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.

• For story, click here
• Mayfield suspended
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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.

Darlington probably sets up the wondrous dichotomy of attending live races better than anywhere, as much as it delivers on the action and ambience. Last weekend it started with a triple handful of bicycle rickshaws that might not have been everywhere, but this small group of young men who peddled their butts off, non-stop in the pre- and post-race was certainly earning their money ferrying people around.

Dealing with driving around them, which wasn't too hard as long as you didn't have two or three clueless people steering the cars in front of you who couldn't figure out that driving around them was what you were supposed to do, was the easiest part.

Once you got through that and parked, it's a good thing there's an extensive fan display area behind the frontstretch, the picturesque Ramsey's Pond stretching out away from the back of Turn 4, with a triple-zone helipad next to it to provide some celebrity watching opportunities; if you didn't have to hike in from any of the outlying parking zones.

You just couldn't miss out on that time-honored race fan tradition, completely blocking the paths of any and all motorized vehicles that typically have only one place to drive -- on the road; while the people spread completely across the road could walk anywhere.

What they'll never understand is that, for the more inventive drivers, all they've done is set up a slow-speed gymkhana course with human pylons. Somehow, it doesn't get any better than that -- you just better not make any driving errors.

So finally you get into the stadium. For one thing, you better be at or below normal size, or be blessed to be sitting around neighbors who are. There's virtually no room in front of, beside or behind you.

No matter, because once you get situated, what's going on in front of you is as riveting as it can be, considering your enjoyment might be somewhat controlled by Haystacks Calhoun and his first cousin who're alternately sitting or standing in front of you, creating the standard yo-yo effect seen at race tracks everywhere.

So what, because it seems like everyone behind you understands you can't sit until whoever's in front of you does, otherwise that view you paid an outrageous amount to enjoy won't exist. But then, just how much can you see anyway?

The point is, it's your choice and at Darlington, you really have to pick your spots and settle for the fact that, as much as you're going to be seeing something, you're going to be missing something else.

Information overload is the way to go. Watching live is great, but a Sprint Fan View dialed-into NASCAR Race Control and three other drivers of your choice is priceless; alternately watching the Sprint Vision video feed and several scoring options, including the leaders' fast laps and who's fastest, to an overall running order.

It's funny; it's the same thing you do at home, where the best way to do a race would be to mix whatever network's broadcast is running with NASCAR.COM's Live Leaderboard and Scanner option.

At Darlington, where the old school backstretch seats offered a low-level, but close-up view of some great action coming off Turn 2 and heading into the eerily treacherous Turn 3; contrasted with the Turn 4 Pearson Tower that has maybe one of the most stunning views anywhere in racing: A line looking down the frontstretch wall at cars "that were basically wrecking every lap, every time they came off Turn 4" as one Pearson viewer put it.

It sums up the place and, when it was all over, made you appreciate the job Mark Martin and Alan Gustafson had done, as their Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was about one of only five or six cars in the 43-car field that hadn't been used-up to one degree or another by that ol' Lady in Black.

My advice: Plan to go in 2010, but buy your tickets early as the place nearly sold out for the fifth consecutive year. After sitting through a truly marvelous day in the sun, that was no surprise.

Wins: Thru Darlington

	2008	2009
Cup Series	3	3
Nationwide	3	3
Truck Series	2	2

Despite Busch's stunning 2008 NASCAR record for victories in a season, nothing he's done so far this season makes this writer think Busch in 2009 won't eclipse his total of 21 wins (8 Cup, 10 Nationwide, 3 Truck). Darlington offered a taste of what's been, in agonizing fashion for Shrub too many times already this season, what could have been; so it's still 8 down, 14 to go.

His 2008 win total at this point was 8; so part of you says it's OK for Busch to rue his failure to add a win, No. 1, where he won a year ago and, No. 2, after dominating the Nationwide race, losing due to a flat tire while rolling to a green-white-checker. While the All-Star break will give him just that, a chance for a "rest" in another potential winning car; he does have a shot at padding his total in Friday night's Truck Series show. Here's hoping we hear more than 10 words, total, out of him after two more races, because he's certainly got a lot of insight inside.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.