Track Smack: Caution no means to this end

Dave Rodman: Brian Vickers won Talladega under caution. That proves to me it's an abysmal decision. Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. spun off to the inside and no one else was involved, so using NASCAR's warped logic it employed for three or four seconds Sunday, there should have been no caution at Talladega, either.

Ryan Smithson: I know that it took NASCAR a few minutes to declare Vickers the winner last fall, and the same thing happened Sunday. It took NASCAR about 1-2 minutes to declare Kevin Harvick the winner.

Dave Rodman: When Kyle Busch hooked the apron with his left-front tire, he snapped back up into the middle of a 30-car freight train. No excuse for not throwing a yellow. That's why NASCAR went to the expense of installing loops in the racetracks, I thought.

David Caraviello: But this isn't the Supreme Court we're talking about. Look at the seeming randomness of penalties. Everything is done case-by-case.

Ryan Smithson: Rodman, you're actually making a lot of sense. What is up with that?

David Caraviello: Dave has been saving up all his good Track Smack stuff.

Dave Rodman: I been off for four weeks. Allows your brain to settle.

Ryan Smithson: This is like the time Jimmy Spencer showed up at The Rock and ran second all day. You're like, "Wow, where did this come from?"

David Caraviello: Kind of like Martin when he saw Harvick in his rearview mirror.

Dave Rodman: To skip back to a comment you made, Ryan -- Mark Martin is such an icon, that he only increases his legend -- win, lose or draw. It's neat for everyone because not only will he be back for the Pepsi 400 -- I'll place big money right now he'll be back for the 2008 Daytona 500.

Ryan Smithson: I'll bet he runs it in 2008 and 2009.

Dave Rodman: Good bet.

Ryan Smithson: Harvick didn't get proper credit for that charge he made. It was classic. But because Harvick isn't a media darling, he loses.

David Caraviello: See, I think Harvick is a media darling. People eat up the Dale Earnhardt angle. There would have been plenty of significance to Sunday night even if Martin had not been involved.

Dave Rodman: But face it, Mark being right there made it better.

David Caraviello: Yeah, this Daytona 500 is more about who lost than who won.

Ryan Smithson: It just goes to show that Ginn builds fabulous plate cars, and its willingness to blow the budget on Daytona is key.

Dave Rodman: I wouldn't necessarily say its coffers are bare, now, Smithson.

Ryan Smithson: So how is Harvick a media darling, David? He doesn't have the rough hue of Earnhardt or the boyish charm of Jeff Gordon.

Dave Rodman: Look at it this way. Kevin has become a monster on the racetrack. Twin-killing at Speedweeks. Decimated the Busch Series last year. I don't hear many people booing him.

Ryan Smithson: Harvick's Busch team has become so feared, like Mark Martin 1995-era feared. You know he is going to win. And so do his opponents.

Dave Rodman: He has polished his deal enough that to me, he seems to be an appreciated and accepted version of Genghis Khan -- at least when it comes to the Busch Series. And that's kinda cool.

David Caraviello: Rank-and-file fans love Kevin Harvick. They love his brashness, his willingness to call Kurt Busch out and the fact that he works with all of Earnhardt's old boys.

Ryan Smithson: Harvick doesn't sell a ton of merchandise.

Dave Rodman: If people don't appreciate everything about him, that's their loss and their ignorance showing.

David Caraviello: All I know is when I'm out there among the people, and not up in the luxury suite like you, Ryan, I see a lot of support for Kevin Harvick. And he doesn't sell a lot of merchandise because people are still buying 3 hats.

Dave Rodman: Back when he was mouthing off and getting sat down and suspended, he could have fallen off the face of Cup racing and run second-tier Busch cars for the rest of his career. When you look at what he's done since then, you can't help but be very impressed.

David Caraviello: You're right, Dave. Kevin seems to have lost some of that punk-kid attitude that turns people off. Of course, winning helps. He looked and sounded great on TV this week.

Dave Rodman: But he is still a firebomb when he needs to be. He's an assassin the same way Jeff Gordon is. Picks his spots and "poof" -- you're gone before you even knew someone was lining you up in his sights.

Ryan Smithson: When was I in a luxury suite?

David Caraviello: I know how you roll. I've heard stories.

Ryan Smithson: Do tell, then.

Dave Rodman: I thought a day in the suites was your going-away present.

Ryan Smithson: No, I want to know when I actually sat in a luxury suite instead of pits/garage/media center. Not mad, just wondering, because I don't recall it.

Dave Rodman: That many storytellers can't be lying, Ryan.

Ryan Smithson: What did they specifically say?

Dave Rodman: Pork tenderloin and white wine -- man, how could you? At least you washed your hands before you came back to the media center.

Ryan Smithson: Anyone who knows me knows I specifically hate white wine and pork. Geez, you two are worse than a sewing circle.

Dave Rodman: Next question?

Ryan Smithson: I am still waiting for the luxury suite dates. Geez. Glad you two haven't reported that Dale Jr. will sign his contract from a perch high above the earth.

David Caraviello: Cripes, Smithson, take a joke.

2. Was too much made of the Michael Waltrip penalties?

David Caraviello: Absolutely not. You don't have illegal fuel additives every day. The last was Jeremy Mayfield in 2000 -- and he got hammered, too.

Dave Rodman: Hmmm. No. I don't think so. Did anyone do anything illegal after Wednesday? Whatever they did was pretty outrageous, especially since it showed up twice on qualifying day.

Ryan Smithson: The thing that bothered me was they kicked out Bobby Kennedy, MWR's competition director. I know the infraction was worse, but Roush and Evernham's competition directors were not similarly tossed.

David Caraviello: That's because fuel additives are a completely different animal than everything else. Remember, those penalties assessed to Mayfield's team in 2000 were the beginning of the end for Penske-Kranefuss Racing.

Dave Rodman: I think it's probably more significant that less was made of the 24 car's problem in the 150. Did anyone else notice that Gordon's progress in the 500 was never particularly significant -- at least compared to that last-lap move in his 150, which I don't know that I can remember seeing in those circumstances at Daytona in quite a while.

Ryan Smithson: You could say the same about the 55, Rodman -- fabulous car in the 150s; crap in the 500.

David Caraviello: Fabulous car in the 150s with half a field.

Ryan Smithson: You got me there. Not half the field, but a weaker field. The 150s still has 28 cars.

Dave Rodman: Well, I have to admit I don't rightly know what happened there. You think Mikey got that car into the 500 on willpower alone?

David Caraviello: I think the 150s were their 500. Everything went into that race.

Ryan Smithson: Mikey is obviously a fabulous drafter. I forgot how well he could manage a plate race.

Dave Rodman: And they tore the heck out of that car for two days after the 150. You saw my blog entry -- Saturday afternoon about 50 percent of the car was in primer.

Ryan Smithson: I didn't see your blog entry. What did it say? I saw the part where you said David Green was the greatest driver without a Cup win.

Dave Rodman: Why do you like dislike the Green brothers? Aside from being quality individuals, they are great drivers.

David Caraviello: Why did they do that, when the car seemed more than serviceable in the 150s? You wonder if all that work did more harm than good?

Dave Rodman: After the 150 they ran one practice of the two -- and not that many laps. And the car was in pieces for much of the two days. I don't know. When you consider he was in the same race with Junior and was competitive enough to race up to a qualified spot, twice, I guess I ain't smart enough to figure out why they'd reinvent the car -- or try to.

David Caraviello: That 100-point penalty really starts to hurt Friday. There are no qualifying races at California.

Ryan Smithson: It hurt way before Friday, David.

Dave Rodman: Well, he was hurting anyway. Where it's going to hurt is if he either misses one of the next four -- or he runs badly in any of them.

Ryan Smithson: I saw that from way up in the luxury suite.

Dave Rodman: Glad you could take a break from the Veal Francaise.

Ryan Smithson: I ate my Daytona 500 lunch at Checkers -- two burgers and fries. $16.

David Caraviello: I believe Mr. Rodman is a connoisseur of the Space Coast's finer French restaurants.

Ryan Smithson: Is Daytona the First Coast or the Space Coast?

David Caraviello: Where's the dividing line? Flagler Beach?

Dave Rodman: If you have ever been down near the Boardwalk, you would know it is probably more like the Coal Coast.

David Caraviello: What, lot of guys walking about with miner's helmets?

Dave Rodman: Naw -- I got nothing against miners. It's just kind of scruffy -- like a coal mine.

David Caraviello: I used to stay in a wonderful bed and breakfast in Flagler every Daytona race week. Let's just say the place has an earthy charm.

Dave Rodman: And I'll just say that's a little north of Daytona Beach.

The opinions expressed are solely of the participants.