Now that Kansas is over, it's time for real wild card (cont'd)

In fact, he's having to slow down a bit from what he's used to from open-wheel cars, and what, are NASCAR drivers the only drivers who know what aerodynamics can do? Sure, the traffic might be a little hairy, but this is a guy who has won at Indy and in Formula One. He knows hairy, has been there and done that, and it doesn't scare him. It shouldn't scare Jeff Gordon.

After what happened at Kansas, it's pretty clear that anyone, even a long-time veteran, can trigger a multi-car crash. There's one every year at Talladega, it seems like, no matter who is in the race. It's all right if someone you race with week in and week out crashes you, but not somebody new? That's a little far-fetched, but you get the point.

Some of you might remember the days when Bobby Allison and Cale Yarborough ran the Indy 500 smack in the middle of the NASCAR season. The Indy drivers didn't moan about the stock-car drivers crashing their party at arguably the most important race of the year in any series in the world. They were good enough to make the race; deal with it.

Gordon suggested that Villeneuve go to Atlanta to make his Cup debut. Gordon made his there. But Atlanta is the fastest non-plate track the series visits, and last I checked, it's still in the Chase.

NASCAR drivers are some of the best in the world, bar none. If you're a competitor, and all of these guys are, why worry about a driver from another discipline coming into the series? If you can't beat the cat on your home turf, then you have to get better. Nobody, as far as I know, has claimed that Villeneuve is going to come in and kick their butts. If he gets in and does well, then we've wasted far too much oxygen debating it.

End of rant.

This weekend's event is going to be a barn-burner any way you cut it. There's a race-watch party at one of the Official NASCAR Members Club's Local Headquarters that will be quite a good gauge of how entertaining it is, and if Villeneuve is in the field, then it ought to make for a heck of a race.

I'll be taking notes, too.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.