Track Smack: Offseason

What does the future hold for Jeff Burton?

Ryan Smithson: I can only imagine the decisions he had to make this year. Obviously, he's still a front-runner for the open RCR job, but I just don't see him taking it unless the team shuts down. And that would be unfathomable, but I guess stranger things have happened.

Dave Rodman: I'd say he'll be winning races somewhere. The interesting thing is, where he'll be winning them. On the one hand, I wouldn't be surprised if he landed in RCR's 30 car. But his commitment to Jack Roush is such, and I'm talking about his future in the sport beyond the driver's seat, that I could hardly imagine him leaving Roush Racing unless something phenomenally broad in scope was to occur.

Lee Montgomery: It just seems curious to me that Burton's name keeps popping up with the 30 car. Why did Roush and Burton both say they were committed to one another a while back? Was that just a lie? Why change? When does your word mean anything in this sport?

Marty Smith: My sentiments exactly, Lee. Any time Burton's name wafts through the rumor mill -- namely the 30, which he's been rumored in for two years -- Roush Racing is quick to shoot back with a release chronicling his unwavering commitment to the 99. And, considering that we got a release yesterday announcing a limited Busch Series schedule for Burton in the No. 9 Ford, you'd assume he's staying. But hear this: allegiances wane with unsponsored cars.

Ryan Smithson: Maybe they can't get a sponsor, Lee. That changes everything, including your word.

Marty Smith: Well said, Smithson. Very well said.

Lee Montgomery: But they said that knowing they didn't have a sponsor.

Ryan Smithson: Maybe they thought they could surely land one.

Send a nice letter Ryan Dave Lee Marty

Lee Montgomery: The aura of the 30 car is pretty slim.

Ryan Smithson: If I were Burton, I would flock to the 30 team. RCR's cars are extremely reliable, not always the fastest, and that is the type of car Burton needs to be successful. I could see him having a Matt Kenseth-type year.

Dave Rodman: You think he'd be wise to discard all the equity he has built up with Jack for a one-year deal? Though the RCR aura, obviously, carries much weight.

Ryan Smithson: he hasn't won in two years, Lee, think he's not ready for a change of some sort?

Dave Rodman: Well, I took them at their word when they announced they had extended. But I think, considering other statement they've made, that it's pretty funny.

Send a mean letter Ryan Dave Lee Marty

Lee Montgomery: Who knows?

Ryan Smithson: You guys always think a guy is supposed to hang around with the same team for 30 years.

Marty Smith: Long live The King. The thing you boys have to remember, especially with Roush Racing, is this trend of multiple primary sponsorships. It's gotten so expensive to run, especially with five freakin' cars, that they've got to work out deals where various companies get their time on the hood. Look at Kenseth this year. He won the championship with three different primary sponsors: DeWalt, Smirnoff Ice and Carhartt.

Dave Rodman: If they just "said" they extended to entice a sponsor to sign; and I think that's what they did.

Ryan Smithson: It doesn't work that way.

Lee Montgomery: Just don't make an announcement you're staying if it isn't true.

Ryan Smithson: It's good business, Lee. You can't blame 'em.

Lee Montgomery: It's a lie.

	This is how many times I won last year.

Ryan Smithson: Not if they find a sponsor!

Dave Rodman: I couldn't agree more, unfortunately, Lee -- but I said "RCR's aura," and that is overwhelmingly positive.

Ryan Smithson: The thing is, if they don't hire Burton, who in the heck will they hire?

Lee Montgomery: So much for the aura.

Ryan Smithson: If they don't get him, they will continue to struggle.

Dave Rodman: That's a good question. They have to get someone with gobs of credibility and someone that can win pretty darned quick. Having said that, I ain't smart enough to put a name under that hat.

Ryan Smithson: I'll give you a hint: It's not guys named John or Johnny.

Marty Smith: RCR could buy out Sauter's gig with Brewco, Smithson, and Harvick loves Sauter. That one I'd say could happen. But they'd have to coax AOL into more patience, and I'd say they're about out of patience.

Dave Rodman: I would almost like to see him give ol' Hornaday a shot. I don't know that he's an AOL kind of guy, though.

Lee Montgomery: This is a car that finished 34th in the points. Boy, it gets a lot of publicity.

Do you guys like having the awards ceremony in New York?

Dave Rodman: Personally, if I even went it would be 99 percent because of the people, and if you put it in that context, it would not matter where you had it.

Marty Smith: Love it. I'm here right now, boys, and the city's absolutely electric at this time of year. Christmas in New York, you just can't beat it. Plus, the party's off the chain.

Ryan Smithson: Better than Des Moines, Iowa or Boise, Idaho. Simply put, there are worse places.

Lee Montgomery: I don't know if I've ever thought about it being in New York or anywhere. Does it really matter?

Dave Rodman: Unfortunately for a lot of people, most definitely the fans, the reasons its there are unquantifiable to the average Joe. That is a divergence the sport will never escape, so most people had best get over it.

	You haven't been to the White House in over a year, Tony!

Marty Smith: It's NASCAR's dream. Their sport is a centerpiece in the largest media market in the universe for an entire week. (And for the record: It's wearing me out!)

Ryan Smithson: I think it will remain in New York for at least the next 10 years.

Marty Smith: Agreed, Smithson, if not longer.

Lee Montgomery: Can fans even get in anyway?

Ryan Smithson: No. And you raise a good point. Do they even care?

Dave Rodman: I think the way people need to look at it, is that the awards ceremony is a business function -- therefore it needs to stay in a business center. The "fans' function" is the former Winston Cup Preview.

Lee Montgomery: I'm sure some do. And I'd bet they'd want to go. But it isn't really a fan thing.

Marty Smith: If you think race tickets are expensive...

Dave Rodman: Fans are not welcome at the awards ceremony.

Lee Montgomery: Now, should it be a fans' thing? How can you make it a fan thing? Have it at the Ericsson Stadium?

Marty Smith: HAHAHA! Come on, Lee. Charlotte is the last place NASCAR would hold the Cup banquet.

Dave Rodman: Don't care what anyone at NASCAR says. They are tolerated, sure, but I can't particularly think of anything that is done with them in mind to any degree. I don't know if it was my idea to have it at Madison Square Garden or if I read it somewhere.

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Ryan Smithson: Ericsson Stadium in December. Nice idea, Lee.

Lee Montgomery: Sarcasm.

Marty Smith: Oh, I didn't pick up your uncanny wit, bro.

Ryan Smithson: Sure, charge fans $1,500 a head. You'd sell about 18 tickets.

Dave Rodman: If they wanted to do something like that, they could have another mock presentation at the "preview," and rotate the preview site to different locations each year.

Ryan Smithson: I really wish they hadn't moved the preview to Daytona. A lot of fans from the Northeast can't go now.

Marty Smith: That's a huge sign of the changing of the guard in this sport, Smithson. Out with the old, in with the new. The preview was in Winston-Salem for a reason. That reason no longer exists. God Bless RJR, they saved this game.

Dave Rodman: No, if you did it at MSG you could offer a reasonable ticket price, but if you charged fans anything to be there you would have to introduce a fan-interactive element and I don't think NASCAR has any interest in doing that.

Dave Rodman: The preview, more than anything else, ought to rotate. Having it in Daytona, though not a mistake, should not be an annual event.

Marty Smith: Enough, boys. I've got to get out of here and go find Matt.

Track Smack appears every Wednesday on NASCAR.com at 11 a.m. ET sharp. Even in the offseason.

The opinions -- if you can call them that -- are solely those of the participants.