Smack: Robby tries to play nice but it's transparent (cont'd)

Duane Cross: Wouldn't call it a "wealth" of experience ... but certainly more than pocket change. Actually, those would be 32-oz. curls -- one in each hand!

Dave Rodman: Watch that, you'll bring the wrath of ESPN's Skip Bayless down on you for being a drunken, bad influence -- never mind that your youth baseball team just finished fifth in the doggone country.

David Caraviello: Plenty to watch for this weekend. In addition to JPM, you wonder if anyone's going to get busted for COT infractions like the last time we visited a road course.

Dave Rodman: Man, I'd like to think not -- on the technical infractions. I don't see the difference between Sonoma, The Glen and New Hampshire -- and I don't remember anyone having any problems at NHIS. That was a blip on the radar for Hendrick -- albeit a pretty sizeable one.

Duane Cross: Re: Juan's aggressiveness -- I have no problem with guys using the front bumper, the side panels or the rear quarters to make their point on road courses. I love road-course racing in the Cup Series; it gives a great snapshot of who can wheel it.

Dave Rodman: The Glen is a fast place, I'd like to think there would not be an awful lot of rubbing going on there, but I guess it's inevitable.

David Caraviello: You're right. Road racing is vastly underrated. I'd love to see more of it. Maybe one day NASCAR will visit Laguna Seca, the best road circuit in America.

Dave Rodman: Because so many teams test there, I'd love to see them race Road Atlanta. Get Bruton to buy it and swap one of his AMS dates out there -- either there or Road America.

Duane Cross: Yes! Laguna would be sweet! I'd give a gold monkey for more serpentine races -- and I think fans would flock to LS, and Road Atlanta would be my second choice.

David Caraviello: Of course, the problem is infrastructure. Those places don't have as many grandstand seats as Cup races would require. You'd have a lot of people sitting on hilltops.

Dave Rodman: Am hearing Ron Fellows dusted all the Hendrick cars (that were there) at Road Atlanta. He is the man at The Glen -- and would love to see him get his big score to go with the other five stock car wins he has there.

David Caraviello: Yeah, but history tells us a road-course ace won't win. When's the last time that happened, decades ago?

Dave Rodman: Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio and Elkhart Lake all have plenty of grassdom.

Duane Cross: Bruton has the cash to build seats -- probably enough in his front pocket. C'mon, Bruton -- you're my hero; build it and they will come!

3) Who's gonna be the next to merge, conglomerate, commiserate, partnerize, hire or fire?

David Caraviello: I'm hearing rumors that Hendrick Motorsports may merge with Ferrari. All right, maybe not. But boy, would that be fun!

Duane Cross: Michael Schumacher for rookie of the year!

David Caraviello: Uh, Schumacher retired, Duane.

Duane Cross: Yeah -- from F-1.

David Caraviello: Of course, so did Mark Martin.

Dave Rodman: Mark was pretty explicit in explaining he's nowhere close to "retiring" from racing. Even from retiring from Nextel Cup.

David Caraviello: Except for that little press conference in Charlotte a few years ago when he said he was going to go off and run trucks for the rest of his life. My, how plans change.

Duane Cross: Strange that he's not racing at Watkins Glen; he's a beast at that track -- but back to the original question: I think Michael Waltrip Racing will have an extreme makeover within the next year.

Dave Rodman: Stranger things could happen than some other notables sampling the waters before too long.

Duane Cross: Dale Jarrett said he was retiring after 2008. Mikey can't be far from hanging up the helmet.

Dave Rodman: I doubt D.J. could stand everything he's going through for another year-and-a-half.

David Caraviello: So should Red Bull, make-over. Some of these Toyota outfits clearly weren't ready for prime time. Maybe they should all merge together. After all, the race fan considers them one entity anyway.

Duane Cross: MWR could do a lot worse than making a hard run at J.J. Yeley. (Continued)