Rookie Smith comes up big for short term and longer

If I were you, I'd highlight March 30 in my day-minder, as one of those dates you need to return to at the end of the year -- or the end of the Sprint Cup Series season -- and reflect on what it meant to the final outcome.

Continually beating up NASCAR's top-35 lock-in system is no one's goal, but the fact is, the system is here -- if not to stay then at least for the 2008 season -- and dealing with it, for 25 percent of the Sprint Cup field, is disconcerting, to say the least.

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So a big hat's off this week to rookie of the year co-leader Regan Smith, his crew chief, Doug Richert and their No. 01 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet team after Smith was the best rookie performer for the second consecutive race and the third time in six races this season.

All they did was race their way from 39th in Sprint Cup owner points heading into this past weekend's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville -- albeit only 39 points out of 35th -- to a locked-in spot this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

You can't minimize how huge that is, not only in the big picture as Smith races mainly Dario Franchitti, who he tied this week in rookie points thanks to Smith's career-best 14th-place finish, and Sam Hornish Jr. for the rookie title, but also in the short term as they prepare for this weekend's Samsung 500.

Richert knows all too well how disruptive contending with the top 35 week in and week out can be; it radically altered his demeanor and ultimately cost him a job last season.

Smith, God bless him, has only 13 career starts, so he hardly knows what to think from week to week -- but he proved this past Sunday and even throughout the weekend that he knows how to produce when the chips are down, and how to swing momentum in his favor.

"It's very important," Smith said. "You want to get your guys pumped up and you want to have something you can go to the shop and keep your head high about. They haven't had much that they could this year to this point and now hopefully they can."

Smith's car has been running so far at the finish in all six races, but his finishes -- four worse than 31st and a best of 26th -- haven't shown either his or his team's potential.

And while remaining in a guaranteed spot is not guaranteed beyond this week, putting them in a position to tune their race setup on Friday instead of thrashing to make the race can't be under-estimated (read more).

Speed practices patience

It took Formula One refugee and Red Bull Racing development driver Scott Speed only two Craftsman Truck Series races to get a top-10 finish, a necessity for someone planning to move onward and upward, but the most significant thing might have been the attitude he displayed after getting through a rough and tumble afternoon on his first NASCAR short-track race intact.

"It took me awhile to be OK with the fact that other trucks can run into me and I can run into them -- and nothing breaks -- you're still out there racing [so] this is a completely new world for me," Speed said. "I still haven't run into anyone on purpose. I'm not really a payback-type of racer. I don't carry grudges and I'm not emotional out on the track -- I'm more methodical.

"I'm also here to learn and that means running as many laps as possible during a race. Why damage my car on purpose? I don't see myself pushing someone completely out of the way unless they do something to completely jack me over. No one is on my hit list that bad, yet!"

As he moves toward a future in 500-mile and 500-lap Cup races, Speed's apparently calculating manner might be his best friend.

"I'm a pretty patient racer, so it wasn't hard for me at all," said Speed, who will continue his partial Truck schedule (read more). "The thinking and planning part of racing comes pretty easy for me."

What did he expect?

The most amusing aspect of Kyle Busch's ill-timed, dive-bomber attack on Johnny Benson on the last lap of the Kroger 250 at Martinsville was KB's feelings about getting knocked out of the way by Matt Crafton as the tightly packed field streamed for the checkered flag (watch video).

Unless you're Benson, you have to like Busch's never-give-up attitude and attempt at making something happen; but for him to think he wouldn't get stuck, himself, after virtually coming to a stop was ludicrous at best.

I kinda thought he got what was coming to him after thinking he could mug Benson and get away with it scot-free; as for Crafton, it was payback for him getting turned around on the last lap and out of a top-five spot last year at Martinsville -- he settled for a low-teens finish -- though Busch had nothing to do with that one.

No more holes

Note to FOX: Lose the "Ditch Cam." While it's an interesting perspective to be shown once, it adds nothing to the greater broadcast package. Someone in their production group is absolutely intoxicated by it, to the point that there were at least three of them planted at Martinsville.

What's next, "Tracker Cam" every 20 yards around the track? Damn -- can't believe I slipped up and potentially gave them another cockamamie idea.

White on White at Yates

It's not like Yates Racing hasn't been facing the real world of Sprint Cup racing in 2008 to this point, but as of Monday they were looking at running two unsponsored cars at Texas, which ain't as bad as running two unsponsored cars and trying to race into the field. still a gruesome thought, at best.

The dreaded "seat-filler signage"

Painting seats to look like people are occupying them is one arcane method a number of tracks deploy to disguise ticket buying shortfalls, but from a business standpoint the saddest sight is when sponsor signboards are placed over unsold seats to disguise them, as has been done for years with Lowe's Motor Speedway's backstretch stands. Such was the case with the entire backstretch bleacher section at Martinsville -- which I've never see there before.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.