No matter how many times I’ve done a NASCAR ride-along, I always get the feeling right before it’s my turn to climb in the car that skipping breakfast might have been a good thing.
It was no different Tuesday morning. There I was on pit road at the Memphis Motorsports Park in my blue and orange Richard Petty Driving Experience jumpsuit, white helmet with the butterflies in my stomach as big as condors as that black 2-seat FedEx Chevy driven by Denny Hamlin rolled to a stop and I prepared to jump in.
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Michael Waltrip seems to have a love-hate relationship with Daytona.

The joy of his first Daytona 500 win in 2001 was swallowed by the death of his friend and boss Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of the same race.

This year, Waltrip came to Florida bubbling with anticipation about being the standard-bearer for Toyota’s entry into Nextel Cup. Unfortunately, his manifold was bubbling with a mystery substance, which caused him to run afoul of NASCAR’s inspectors.

After NASCAR hit his team with some of the heaviest sanctions in the sport’s history, Waltrip nearly pulled his car out of Thursday’s Daytona 500 qualifying races. He didn’t and it gave his whole organization a shot in the arm.
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The four Nextel Cup crew chiefs that were suspended by NASCAR on Tuesday can’t say they weren’t warned.

NASCAR has been tough on cheaters the past couple of years, and Chad Knaus’ suspension last year at Daytona was the first instance of the hard-line stance NASCAR was going to take.

In Chicago last season, teams were told that subsequent penalties would be increasingly harsher.

Now Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Scott Riggs and Elliott Sadler are starting the season with negative points. It’s in line with what NASCAR said was coming.

The only thing that might put a stop to the cheating is that the offending teams will not be allowed to show up to the next race. That’ll him where it counts — the sponsorship.

NASCAR lost one of its biggest personalities on the same day the NHRA unveiled its next big star.

Former Cup champion Benny Parsons lost his battle with lung cancer at age 65 on Tuesday. He had been in declining health since complications from his lung cancer treatment arose a couple of months ago.

Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers, BP’s lasting legacy to the sport will be from his work in the boradcast booth. Benny, Bob Jenkins and Ned Jarrett gave a lot of fans their introduction to NASCAR during their telecasts on ESPN.
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The news out of the Bobby Hamilton camp always sounded positive and determined, just like the man himself.

Which made Sunday’s news that Hamilton had lost his battle with head and neck cancer at age 49 all the more shocking.

Hamilton, who won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park in 2004, announced last spring that he was taking a leave of abscence from racing to undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatments, but he was determined to get back to the track.

The Nashville native might not have been the biggest star in NASCAR, but he was one of its greatest ambasadors.
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The NASCAR season has only been over for a few weeks, but race fans who want to hear the rumble of racecars before Daytona in February will have an outlet on Thursday at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Penske Racing drivers Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman will be testing at MMP starting at about 8 a.m. an it will last until the afternoon, weather permitting.

Fan can watch testing sessions from Grandstand G (start-finish line) at no charge. The garage and infield are not open to the public, and no concessions are available. Schedule subject to change.

Jeff Burton didn’t get his wish, but NASCAR got its culprit in the Atlanta roll-bar padding fiasco.

Robbie Gordon was fined $15,000 and deducted 50 driver and owners points on Wednesday. After Sunday’s race Burton, who got trapped two laps down by the caution, wanted the offender to be fined $100,000 and docked 185 points.

It didn’t help Gordon’s cause that NBC did something right for a change. The same network that didn’t have a good angle on Jamie McMurray plowing into Jeff Gordon, had a couple of good angles of the debris flying out of Gordon’s car. NASCAR reviewed the tape and did its own inspection before handing down the verdict.

Drivers have been doing this kind of stuff for years, it’s as much a part of the lore of the sport as its bootlegger beginnings. However, it’s one of those things that NASCAR has to keep a short leash on in order to maintain national respect.