MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Friday was a gray day for Jeff Burton at Martinsville Speedway.

And that had nothing to do with the inclement weather that ultimately washed out Sprint Cup qualifying for the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 this Sunday.

It had a whole lot more to do with the fact that Burton, a rabid Duke fan, was lamenting his team's loss in the NCAA Tournament one night earlier. Facing third-seeded Villanova in a Sweet Sixteen matchup, second-seeded Duke fell hard in a contest that Burton followed closely on television.

"I grew up a Duke fan," Burton said. "My Dad was a Duke fan. We had tickets to Cameron [Indoor Stadium, Duke's home court] for forever. So I just grew up a Duke fan. Now my kids are Duke fans, so we're going to continue the legacy."

You think this guy can dissect what's happening with his race car? You should hear him pick apart a basketball game.

"Villanova just played incredible defense. It's one of those games where you can go back and look, but Duke never had a shot that wasn't heavily contested," Burton said. "Villanova's defense was just unbelievable. They shut off all penetration. There was no penetration whatsoever; nobody could drive into the lane.

"Duke is an outside team, but a lot of that starts by them being able to drive and then dish, or by coming off picks. No one could get off the picks and no one could get into the lane because their defense was just too tough."

Burton is one of several drivers who take great interest in what's happening in college basketball this time of year.

Walking through the pedestrian tunnel to the infield Saturday morning, Elliott Sadler crossed paths with a fan wearing a North Carolina pullover and gave him the thumbs-up. Sadler, like Burton, is a serious fan who painstakingly filled out his NCAA Tournament bracket before March Madness began -- and then, like so many of the rest of America, watched sadly as it quickly fell apart.

"Wake [Forest] losing in the first round killed my bracket," Sadler complained. "Who expected them to lose to Cleveland State?"

That's OK, though. Sadler still had his North Carolina team to root for heading into Friday night. The Tar Heels were to face Gonzaga in their Sweet Sixteen matchup at 9:57 p.m. ET.

"My Heels are still alive. I can't wait to watch 'em and see how they do," Sadler said.

Burton said he also filled out a bracket, but there didn't seem to be a major pool floating around the garage area.

"There are a lot of individual brackets," Burton said. "There is not one big bracket going around the garage that I'm aware of. There are lots of little individual ones going around."

Not everyone was paying close attention. Carl Edwards actually attended a recent Missouri-Kansas game won on a last-second shot by Missouri. "That's a huge rivalry, and the place went insane," he said. But admitted he hasn't been religious about following his team and wouldn't have known who to pick if he had attempted to fill out a bracket before the tournament started.

"I let my Dish Network card expire. They sent me a new one and I hadn't put it in yet, so my dish wouldn't work [Thursday] night [in his motorcoach]," Edwards said. "I spent forever on my phone, trying to find out about the game.

"I was calling my wife and she was giving me updates. We were ahead by 13 or 14. Then I fell asleep. Did we win?"

Yes, Missouri did. The Tigers beat favored Memphis to advance to the Elite Eight, where they will face Connecticut on Saturday.

"So, we play UConn now? That's crazy," Edwards said. "If we made it to the Final Four, it would be really crazy. I can't even imagine what it would be like if we were national champions.

"I never watched any sports [growing up]. I was always racing. I didn't pay attention to anything, and now I can watch it and I understand more of what they're going through. I understand the focus it takes, so it's more fun to watch ... I've followed it more this year than ever."

It also gave Edwards bragging rights over fellow driver Clint Bowyer, who is a big Kansas fan.

"Clint wouldn't text me back after that. But other than that, everything was good," Edwards said.

Burton said he used to play a little basketball.

"I played basketball growing up. Not at a high level, but I played," he said.

Sadler was good enough in high school that he was planning to attempt suiting up at James Madison in college when a knee injury cut short his competitive playing career. But as he stated, at least now he still has his Heels to root for.

With Duke now out of the tournament, does that mean Burton will be pulling for Sadler's team?

"No, I can't do that," said Burton, speaking like a true Duke fan.

Edwards was asked if he planned to give Burton a hard time about Duke being knocking out of the tournament earlier than Missouri.

"I'm a Mizzou fan. I barely know what they're up to. I don't even know where Duke is at," he shrugged.

From SI.com
• Complete coverage of the NCAA Tournament

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.