana was only a band-aid? It could be any, all or some of that, or none of it.

What we do know is Hamlin took the high road.

"If he wants to blame it on me I'll be the bigger man -- I'll take responsibility for it. He's been around this sport longer than I have and he probably knows more than I do, so I'll just take it for what it's worth."

Coach Gibbs tried to defend the actions of his drivers.

"The two guys are very competitive, we're running up front and we've got real good cars and that's something that can happen," Gibbs said after visiting the garage with his son, team president J.D. Gibbs. "That's really what happened -- it's just one of those unfortunate things.

"Both guys are going as hard as they can and I think both of these guys are real competitive. I think they're good teammates and I think it's just something that happened [Saturday night]."

However, Rodman writes that Gibbs had not seen the incident, nor had he heard Tony's comments.

As I review much of the reporting about the incident, I am struck that some of the media are not as much on Tony's side as in the past. One wonders if the "Tony is Tony" attitude is wearing thin on the media, much like it is wearing thin on fans.

Some fans still staunchly defend their driver. Many emails remind me that he has a big heart, and gives generously to all around him. I will concede that the Good Tony is indeed good. It is just that the Evil Tony is so rotten.

Frankly, I would love to have one month were his grade-school antics are not the highlight of the news. However, Tony continues to make a target of himself. One wonders how long it will be before Home Depot steps in and sanctions him again.