About life and fairness, and how it is for a racer's racer

It was the darnedest thing, to be standing in a Nationwide Series garage area with a racer -- maybe not as insanely committed a race car driver as Ken Schrader, but at least Kenny Wallace also is from Missouri -- when two yahoo race fans walked up.

"Man, we just love you on Trackside [at...]," one of them said.

Kenny Wallace

2009 Nationwide Results

Track	Finish
Daytona	16
Fontana	31
Las Vegas	14
Bristol	14
Texas	21
Points	11

• Career series stats

To Wallace's credit -- and actually it's really no surprise -- he was patient and downright pleasant as he explained that they must have meant NASCAR Raceday on SPEED, one of two Sprint Cup, race-day programs he participates in, along with the post-race NASCAR Victory Lane.

After a few minutes of aimless conversation, they staggered away -- as in, "clueless meandering" rather than "drunkenly wandering." It was, after all, the Nationwide Garage area. And it left you shaking your head, kinda sadly, at a dilemma facing only a few athletes in this, or any sport.

Is he a "broadcaster," or is he a "racer?"

No disrespect to ol' Herman's demeanor, because he's been known to project a little whacky at times. But anyone who would race a dirt modified two or three (or four) times a week -- 50 or 60 times during the warmer weather, when the Midwest venues are WAO (ask a racer) -- is making a point.

And the point is: they're a racer's racer. And here's the exclamation point to that tale, as the Nationwide Series takes its traveling circus to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend. Despite falling three spots in the owners' standings after Wallace finished 21st at Texas, Jay Robinson's No. 28 team is still sitting 15th in the points, while Wallace is 11th in the drivers' standings, only a point out of 10th.

For Wallace that's business as usual. This is a guy who's finished in the top 10 in the points every year except two that he's competed in a full series season since 1989 -- and one of those two was an 11th.

But for Robinson, a North Carolina businessman who's been running race cars since about 1995, it's rarified air. It's a place you couldn't reach without being racers; and Robinson, Wallace and crew chief Chris Rice certainly fit that bill.

It makes you think back, both sadly and fondly, to that time this past September when JRR and Wallace still was reeling from the loss of team manager and crew chief Kenneth Campbell, the racer's racer and a go-to guy in the Nationwide garage for everyone from owners to fans to the media who got sick, battled gamely and then, all too suddenly, was gone.

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You can't help but smile when Wallace, more than a little wistfully, says "Kenneth would've really appreciated what Chris has pulled together here, because all he ever wanted to do was run the team."

Campbell isn't missed any less this week than he was this past September, but a good part of his legacy is sitting in the Nationwide garage's "high-class neighborhood."

That's part of what's the racer's wage, a little privilege and a lot of respect.

And as he heads for his 425th series start this weekend, that's all Wallace wants, is a little racer's respect. He'll get a break from TV this week, with no Cup events scheduled.

And will it make a difference? Not really, because for Wallace, the TV role doesn't start until the racer's gear is packed.

"Is there a conflict with TV?" Rice asked at Texas. "No. Kenny is 110 percent committed to this race team and what it needs from the time he arrives at the track until the time we load this 28 car up. I have no question about that and I've never questioned that -- never questioned his commitment to this team or what we're trying to accomplish."

So if there are questions, why not take the leap -- why not just get a guarantee, if you can, from the executive producer that there will be a place for you when you get back and quit TV for a year or two? Make a point. Race exclusively until you feel that's been proven.

But after you look around, and you talk to a few people, and you watch a little TV, it occurs to you that for someone in Wallace's position, prep work and studying material and taking time away from the racing program probably isn't an issue. He probably doesn't do any of that -- he just shows up and lets it fly.

And for a guy with modified cars to race, the TV money is certainly worth a tire or two and a little gas money.

So find Wallace in the Nationwide garage this weekend -- that shouldn't be hard -- but don't listen for that braying donkey laugh of his. Until the checkered flag flies, he'll be too serious to laugh much. There's too much at stake.

But I double-dog-dare you to ask him if he'd drop his TV gig, or if he loses time from his racing preparing for it; because I know what he'll answer. When you love something this much, and you live it this intensely, you don't need no stinkin' notes package.

It just flows.

Just like when you're a race car driver.

Piling on in the pits

It's tough picking on Carl Edwards' pit crew, but then you realize what the biggest difference was in winning and losing at Texas. Injuries have hurt the 99 crew, sure, but you'd be surprised if something hasn't changed by Phoenix in 10 or 12 days. Steve Letarte, the winning crew chief Sunday, laid it out without pulling any punches when asked about the intensity of the last pit stop in the race.

"That's what we do, that's what it's all about," Letarte said. "That's why you work seven days a week, all winter long, to come here to race. The first 300 laps are fun, but there's nothing like the last pit stop or last adjustment.

"That's why I race. That's why I've always raced. The races are a little longer than what I grew up with, but that last pit stop I always tell my guys -- and I can always tell, when I was on the pit crew I noticed this -- there are guys that belong on a pit crew and there are guys that [don't], and you need guys that want the ball, they want to be play makers, they want to make the difference.

"We have seven of those guys who go over the wall, and we have a good group of them behind the wall. When I was looking for suggestions while we were running there before the [last] caution came out, no one was afraid to speak up. Everyone had an idea. It's actually a little bit harder to stay focused early in a race, [but] if you can't get focused on the last pit stop, then you're in the wrong business."

Kyle Busch Victory Watch

Despite Busch's stunning 2008 NASCAR record for victories in a season, this writer thinks Busch in 2009 will eclipse his total of 21 wins (eight in Cup, 10 in Nationwide, three in Truck).

After Texas, which had great possibilities for Busch the Younger in both divisions he raced and resulted in a bit of track history when he won the Nationwide race from the pole, it's six down (2 Cup, 2 Nationwide, 2 Truck), 16 to go. His 2008 win total at this point was four: 1 Cup, 1 Nationwide, 2 Truck. Nashville was the site of another 2008 Busch tantrum, which means it's a place where he's good enough to win.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.