Karting with dad a second childhood for McMurray (cont'd)

But make no mistake; there was a price that even the high-paid Sprint Cup driver shook his head over as he laughed about the complete flip-flop of how it was when his parents footed the bill for their kart racing.

"I can't believe how expensive kart racing is and at the same time I'm shocked that my family and all these other families could afford to do that," McMurray said. "But I never thought about the cost because we were having such a good time, and on the scale of what it costs to fly an airplane down there [which McMurray did in 2007], the karting is cheap."

But in the end, both from the physical and emotional side, it was the perfect scene-setter for the next two weeks, because you'd better not think McMurray's gonna have an easy year of it in the Sprint Cup Series, considering for starters, he races for Roush Fenway Racing, which brings cavernous expectations based largely on the sizeable achievements of your teammates.

McMurray's drawing heavily on the way he ended the 2008 Cup season, with three consecutive third-place finishes and five out of the last six in the top seven.

But you can't help but think that the childlike appreciation for what he's got, executed with a professional's expertise, and the family support that extends every step of the way provides a solid foundation for whatever the future will bring.

And that extends to life, too, as McMurray put aside the talk of a second childhood. He's all man.

"I don't have children, yet, but I'm getting married this year and I think I view it as doing what I can now, so when I have children I can spend the time with them and not wish I'd done this or that," McMurray said. "And I hear people say you should spend more time with your parents while they're here, so I'm trying to cover both of those things.

"If I were to lose either one of my parents today, I would know that I've spent a lot of quality time with both of them and I wouldn't have any regrets."

Sounds like a good excuse to look in a mirror and ask yourself the same question.

• 'Wild cards' added to field
• Cross: Read between lines
• What is the Shootout?
• Bud Shootout Entry List

I agree with Junior

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is on the record as saying he doesn't like the expanded field for the upcoming Budweiser Shootout.

When he closed the subject, Earnhardt basically admitted to being in the same boat with the sport's fans, who don't seem to know what to make of its current brand.

"I don't know -- things change," Earnhardt said. "Maybe there's nothing wrong with this new format. Maybe I just hate change, but I don't like it. I like the old format."

Now, I hated the idea of the Chase when it first started -- and even though it's still an artificially manufactured set of circumstances, I've come to accept that it's better to at least have the pretense of a championship race than having someone clinching it five races before the season is over, or worse.

With that said, let's give the new Shootout a chance.

But it's a fact that, with all the changes, new teams, new schemes and realigned drivers we're going to see in just a few days, this may be the most highly anticipated Speedweeks in a long time.

That is, until the series goes to California the following week, when we'll no doubt have fascination and a whole different focus to 2009.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.