There's no place better to view a race than Darlington

The sport of NASCAR should be about the sport. And the sport should be governed by black-and-white rules.

Which is why it's truly and profoundly sad that -- as we come out of one of the most scintillating venues there is at which to watch a stock-car race, Darlington; and head to what has to be the most fan-friendly environment, the greater Concord, N.C., area -- there's a huge blot on the racing horizon thanks to NASCAR's smoke-embroiled substance abuse monitoring program. There's nothing black-and-white about it.

Making it clear

NASCAR's drug policy is an extensive search to weed out any combination of substances that affect driving performance.

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Don't get the wrong idea -- there's no question an iron-clad system is necessary, and the number of individuals who've run afoul of it already this season, even in preseason, is proof of that.

But with far more questions than answers today, it hardly bears wasting any more time talking about it; since "because I said so" is no more valid a reason not to do something now than it was when you were 10 years old. That seems to be the way it is with NASCAR's substance abuse program.

So rather than writing about guys racing around in circles, we're going around in circles trying to explain it. But with careers hanging in the balance, it's hard to talk about sitting in Darlington's Brasington Tower, high above one of the most treacherous first turns in all of stock car racing.

Come to think of it, standing in the common man's shoes, it's kind of hard to think of any Turn 1 in stock-car racing as a comfort zone since the idea is to hurl it in there until you confirm God's eye shade at that moment; then lift, brake, turn and hope it sticks.

But at Darlington, not only Turn 1, but the other three of 'em as well create a never-ending razor walk that has you sitting pretty one second and trailing a shower of sparks a split-second later. How else do you explain an outside wall that this past weekend began the evening crisply painted with red-and-white blocks and ended it nearly four hours later tattooed with a Goodyear black that's ugly only when smeared on a retaining wall.

It was, and oh, what a joy it was to behold. (Continued)