Weekend That Was: Indy (cont'd)

That isn't to say that Marlin and Nemechek figured they would be around for all five years of the so-called plan. They've both been around long enough and weren't that naive. But they surely didn't figure if they ran well enough to keep their cars within the top 35 in owner's points over the first 19 races that Ginn would sell them out after six months!

Carmichael will be fine. Mark Martin supposedly will continue to work with him under the new Ginn-DEI umbrella.

But the point I was making, and will continue to make, is that Ginn made lots of empty promises to lots of good folks who are now out of work. It wasn't right. And that's the bottom line.

I refuse to apologize for pointing that out, or for no longer being able to answer all the e-mails now flooding my inbox at Turner Sports. At least I never publicly promised to answer all of them.

The Top 35 Debate

Ask Brian Vickers the most difficult part of being a start-up Toyota team with Red Bull Racing this season, and his answer is as quick as it is obvious. It all goes back to either having owner points and being in the top 35, or not having them and having to scratch and qualify your way into races on speed each Sunday until you can get in the top 35 and stay there.

"The hardest part of it has been just not being in the top 35," said Vickers, who made just 10 of the first 19 Nextel Cup races in his No. 83 Toyota. "I mean, we brought up last week [prior to the running of the Brickyard race] -- just out of curiosity -- what would have happened had the points leader, who happens to be Jeff Gordon, if he had not been in the top 35 and been in the same position as us when the season started. We wondered how many races he would have missed -- and he would have missed three.

"You've just got to put it in perspective. That's been the hardest part -- just being a new team not having any points from the previous year to kind of rely on coming into this season."

So the top 35 rule needs to be changed, right? Vickers said yes, but admitted he isn't quite sure what NASCAR should do.

"It definitely needs to be changed. I think everybody knows that," Vickers said. "Obviously you can't change it mid-season. But the fact that the guy who has won four championships, 70-some races, and is leading in points in 2007 by 200-plus points would have missed three races if he had been in our position -- I mean, wow -- that's a statement. I mean, you couldn't compare it to a better-running team, a better-running car or driver.

"If that would have happened to them under those circumstances, I guess you'd better look at your structure. If they couldn't have made every race under that structure, then how could you expect anyone else to? You know what I mean? I mean, it's arguably the best team and driver on the circuit ... If arguably the best guy out there right now would have missed races under this format -- or even one race, for that matter -- then it's like, 'OK, maybe there's something we need to do differently here because we can't expect a brand-new start-up team to make races if they can't.' "

Familiar territory

Vickers said he can relate to Kyle Busch, who recently indicated that he feels like an outsider at the weekly Hendrick Motorsports competition meetings. Busch, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet that had another good day at the Brickyard, already has said he's leaving Hendrick at the end of this season.

Vickers found himself in a similar situation last year when he was driving for Hendrick but knew he was on his way out. He eventually was banned from attending the competition meetings.

"It was tough to do my job," Vickers said. "They would say, `Look, we want you to go out there and try to win races and we want you to be out there racing hard. We expect the best out of you. But we're not going to let you use all the tools to do it.' That kind of makes it tough.

"But you know, they did what they felt like they had to do. I tried to be professional about it and do the best job I could do, given the circumstances, and just go on down the road."

Vickers said he won't be surprised if Busch eventually is shut out of the Hendrick meetings altogether, as well. Then again, the difference is that Busch continues to run well within the top 12 that is the cutoff to make the Chase for the Championship -- something Vickers wasn't doing when he entered lame-duck status at Hendrick last season.

"I think it just depends," Vickers said. "If you want that driver and that team to continue to run well, then you give them all the tools to do it. That means letting them come to competition meetings. If you don't really care how they run, then you don't let 'em do those things -- and you just sort of let the team run its course as the situation changes."

Pit stops

• Yes, Stewart said a bad word Sunday that didn't get bleeped out during his initial post-race interview following the Brickyard race. But am I the only one who found it kind of humorous, while admitting that NASCAR will have to follow its established precedent and force Stewart to swear under his breath again after issuing him a hefty fine?

• Stewart had a better line when he was asked about the casual way he took a swig from his water bottle while cruising down an Indianapolis Motor Speedway straightaway at nearly 200 mph. "I was thirsty," he shrugged (watch video).

• After the weekend's strong showing by the No. 42 car of Juan Montoya and the No. 41 of driver Reed Sorensen, it's time to see if Chip Ganassi Racing can start building the kind of consistent top finishes that will enable that operation to elevate itself to the same level as the other top Cup organizations. Sorenson won the pole at Indy and finished fifth in the race, while Montoya qualified second and finished the same after running in the top five virtually all day (watch video).