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RoGo off his meds...be forewarned that you should not be drinking anything hot while reading blog posts today. *laugh* I still like Mikey's comment that the incident "was half his fault for choosing to race on the same track as him (RoGo)."

Scott Riggs better hope I don't see him around Charlotte this week.

"Scott Riggs better hope I don't see him around Charlotte this week."

Sounds like Matt is on the same meds, or lack thereof, as Gordon.

It's not like Riggs did anything intentionally. Geeesh!

Riggs doesn't deserve a ride with Evernham. The entire time he has been in Cup he hasn't done crap. He needs to learn some car control or something.

I look for Robby Gordon to be made an example of this week and rightly so. They can suspend him for a race without any damage to his shot at a top-35 in owners points because I believe he is a couple hundred below that cutoff anyway.

On Monday mornings, Dustin checks in with me and his two other editors by e-mail. Here's the first line of his report:

"I survived Armageddon, or what was Sunday's Theatre of the Absurd, err Nextel Cup race."

Speaking of Dustin -- definitely not a piece of spit as a journalist -- he had three things in today's paper:

The main race story, which had my quote of the week. (Tony Stewart stalking the field: "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

A notebook on the Gordon-Waltrip and Kahne-Kyle Busch run-ins.

And a sidebar on Kurt Busch with my second favorite quote of the week. (NASCAR's Jim Hunter on Busch's walk to the Riggs pit: "We knew he was going down to have a decent conversation with the crew chief of the other car and he did." That's the first time I think I've ever seen the terms "Kurt Busch" and "decent conversation" in the same sentence.)

And I hate to have to defend Kurt Busch, but (and I still can't believe I'm doing this) I was pleasantly surprised at how well Busch handled things, considering. No, Riggs didn't do it on purpose. His car was loose and he couldn't control it, and I'm surprised Busch didn't see that earlier. But Busch didn't mouth off like, say, Waltrip or Gordon, and he didn't slug anyone or pit a prima donna fit. He'll have to keep his head strapped on if he's going to dig his way out of 10th. And Sunday's post-crash performance tells me he's down but definitely not out.

(Which was wise. Dustin reports that by the time Busch got to the Riggs pit -- which was next to the No. 97 box -- all of Busch's guys were working on the car. If Busch had started something, he would have been all by himself.)

The fact that Kurt Busch was a role model on a day of absolute insanity at the track still blows my little mind.

P.S. Anyone see how well the 8 car ran? Consider it a preview of 2006.

I call it beginners luck till. Jr. runs well at New Hampshire, we'll see what happens on the intermediate tracks. If he is clicking off top 5's then, I'll be impressed.

Oh the irony that Jaws II can't realize why Robby was pissed at him considering how self-righteous and put out he was when Junior spun him out and when he spun Jeff Green fifty-seven times in retaliation several races back.

Like Robby says, Michael ain't the perfect angel he likes to pretend to be. He's a hypocrite, plain and simple and doesn't even have the gonads to be up front about stuff.

Kasey Kahne better get the exact same punishment as Robby does is all I have to say.

Carrie: You're right -- Mikey hasn't exactly been an altar boy this season. Just ask Jeff Green, like you said.

And you got your wish on penalty equity, almost. Here's how the punishments just came down:

R. Gordon: $35,000, 25 driver and owner points, probation until season's end

Kahne: $25,000, 25 driver and owner points, on probation until the season's end

Waltrip: $10,000, 25 driver and owner points, no probation.

The difference between Gordon and Kahne was the language. The "piece of spit" comment cost Robby 10 grand. Kahne kept his language in check.

Update: Read the release wrong. Gordon got 50 points total -- 25 for each infraction. Ouch.

I thought Robby Gordon would get the biggest penalty, still surprised he didn't get the Harvick penalty of a couple years ago.

I have to agree with the comments about Mikey. This deal with Jeff Green dates back several years to a Busch race at Rockingham if I'm not mistaken.

In the situation Robby is in with this stupid top 35 rule, like 50 points really made that much of a difference?

Robby deserved what he got, no doubt. Unfortunately NASCAR, once again, let Waltrip get away with his garbage. Typical.

I think with the 50-point penalty, I think NASCAR was trying to get everyone's attention. And Gordon was the perfect guy to nail -- someone with not too many friends around the garage, and someone who wouldn't be hurt too much by giving up 50 points. (That is, someone in the Chase, or someone with a realistic shot at the 11th spot.)

Dustin will have more on the topic in Tuesday's paper. Essentially, he'll lay out the case that NASCAR's promise of serious punishment was an empty one.

Carrie: Waltrip did lose 25, so I don't think he got away with much. But NASCAR, like every other pro leagues, always nails hardest the guy who hits back.

I think we're setting some comment records here. Let's keep it up!

I'll comment all day long where Robby is involved. Without him, I'd get more excitement from watching my brother play NASCAR on his X-Box than from watching the real thing. :-)

I really did think he was gonna get worse, and was expecting and accepting of a one-race suspension, given NASCAR's tough guy talk. Obviously NASCAR was shooting blanks though.

They don't realize though that this kind of stuff will never, ever stop unless they start penalizing guys for first contact.

When you look at the finishing order Robby Gordon was only given 57 points, so docking him 50 points makes it like he was never there. If that logic was applied accross the board I think drivers and teams would listen.

Even though he can rub a person the wrong way I do enjoy it when Robby Gordon is competitive.

And Mikey is starting to get on my nerves.

When NASCAR goes back to racin to win, and not racin for a few points to get to sit at a table in NY, we will finally see an end to this stupidity. It ain't about winning any more it's all about where they finish. To me if you aint winning , you don't deserve the trophy and the big bucks. That's the way it use to be and that's what made racin.

Kind of like what Herm Edwards says for the Jets, "Why do you play? TO WIN THE GAME".

I realize racing rewards consistency, but winning should really pay a premium on points not just and extra 5; it should start at 50 or maybe 75.

The best consistency is winning or at least trying to win. Just trying to finish consistently is not racing. As long as points are given for finishing the most races close to the top and failing to win the stupidity of what is going on with all those "teams" and individuals ttrying to take someone out will only get worse.
As far as I am concerned, no cigar if you don't win. The winner gets the big stoggie, those who race hard to win get at least a nickel cigar.
I have been a racer and a race fan for more years than most of you guy writing and basically I am getting tired of the way things are going in this farce of a "race to the championship". Guy's racing today for the most part would not have made it a year in the early days of racing, and I don't think I need to call names here since most of the readers and responders know who they are.
You would never head some joker standing in front of a camera (if we had had such in my days) and saying "well I'm plum proud of the way my "Joes septic tank cleaners" car ran today. Boy the guys really worked hard to give me a good 10th place finishing car. It shore helped me in the points." Naw, they guy would have crawled out of his car, loaded the thing on a trailer , if he could have affored one, other wise hooked it to a hitch and towed it home , embarrassed and mad as heck that he didn't have what it took to win.

If NASCAR doesn't get back to racing like it ought to be numbers will start to decline in the places where racing was born. Only those who never knew racing will continue to sit and watch and pay outrageous prices for tickets to see some idiot race to finish 10th so he can win the "trophy".

One guy who definitely got your message on Sunday was Tony Stewart.

Guy finished second, and he looked madder than Kurt Busch after getting wrecked on Lap 3.

Ain't it the truth. Guess he was mad at himself because no one put a hurt on him to win. It hurts to run good and up front for a lot of laps and then finish second. I give the guy a lot of credit, he races to win every week, not just to build points on the safe side.