Road ringers good, bad or seemingly indifferent? (cont'd)

3. Some drivers hinted that NASCAR officials might have looked the other way in the final laps at Michigan when Dale Earnhardt Jr. passed the caution car. Do they have a legitimate gripe?

Joe Menzer: Not really. I understand their immediate frustration with it right after the race, because it was their understanding that you can't pass the pace car during the caution. But according to NASCAR, the rule is only that you must maintain a reasonable speed ... open to their interpretation. And when they warned Junior not to keep doing it, he complied.

It's all up to NASCAR's discretion. And their discretion is, no way we're letting a technicality take a win away from Junior.

David Caraviello: I believe guys are overreacting a bit. They told him to get back behind the caution car, and he did. This isn't Kansas, where Greg Biffle was so low on fuel he dropped to the bottom and actually crossed the line fourth. It's all up to NASCAR's discretion. And their discretion is, no way we're letting a technicality take a win away from Junior.

Joe Menzer: I tell you what, though, when the race first ended ... the scoreboard had Kasey Kahne listed first and Junior all the way back in like ninth.

Dave Rodman: Everything is open to their interpretation. I haven't bothered to look at my rule book -- other people's frustration shouldn't be a reason for me wasting my time.

Joe Menzer: The crowd was going nuts, first because they thought Junior had won and then because they weren't sure. Then after a couple of minutes, the 88 popped back up in the No. 1 position on the board.

David Caraviello: That's right. Rodman can't waste time. Got ridin' and ropin' to get to.

Joe Menzer: There is a country song somewhere in there. A bad one, to be sure, but it's there.

Dave Rodman: Junior didn't pass the pace car to improve his position, or to get better access to pit road. So just get over it, gang. I actually missed him even doing it. In the only clip I saw, he was next to it -- but to me, that didn't matter, because it was irrelevant.

• Video: Watch the final laps from Michigan

Joe Menzer: Seriously, can you imagine what that crowd would have done if they took the win away from Junior? There would have been a Detroit-style riot! Like the one I witnessed from the top of the old Tiger Stadium after the Tigers won the 1984 World Series.

David Caraviello: Michigan International Speedway would be a smoking husk today.

Joe Menzer: What Junior was doing, by his own admission, was standing on the gas a little to surge past the pace car, then cutting off the engine and coasting to save fuel. Pretty smart, in my opinion. No way they're going to take away a win from anyone doing that without warning him first. And so they warned him, and he stopped doing it. End of story.

David Caraviello: Are we convinced, though, that he never would have had enough fuel to win the thing had it stayed green until the end?

Dave Rodman: You mean, the last half-lap? I don't want to waste any brain power on that, either. He had pulled away on the last restart, and he would have had to run out under green to know. That wasn't the way it ended, so end of story. He won.

Joe Menzer: First he said he couldn't have made it back around one more time. But later he said he wasn't so sure, that he might have been able to coax it. We'll never know, though, will we?

David Caraviello: Oh, nobody here is doubting that he won. But the way he pulled onto pit road right after taking the checkers is not too convincing.

Joe Menzer: Hey, he didn't "pull" into pit road, guys. He had to be pushed! Even though he later said he did that only because it made for a better story. It was, after the first 140 laps were pretty much a snooze-fest, a very interesting and compelling finish. No matter how it would have played out, I enjoyed it.

David Caraviello: Hey, watch it, Joe. NASCAR might pull you into a meeting.

Joe Menzer: Yeah, they might rope me into one and ride me into submission.

The opinions expressed are solely of the participants.