NASCAR's version of the two-step returned over the weekend at Talladega with a finish more thrilling (but with less press box clapping) than February's Daytona 500. As always, a weekend at the 2.66-mile central Alabama behemoth leaves us with plenty to discuss. Jumping in:

NOT: I hate to start this with a negative, but the yellow-line rule NASCAR has implemented at restrictor-plate tracks is still far from perfect. As a result, the Twitter hivemind was abuzz Sunday night and some of Monday with fans and media members alike saying Jimmie Johnson's tri-oval pass was illegal.

The contention was that Johnson — and his pushing teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. — had passed Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon by dipping between the yellow line mere yards from the finish line. Replays showed the two Hendrick machines got awful close and probably drove on top of the yellow line. NASCAR, though, ruled that it wasn't a violation of the yellow-line rule and the passes were allowed to stand.

The problem here

Earnharadt Jr.When drivers are made available to the media during race weekends, they're all too often mundane purveyors of racing clichés. Fortunately, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is rarely in that form.

Saturday morning was more of the same for NASCAR's affable Chosen One as he willfully delivered his un-rosy opinion of the new drafting standard at restrictor plate tracks.

In other words, Junior thinks the two-car drafting tandems are frankly 'crap'.

"I'm hoping this kind of racing goes away fast so we don't have to talk about this no more. It's a mess. This is a bunch of crap," Earnhardt said. "Ya'll don't really look at it and think it's strange?"

Those words, of course, are music to the ears of plenty a NASCAR fan who weren't particularly fond of February's Daytona 500 — a race played out nearly completely by drivers needing to have a dancing partner glued to their bumper in order to make any progress.
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Earnhardt then offered some assessments on the situation: (Warning: long quote alert)

"Were

Ty Dillon made it look easy Thursday when he grabbed the pole for this weekend's ARCA race at Talladega — his third pole in five career ARCA starts.

Saturday morning, in the rain-postponed version of the 80-lap companion event to Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, he made winning look even easier by taking a pair of ARCA veterans to school when the checkered flag was waving.

Dillon, the 18-year-old grandson of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, pushed 8-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel to the front and then pulled in front of ARCA superspeedway ace Bobby Gerheart exiting turn four on the final lap. Kimmel swung high to block at first but then opted to protect the inside. Dillon used the open lane to slingshot past Kimmel and win by a nose.

The finish left the elder Childress — who watched the race from Dillon's pit box — comparing the move to one Dale Earnhardt would make to win at Talladega. Potentially overreaching statements aside, it was a great move and win for a kid who

KensethRoushShouldBeenaCowboy

Seven races and six different winners into the 2011 season, it's fair to say we can't predict how this year's NASCAR version of "As the Wheel Turns" will play out. Regardless, 500 miles from a Texas Saturday night and Matt Kenseth scoring a cowboy hat for the Dairyland has left a few ramblings on my plate:

HOT: Following a week of criticism about the secret nature of how it monitors pit road speeds, NASCAR finally allowed fans a look at its policing system.

Fox initially had Larry McReynolds make his way to the official's box to explain the system. Then, when Tony Stewart was busted for speeding on pit road during his final pit stop, Fox immediately went back and showed how the system tracked Tony's speed.

Seeing the monitor — a device so unnecessarily guarded by NASCAR — finally gave some credence to a system that not long ago replaced officials standing on pit road with stopwatches. In 2011, NASCAR needs to make it a priority with its TV partners that the information can be relayed

Postseason worries for Denny Hamlin are very, very real at the moment.

The Virginia driver, who piloted his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to a close runner-up in last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, watched any NBA postseason hopes for his beloved Charlotte Bobcats slip away Tuesday night after losing to Orlando. Hamlin holds season tickets for Bobcats' home games.

Back on the track, though, worries that a struggling Hamlin could on the outside looking in when NASCAR reaches its championship system in September are rather far-fetched at the moment.

Hamlin currently finds himself 19th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points, trailing leader and teammate Kyle Busch by some 74 points. This season, NASCAR's championship contenders will consist of the top-10 drivers in the driver point standings after the season's 26th race in Richmond plus two more drivers who have the most wins and aren't already locked in.

Either way — mainly based on past history — Hamlin figures to easily fall into one of

Car2013Credit whomever you'd like — whether it's Kyle Busch's blunt early assessment, sustained fan complaints or manufacturers wagering their upper hand — but we've seen some pretty big changes to NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow since it became the Car of Today in 2007.

The front splitter took on a more fluid design for 2011 and the sports car-inspired rear wing fell by the wayside early in 2010 in favor of the racier-looking, more traditional flat rear spoiler.

Now, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams are inching closer to a new race car for 2013, and it might look a whole lot more like your street ride. That's the word, at least, from Sirius Speedway's Dave Moody who wrote earlier this week that the "B-post" (the vertical support in the middle of each side window) should be gone in 2013.

"There will be actual differences in the cars," said a NASCAR source speaking on the condition of anonymity. "If you cover the nose and tail of the car with a tarp, people will still be able to tell them apart based

MattLebronTwo guys who may or may not have inspired the largest changes to their respective sports in the past decade may have just become the most unlikely of bedfellows.

Yeah, the ever-exciting Matt Kenseth and the pretty-roundly-hated-except-for-in-Miami LeBron James can now consider themselves teammates. Kind of.

From the AP: 

BOSTON (AP)—LeBron James is going into business with the Boston Red Sox.

The baseball team's sister company, Fenway Sports Marketing, says it has signed James to a long-term deal to handle his marketing. As part of the deal, James has obtained a small piece of the soccer team Liverpool in the English Premier League, FSM president Sam Kennedy said Wednesday.

FSM is owned by Fenway Sports Group, which is also the parent company of the Red Sox and Liverpool FC and a co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing. FSM handles the marketing for all of them, and now it will handle James, too.

Kenseth as well as NASCAR's favorite backflipper Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan all

We've got six races under our belt and none have been as bad as Butler shot last night. To put a cork on Martinsville, however, here's a dose of the good and the bad from Virginia:

Harvick Victory Lane MartinsvilleWHO'S HOT: Sorry for this — it's painfully obvious — but Kevin Harvick is first and foremost worthy of this nod. For two races now, he's been the crème de la crème — if you will — when the checkered flag is ready to fly. Two straight wins (and beating Dale Earnhardt Jr.) will do that. Every time.

Now I know that neither Harvick or Martinsville fit well with a French euphemism, but what's better? Harvick as an en fuego cupcake? OK. You're right. That's better.

WHO'S NOT: We've had Juan Pablo Montoya at Indianapolis. We had Kevin Harvick in last year's season finale. Now, we've had Jimmie Johnson seriously doubting the accuracy of NASCAR's pit lane timing and scoring business.

Johnson has since apologized for criticizing NASCAR. Still, isn't there a better way to show violations to fans, media and teams?

WHO'S