Good thing there’s six whole days between Cup races to settle all the drama.

Fortunately, the controversy over the finish died out quickly because, well...it wasn’t controversial. Busch bumped Kenseth out of the way four laps from the finish. Kenseth would have done the same thing if he was the faster car. That’s just how it works. Move on to the next race.

Larry McReynolds wrote some drivel about how disappointed he was that NASCAR slapped a fine on Jeff Gordon for shoving Kenseth after the race because it "penalizes the emotion out of the sport". He also implies that NASCAR had no choice but to assess a fine or be criticized for favoritism (read down the article to the "some consider him the golden boy..." sentence).

Um, what?!?

First, I don’t believe for one moment that "whiney Jeff Gordon haters" (drivers or fans) factored into their decision to levy a fine. And incidentally, NASCAR gets criticized all the time – by the fans, the drivers, the teams – for everything – the regulations, the tracks, safety, etc., so I'm fairly certain it wasn't fear of criticism.

Second, Gordon violated a boundary. Physical aggression is uncalled-for unless it’s in self-defense. If any other driver (yes, even Tony) had done the same thing, they should be fined. Good ol'fashioned hard racing (which does not include ramming another car in retaliation) and some post-race smack talk provide all the energy the rivalries need to fuel interest in the sport.

Speaking of talking smack, McReynolds also comes down pretty hard on Kevin Harvick (aka half of team B.K. Harvickers) for telling some reporter that he’d like to whip Kurt Busch’s butt. He even goes so far as to say his comments are more detrimental to the sport than the Gordon shoving incident.

That’s a bit overdramatic. Neither are great for the sport and Harvick should exercise more discretion about his comments to the media. But Kurt Busch suffers from "Robby Gordon-disease", and I’m sure almost every driver has an "I-want-to-kick-his-ass" story involving the Weasel.

And speaking of weasels, Chad Knaus' first race back as crew chief went horribly, giving the momentum back to the legions of "haters" that Jimmie told to go cram it after his Daytona 500 victory. Wah wah waaaah.

It’s going to be nice to have absolutely nothing to do on Sunday morning but make my sweetie some of my world-famous breakfast sandwiches, watch the Martinsville race and recover from our hike.

Oh, our hike! I’ll leave that for tomorrow’s post...