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!

La Triviata on a quiet Sunday

It is an off-week for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Drivers. The Busch series raced in Nashville. Las Vegas had its first CHAMP Car race today, running a 2.4 mile circuit in the downtown area.

Since there is not much happening this post will not have a single theme, but I will provide some trivial thoughts and observations. Of course, as some of my 'Friends of NASCAR' would say, "SNAFAM is nothing BUT trivial!"

• David Poole, in his That's Racin article about Mark Martin, talks about how Mark keeps giving back to the fans. Martin's annual Fan Event is truly awesome. Several have related to me how Mark will stay for hours, signing autographs for every person who shows up. He does not charge for it, does not offer VIP privileges (pay a higher fee to get closer) and does not turn a fan event into a charity opportunity. He merely opens the doors of his dealership to his fans, and he stays until the last fan leaves. Way to go, Mark!
  

• HAIR WARS? Two drivers will be asking their fans to help create what could well be the charity event of the season. By now, all have heard that Tony Stewart made a casual comment about body waxing on his Tony Stewart Live show on Sirius. (It actually originated when they were discussing another driver who allowed himself to be waxed for a show on ESPN. Tony vowed he wouldn't do that for $50K. Yokum asked about $100k, and Tony thoughtfully replied "Maybe, but it would be for charity!")
  

Kevin Harvick has taken up the challenge. The money will be donated by Harvick's fans, and will then be turned over to Victory Junction Camp. Stewart has challenged Kevin to let Tony shave his head, with a like amount being donated. After viewing the waxing scene from the movie 40 Year Old Virgin (WE'RE GONNA NEED MORE WAX!), I think Tony will suffer far more than Kevin! To donate to the cause, visit Kevin Harvick's website. Through Friday, more than $15,000 had been donated. One can't help but wonder if some of Tony's peers might offer larger sums to 'the cause.' Some might even want to help with the waxing!
Way to go, Kevin and Tony! It is amazing how casual comments can become major media events! And HUGE Kudos to the fans of Harvick!

• I would also be willing to donate a few pennies to see the disappearance of the pathetic facial hair on Shrub's chiny-chin-chin!
  

• The Busch series had its stand alone race this weekend in Nashville. Few Cup drivers arrived to stink up the show, but one who did arrive ran away with the field. Carl Edwards won again. (BTW, congrats to Stephen Leicht and David Reutimann for their finishes!) Carl is leading the series by 321 points, which leads one to believe that A) Jack Roush and Carl Edwards really really really want to have a Busch Championship this year , and B) the Busch Championship may well be decided long before the season is complete.
  

If we indeed have two years in a row with a huge gap from first to second, I am sure that NASCAR will step in to manipulate the points rules in that series. A Busch Chase may be in the future!