Cross' Words: The Glen

Random ruminations after Watkins Glen ...

• Robby Gordon has received more attention for what he didn't do at Montreal (yield to NASCAR) than what he did do at Watkins Glen (yield to NASCAR). Give RG his props; he learned a hard lesson -- and didn't repeat his transgression, tempting as it might have been.

• Send Duane your thoughts

Still, you'd have a hard time getting a jury of Gordon's peers to convict if he had lost his composure after losing a position -- via an official scoring ruling -- on Sunday at The Glen. Kudos.

• New rule: If you're gonna get up in another driver's grill, take off the helmet!

"If you're not going to take 'em off then don't waste everyone's time," Tony Stewart said.

C'mon, this isn't tiddly-winks; shed the headgear and throw some haymakers! The Kevin Harvick-Juan Montoya tete-e-tete looked like Rock'em Sock'em Robots, except no one got their block knocked off.

• Speaking of Smoke, he's won three of four races for the first time since Race Nos. 19-22 (including wins at Indy and Watkins Glen) in 2005 -- the same just-completed stretch.

And for what it's worth, Stewart won the championship that year.

• Does anyone buy the line "Bill Elliott was walking past Boris Said, stopped and asked, 'What are you doing Saturday?' "

As rain washed out qualifying, the wheels already were spinning within the Wood Brothers' hauler: We're in, and with Boris behind the wheel we have a much better chance at getting back into the top 35.

Mission: Accomplished. But the story of Bill's generosity seems contrived. So call me jaded and cynical. Then again, maybe he is just that nice a guy ...

• OK, since some folks (and you know who you are; I have your e-mail addresses, too) can't comprehend:

It is my opinion that Kyle Busch will prove to be a better hire for Joe Gibbs Racing than Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Hendrick Motorsports. Of course, I tend to look at things through a racing perspective -- not marketing and sales.

Now that that's out in the open (again), feel free to flood the inbox with crap about hatin' on Junior. But that has nothing to do with it; Kyle is a rare talent, but Dale isn't a slouch by any stretch.

• Road-course racing is a much-welcomed respite from the usual 'round and 'round for which NASCAR is so infamous among the masses.

Imagine a Chase race in Montreal. ... Yeah, I see you smiling.

OK, Mr. Know-It-All, which track would you drop from the Chase? None -- I'd add Montreal and California, because that may be the only thing that warrants Cali keeping two Cup events each year.

Say What?

"I actually got out of the car and said, 'Dude, it wasn't even my fault. I got hit from behind. What do you want me to say?' And, I don't know, he started screaming and saying things. Then it becomes personal."
-- Juan Montoya on his post-crash one-on-one with Kevin Harvick

"The guy has run over somebody pretty much every week and it's just hard to go back and look at your guys with your car all tore up when you're sitting there thinking that you're going to run in the top five, top three, have a chance to at least race for the win, maybe, at the end of the race. It just sucks."
-- Kevin Harvick on his late-race bumper-car routine with Juan Montoya

Figuratively Speaking

4 -- DNFs for Dale Earnhardt Jr. because of engine failure through 22 Nextel Cup races this season, which equals the number of DNFs because of engine problems for his 180 Cup races during the previous five seasons. (Thanks, Bill Marx of the Sporting News Wire Service.) (Continued)