Humor, honesty abound as drivers relax in M'ville rain

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- The rain was unrelenting, from the minute folks started arriving at Martinsville Speedway early in the morning until the last stragglers sloshed their way to the parking lot about the time Sprint Cup qualifying was supposed to be wrapping up in late afternoon.

What goes on during a day-long rain delay at a NASCAR track?

Well, as it turns out, lots of good stuff. Folks seem to be a little more relaxed, a little more willing to tell a good joke (OK, well, some were better than others) ... a little more human.

It wasn't long after arriving at the track before Jeff Burton, a native of nearby South Boston, Va., was asked about his love of the place. Was it so great that he decided to come in a full night earlier than required, as had been rumored?

Um, well, not quite.

"Well, both my children had friends spend the night at the house [on Thursday]," Burton explained (watch video). "My mother was there, my wife's mother and her father were there -- and between the four of them they'll drink enough wine to kill a small animal. So the only way for me to get any sleep was to leave. That was at the heart of my decision. That's why I made my decision to come early, because it was probably loud at my house [Thursday] night."

Yeah, but man, what about that drive up from North Carolina through the beautiful Virginia countryside? Coming up early, driving all by yourself, wasn't that sort of a sacrifice?

"I bummed a helicopter ride so it's 40 minutes for me. It wasn't exactly a hardship tour," Burton admitted.

The defending champ
The next comedian up on stage at the new Martinsville Speedway media center was two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (watch video). One reporter -- OK, it was me -- even dared to try to lighten the mood by introducing himself as "Joe the Journalist," which drew a chuckle from Johnson. This was a play off an earlier comment by Burton, who had asked if "Joe the Plumber" of Presidential debate fame was in the crowd (he wasn't).

Soon thereafter Johnson was off on his own monologue. He hit his stride when he was asked about recent testing at the new half-mile track in Rockingham, N.C., which is supposed to resemble Martinsville.

"The track at Rockingham was just finished, maybe two days earlier, when we got on it," Johnson said. "It was intended to look a lot like Martinsville and act like Martinsville. To their credit, they did a great job."

Well, not really. Or at least not yet, without some much-needed fine-tuning.

"It's brand-new and it needs some work done on it," Johnson added. "They need to grind some areas and smooth it out a little bit. There are no walls up. We blew a right-front tire and thankfully there were no walls because I went flying out through this field." (Continued)