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I knew it was coming, long before the engine on the No. 8 decided it was running instead in the Chevy Rock & Roll 397. Unless Junior decides to run up front for the next 10 races, you're not going to see much of him until 2008.

Which is fine. It was a tiring season to be a Junior fan. Where's he going to race next year? Will he get the No. 8? Who's his sponsor going to be? His crew chief? Will DEI implode without him? Will he win a freakin' race? Too many questions, not enough answers.

So now I'm in the market for a substitute Chase driver. I'd pick Kenny Wallace, everyone's favorite sub, but sadly, he's not in the Chase.

NASCAR (and NASCAR fans) are constantly wringing their hands about punishments. Is 25 points too much? Not enough? What about 50? 100? Or suspension?

The folks across the pond in F1 ("We have the prettiest cars in all of auto racing") have raised the punishment bar by several dozen feet:

McLaren have been excluded from the 2007 constructors’ championship and fined US$100 million following Thursday’s FIA World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) hearing in Paris. Drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers' title.

"The WMSC have stripped Vodafone McLaren Mercedes of all constructor points in the 2007 FIA Formula One world championship and the team can score no points for the remainder of the season,” said an FIA statement.

That's just stunning. $100 million is, like, five years of Dale Junior's income. It's Jeff Gordon's career winnings and then some. It's a huge fine.

For NASCAR to top that, they'd have to lock Chad Knaus out of every track on the circuit and take away Jimmie Johnson's 2006 trophy. Over in the NFL, Roger Goodell might have to draw and quarter Bill Belichick at the halftime of the Super Bowl. You think?

Junior will drive the No. 88 Mountain Dew/AMP car next season. No huge surprise there. Still waiting on pictures. I'm not sure I like the idea of a green car. Anyone know why green is supposed to be back luck for a race car?

Dustin's in Dallas. Go read him.

In the spirit of MMA, my new favorite sport, I bring you NASCAR Ultimate Fighting Championship 2: Dover:

Denny Hamlin vs. Kyle Petty
Hamlin wrecks Petty, then the wily veteran ties up the youngster and drops some bombs on his face mask. (The play-by-play is here.)
Winner: Petty in the second round by knockout

NASCAR vs. Carl Edwards
Carl Edwards flies away from the field. Then it turns out the rear of Edwards' car was too short. Expect Edwards to lose some points tomorrow.
Winner: NASCAR by first-round submission (rear naked choke)
(P.S.: Dustin Long predicted on Saturday that NASCAR penalities might play a key role in this year's Chase. No, Dustin will not predict next week's lottery numbers.)

Martin Truex vs. Dover International Speedway
Truex dominated their match back in June. This time, though, Dover's strikes and ground game were dominant and left Truex's car as a smoking wreck in the garage.
Winner: The track by TKO in the third

Bill Weber vs. a TV career
Once upon a time Bill Weber anchored NBC's NASCAR coverage for the second half of the Cup season. When NBC ditched racin', Weber washed up on the shores of TNT, where he gets six races a year. As I'm flipping channels yesterday, I come across a tape of one of these races. It's great stuff - kind of a combination of motocross, the Craftsman Truck Series and monster trucks, with a little night race at Bristol thrown in. But that voice ... yep, Webber. You can smell it from a mile away. The guy I felt sorry for was Wally Dallenbach. He deserves better than Antelope Valley.
The winner: Webber's TV career tapped out in the first.

NASCAR vs. football
ESPN was supposed to be NASCAR's savior in the fall, especially as racin' tries to go toe-to-toe with college football and the NFL. But ESPN is 90 percent football these days and 10 percent everything else, including NASCAR. Pity poor baseball, too, which is in the middle of a pennant race. They aren't getting much love either.
Winner: Football by forfeit

Dustin's not going to Kansas this weekend. He has worked what seems like the last 20 weekends in a row, and he needs a weekend off before the last seven weeks of the Chase.

Can't say I blame him - it's Kansas, after all. And it's kind of like Chicagoland (new mile-and-a-half, in the Midwest, strung out racing, but it's in the Chase and Chicagoland isn't. Would I feel any differently toward this not-another-1.5-mile-tri-oval be any better if it were called Kansasland? Eh, probably not.

I think I'll take a break, too. Without Junior in the Chase, I'm feeling pretty lost. And Carl Edwards' cheat-to-win move has me pretty cynical about this whole racin' business. (Don't try to tell me that having a right rear lower than everyone else's didn't help - Edwards was miles faster than everyone else, and those tenths add up quickly at a place like Dover.)

Anyway, I think I'll devote most of my Sunday to the Panthers-Bucs games. Never thought this one was going to be for NFC South supremacy, but it is now.

Here's a more serious question, especially for you North Carolinians in the house: Which are you more interested in this time of year, NASCAR or the Carolina Panthers?