With Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne's qualifying times disallowed, and with Michael Waltrip's car impounded because of suspicious fluid in his engine manifold, did these teams cheat to try to gain an advantage?

Ryan Smithson: Well, the 55 team has maintained that oil somehow leaked into the manifold. Obviously, we are not mechanics, but I've never seen a car fail inspection partly because of oil leaking into a manifold.

David Caraviello: It's Daytona. It's plate racing. Many of the car pieces are specialized, and because of that, the rules and the inspection process are tighter. So guys can't get away with what they might get away with at, say, Martinsville.

Joe Menzer: If NASCAR rules that these guys did indeed cheat, I have another question: To what extent should they be penalized? Some folks think they didn't do enough to Knaus.

David Caraviello: You set the bar last year the Knaus ejection and suspension. To do anything less would appear inconsistent. And NASCAR has never appeared inconsistent, has it? And tell Knaus that, as he sat at home and watched somebody else crew his car to Victory Lane in the Daytona 500.

Joe Menzer: Well, when you don't play by the rules and get caught, you've sort of made your own bed, as the saying goes.

Ryan Smithson: We all know that Knaus got sent home last year, but in the long run, his efforts paid off, don't you think? If you don't get caught once in awhile, are you not trying hard enough?

David Caraviello: Really, we see this stuff every Speedweeks. Waltrip's magic oil is a new one, but every year you've got guys busted left and right for trying to sneak something by. It's the Daytona 500.

Joe Menzer: Here's a radical idea: If they really want to put a stop to the cheating, send the entire team home for a race if they get caught. It won't ever happen, though.

Ryan Smithson: Let's say I am Robbie Reiser and my car isn't nearly as fast as it was last year. You know what? I'll do whatever it takes. NASCAR might keep me home four weeks. Big deal. I will go back to the shop and cut up cars. My sponsor will pay the fine. Wow, NASCAR, you really got me.

Joe Menzer: What they should strive for is doing everything it takes, but within the rules. Again, that's not likely to happen, either.

Ryan Smithson: Joe, NASCAR took away almost all their creative license.

Joe Menzer: Hey, man, they'll get to adjust that wing thing on the COT when it comes around! And don't forget those splitters in front that they will get to move a couple of inches this way or that.

David Caraviello: And to be honest, can't the perception of a rule differ from one person to the next? Aren't the tolerances so minimal that you're going to have guys get busted who think they're in the clear?

Ryan Smithson: Waltrip will probably get sent home anyway. This isn't that big of a deal.

David Caraviello: That's not to say guys aren't trying to "gain that edge." They always have. But you've got to think it's mighty easy to be off one-eighth of an inch somewhere.

Joe Menzer: I guess this is a case where size truly does matter.

Is anyone convinced that Robert Yates Racing is enjoying a full-fledged comeback?

Joe Menzer: Well, on the surface, with two of their guys sitting on the front row for the Daytona 500, the quick answer would be to say yes. But it's not that simple.

Ryan Smithson: No, no and no. Look, why is everyone so shocked that Gilliland is on the pole? He won the freaking pole at Talladega last year, too. RYR is always good at plate tracks -- hell, Jarrett's only win in the last four years was at one.

David Caraviello: Not quite. That team had the ability to run fast qualifying laps and win poles even when they were at their lowest.

Ryan Smithson: Let's get excited only when Gilliland and Rudd qualify 1-2 at Fontana, because they won't.

David Caraviello: That said, winning the pole for the 500 is a great PR boost, especially for a team like Yates that needs it.

Joe Menzer: They're still a great feel-good story. RYR came close to closing up shop after last season.

Ryan Smithson: Not closing, Joe, but selling. Big difference.

Joe Menzer: Not that big of a difference, when you consider that Robert Yates would basically be building and selling motors and nothing else. It would have been the end of an era.

David Caraviello: They're the big story now in Daytona until the Twins. Gilliland is a good story. There's no harm there, Ryan. You'll get your share of schadenfrude during the race. Did Robert Yates run you off the road somewhere?

Ryan Smithson: Yes, in Statesville, on his Harley. Don Tilley made him do it.

Joe Menzer: That explains the animosity.

David Caraviello: Of bigger concern is James Hylton's qualifying speed, which was second-lowest among the non-cheaters.

Ryan Smithson: Look guys, there is no animosity. But seriously, this is Daytona. My grandmother could qualify that car.

Joe Menzer: But James Hylton apparently couldn't. Well, he was running an old RCR, not RYR, car. But he had good equipment.

David Caraviello: And I've seen Ryan's grandmother drive. She's a hot shoe.

Joe Menzer: That doesn't mean she can't drive fast and turn left.

Ryan Smithson: Her name is Lucille. Seriously.

Joe Menzer: Rudd did say during the media tour that Gilliland is "as talented a young driver" as he's seen in a long time. He might be the real deal.

Ryan Smithson: Gilliland isn't that young. He is 30 with two kids. Two ridiculously cute kids. They are a great family on that new ESPN show. I don't think Ricky Rudd has ever won a plate race. I know he hasn't won at Daytona, trying to remember if he has won at 'Dega.

David Caraviello: Hey, nothing wrong with letting the underdogs have their moment. Even if it is fleeting. That's one of the nice things about Speedweeks, the storylines change with each event.

Joe Menzer: I wish I could have seen Ricky Rudd piloting his huge motorhome up to Cedar Point amusement park in Ohio last summer during his "retirement." Said he was a nervous wreck for the first 100 miles!

Ryan Smithson: Butch Hylton, Rudd's crew chief, cracks me up. He has been around forever so you assume he is like 55 and gray. He is a young-looking 40-year-old, and he is about 8 eet tall.

David Caraviello: Is he related to James?

Ryan Smithson: I don't think so.

Joe Menzer: Might be James' grandson.

Ryan Smithson: Great-grandson.

David Caraviello: Evidently, James Hylton has also run Ryan off the road.

Ryan Smithson: Not in a Harley. It was in a Lincoln Town Car.

Joe Menzer: I had an e-mailer accuse me of practicing "ageism" for some of my cracks on James Hylton in our last Smack when I actually love the guy. I was pulling for him, if only because it's a great story.

Ryan Smithson: He needs to look at your picture. Your hair is whiter than rice.

David Caraviello: Gee, original line, Ryan. Haven't heard that one before.

Joe Menzer: I tried to tell the angry e-mailer that I'm in the same age bracket as young Mr. Hylton.

David Caraviello: My sources tell me the man is saving it all for the Twins. He's got some special manifold oil saved up for that race.

Ryan Smithson: True story: Joe was in the grocery store with his kid, and some woman thought it was his grandkid. Ha!

Joe Menzer: I cannot deny it.

David Caraviello: Poor Ryan. He thinks he's going to be 38 forever, doesn't he, Joe?

Ryan Smithson: Back in high school in Centerville, Tenn., we took grocery carts out onto the road. We pulled them with a rope behind a Bronco. Those little rubber tires don't last too long.

Joe Menzer: Lemme guess. You were riding in the cart, fell out, and hit your head?

David Caraviello: Uh ... were there no girls in Centerville?

Ryan Smithson: All taken by the 40-year-olds.

Joe Menzer: I would have been big there. I looked 40 at age 30.

Ryan Smithson: And yes, I hit my head, but the real injury came when Chris Rogers set my hair on fire.

David Caraviello: They call Ryan "The Jimmie Johnson of Centerville."

Joe Menzer: Ah, he was just "horsin' around." No alcohol involved, I'm sure.

Ryan Smithson: Jimmie Johnson, if you're reading this, I did what you did. Seriously. Except it was an ankle injury.

David Caraviello: We hear JJ is a big fan of the Smack.

Joe Menzer: I got flipped in a golf cart once. And yes, alcohol was involved -- along with an idiot friend who was driving. I was an innocent victim.

Ryan Smithson: I was hit in the groin by a flying golf ball that landed in my lap once. This was back when carts didn't have a roof.

David Caraviello: Oh, please, next topic.

Ryan Smithson: We are done foe the day.

David Caraviello: Once we get to Ryan's lap, it's all over for me.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writers.