From the Marbles

[We're taking a look back at some of the best posts of recent months here at The Marbles, and we begin with some classic video.]

From last night's This Week In NASCAR: Jimmy Spencer gets Patrick Carpentier's name just a little bit wrong. Great deadpan by Michael Waltrip; nice bet-hedging by Shades just in case there happens to be a "Carpeteater" on the circuit:

Good heavens. You know, they kick you out of ballparks in Seattle for things like that.

I could come up with about fifteen different drivers' names who could be similarly twisted, but I kind of like my job here.

The final lap at Daytona is always a nailbiting experience, but the finish of Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 will go down as an all-timer. Tony Stewart had led most of the race, but on a late restart, Kyle Busch took the lead. And then Tony decided he wanted it back. Things didn't work out so well after that, as you can see starting at about 1:50 of the clip below:

Who's at fault here? Did Stewart turn into Busch? Did Busch make a mistake in trying to reclaim the line? Was it just good hard racing? Where you fall on this one probably depends on whether you love or loathe Kyle Busch.

Still, let's not be too hard on the guy. Busch took an entire year's worth of punishment in the space of about 100 yards, getting spun hard into the fence by Stewart, jacked up in the back by Kasey Kahne, and finally t-boned in the driver's side by Joey Logano. The fact that Busch is still even breathing after that sequence is a testament to the strength of the Car of Tomorrow.

Busch was later shown on camera trying to refuse NASCAR officials' demands that he go to the infield care center for treatment, but to no avail. He declined to speak publicly about the wreck, which is probably for the best for his sake, if not ours. Stewart, for his part, seemed downbeat in his postrace interviews, not willing to celebrate at Busch's expense and, apparently, not entirely certain he wasn't to blame.

Bottom line, this was one hell of a wreck that capped a fine race, and the fact that Stewart took out Busch just yards from the finish line will no doubt give a large chunk of the NASCAR fanbase an extra reason to celebrate the Fourth of July. And say what you will about Kyle Busch, both fans and detractors have to agree that it's a very good thing that he's still around.

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Here we go again with another talkback thread. We're back in Daytona for the Fourth of July! Hang out here and talk racing as you listen to the fireworks blast in the background. Your defending champion is that guy up there, who's apparently also a Redskins draft pick. Anyway, enjoy, and have a happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July to you and yours from all of us at Yahoo! Sports and The Marbles! Hope you have a safe, happy holiday. Enjoy the race!

Hey everybody, who's ready for the Fourth of July? Yeah? Me too. Some good racing on tap, and through it all, Richard Petty will be singing the swingin' sounds of the Seventies to get you through the night! "Muskrat Love"! "Stuck In The Middle With You"! "Tie A Yellow Ribbon"! Come on, you know the words!

All right, enough silliness. Everybody kick back, dodge the family, shoot off a few fireworks, drink some beers and chat about whatever comes to your mind here. Have a good one, and enjoy the race!

This weekend, TNT will be broadcasting from Daytona, and we've got TNT/Fox analyst Larry McReynolds on the podcast to talk racing and the broadcasting of racing. We start with a little discussion about TNT's plans for the race -- it'll be run in "Wide Open" style, which means almost no commercial breaks. Good news for those of us who grow tired of the frequent commercial stops.

We also discuss the state of the sport as it stands today, and Larry talks about his own experiences over decades of work in the industry. As a former crew chief, he's seen the very best in the sport up close; which of today's drivers does he think could hack it in NASCAR's olden times? ("None of the above" was not a choice.) We close off with a look forward at the rest of the season, a wide-open year that has the potential to be one of the best in recent memory. So enjoy the podcast and watch Larry and the rest of the TNT crew this weekend.

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NASCAR has announced the initial slate of candidates for its inaugural Hall of Fame class, and it's tough to imagine that the nominating committee could have devised a more perfect mix of early, classic and legendary drivers, owners and driving forces. The nominees include:

Founders
Bill France Sr., Bill France Jr.

Drivers
Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Junior Johnson, David Pearson, Darrell Waltrip, Bobby Allison, Cale Yarbrough (right), Fireball Roberts, Red Byron, Buck Baker, Lee Petty, Tim Flock, Herb Thomas, Curtis Turner, Benny Parsons, Ned Jarrett, Richie Evans, Joe Weatherly

Owners
Bud Moore, Raymond Parks, Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, Glen Wood

NASCAR will announce the five inaugural members of the Hall of Fame class in October, and the Hall itself, located in Charlotte, is scheduled to open in May.

It's worth noting that while there are several contemporary drivers who belong in that august company, the nominating committee didn't select any of them. (Other sports halls of fame do induct active members, so it wouldn't have been unprecedented.) By keeping the focus squarely on retired and legendary drivers, NASCAR's Hall of Fame will recognize its roots while making for the foundation that one day should welcome in Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and others.

NASCAR Hall of Fame nominees a who's who of stars [AP via Yahoo! Sports]

Juan Pablo Montoya and Mark Martin are doing ... something here. What, pray tell? You know, I'm sure.

After the jump, parallel park FAIL.

How's this for a kick in the face:

The last thing short-track driver Tim McCreadie remembers, he was leading in the semifinal qualifier at the [mid-January] Chili Bowl in Tulsa, Okla.

When he awoke, he had two problems.

His back was broken and he didn't have health insurance.

That's the opener of a new AP article focusing on one of the hidden dangers of dirt track racing -- the fact that most of the estimated 25,000 drivers on the country's 800-plus dirt tracks have little or no health insurance. And while tracks may carry some insurance, it's often as little as $5,000 -- barely enough to get basic tests run, and nothing close to what would be necessary in the case of a catastrophic injury.

Of course, trying to get the young to buy insurance has always been like trying to get a kid to back away from the dessert table -- it ain't gonna happen as long as they believe they're immortal. Combine that with the fact that drivers usually route their money back into their cars, plus they'll drive anything whose engine fires to life, and you've got a potentially ugly situation lurking in every event.

"What it would cost me for health insurance I wouldn't be able to put tires on my car," Jessica Zemken,a 23-year-old New York sprint car driver, said in the article. "If I paid for health insurance I wouldn't be able to race, so what would I need it for?"

Scarier still are the kids who get themselves legally emancipated from their parents so that they can hold onto their winnings. John Bickford, Jeff Gordon's dad, noted that these drivers often march themselves right off their parents' policies without even knowing it.

McCreadie has been lucky; his injury wasn't life-altering, and he's already back on the track, courtesy of some fundraisers on his behalf. But there will be other accidents, and sadly, the drivers won't be nearly as fortunate.

America's dirt tracks teem with uninsured drivers [AP via Yahoo! Sports]