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Happy Hour: Tony Stewart's return

Nick Bromberg
College football and motorsports writer

It's time for Happy Hour. As always, tweet us your thoughts or shoot us an email at happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com if you want to participate.

We're out in Richmond for the race this weekend, and saw the announcement from Stewart-Haas Racing of Tony Stewart's return upon landing. Quite the unexpected news.

Stewart is returning three races before Kyle Busch did in 2015. And, like Busch, Stewart has been given a waiver to be eligible to participate in the Chase if he qualifies.

This is once again an opportunity to talk about the ridiculousness of the Chase waiver. If everyone gets one, there's no need to have one. There have now been four drivers receive Chase waivers over the past two seasons (Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Brian Vickers and Stewart); it's time to get rid of the waiver altogether.

The waiver is necessary because NASCAR says a driver must attempt to qualify for every race to be eligible for the Chase. But if the waiver is simply a formality (and it is) why does the rule exist? NASCAR should simply make Chase eligibility contingent on a driver winning a race and being in the top 30 in points whether he runs 12 races before the Chase begins or 26.

We've never watched GoT, so we're going Smoke.

Ooohhh, the always fun NASCAR moral dilemma. We talked about the lug nut rule here yesterday after Stewart made his comments. The guess is Stewart's team is cautious this week simply because there are no race-winning expectations. Rather the goal is to get Stewart comfortable in the car and complete the race. Could we be completely off-base? Of course, but less than five lug nuts are a necessary risk when you're running for wins. It feels like an unnecessary risk in Stewart's case.

Here's a sampling of emails we received after Bristol regarding Kyle Busch's car hitting a fan. The point that this was an accident and that jumping to assign blame to either party is foolish still stands.

I would HAVE to defend Kyle in this unfortunate accident. I have had many, many  ( Hot Passes ) from NASCAR and tracks, over the past 20+ years. It makes me wonder why a complete fool such as this lady, was allowed anything from NASCAR or SMI racing. Seems to me if her husband was or is a driver, she should know the "RULES"... Or is she going to plead ignorance and try and sue Kyle, JGR, and or Marcus Smith, and SMI Racing. I say to all of the above, PLEASE don't give this fool, another pass, or allow her to EVER attend ANY NASCAR SANCTION TRACK in the world. Marcus, take it from me. This idiot is a LAWSUIT in the making. Good luck to you, Marcus, Kyle, and NASCAR. - Al

In my opinion, any fan allowed in the 'Pit Area' must stay aware of elements that happen surrounding the race; especially at Bristol's short track. Anyone in the 'Garage Area' taking pictures while standing in an area of escape for the Sprint Cup Drivers should not be standing in the direct route of entry ... After my carefully review of the incident on video, Erin Vandyke could not have been paying attention to the race in question. It appears she was more interested in 'her pictures' too help fill her photo album. Please do not place blame on Kyle Busch, and if you follow the skid markings of his car, you will see the markings attempting to turn left, making a strong attempt to avoid contact with Ms. Vandyke. - Luther

In your article about Kyle Busch hitting a woman in the pit area at Bristol you state that it is surprising that these type of incidents don't happen more often given THE LEVEL OF FAN ACCESS AT NASCAR RACES. In your dreams .Fan access at NASCAR is almost none existent. Only the BIG money people (movie stars, sponsor personnel,their friends & relatives and other various butt kissers have access to anything NASCAR. The real fans can only dream about it. - Jim

There seem to be a lot of "real" fans in the garages at NASCAR races. Perhaps we're delusional.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!