Happy Hour: Your Texas prayer reactions and more

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.

Oh boy, the email inbox was packed this week. And there was a common theme: the prayer before Saturday night's race at Texas. If you somehow misssed it, here's a post with the transcript of the prayer and here are Texas Motor Speedway president Eddie Gossage's comments defending the prayer and our thoughts regarding the defense. 

Below is a sampling of the emails we received regarding what we wrote. Some told us we needed to be saved, others questioned the faith of certain world leaders and even more weren't fit to print because of the grammar mistakes and/or profanity.

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His prayer didn't hurt one person there and could have possibly helped a few. I am not a right winger nor am I a person who attends church. It just gets old when you guys pick out this type thing and represent it as something bad. Our country has way too many issues that need discussing instead of one prayer at a race track. Please pick issues than concern us as Americans instead of trying to invoke issues they divide us. You are part of the problem. Use your talents for good. - Todd

This email was quite ironic as the prayer itself was divisive, which was the point of what we wrote on Saturday night and re-emphasized on Monday. There's no need to divide via religion before a NASCAR race. None.

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Nick, get a life. If you can’t find one for yourself Jesus will help, just ask him. - Ron

I find it amusing that as a NASCAR sports writer, you write an entire article that has nothing to do with racing but about your personal hurt feelings about what HAPPENED before a race. MAN UP! - Chad

What I read from your transcript of Mr. Robertson prayer at the NASCAR event was a prayer for all of us and our country. I really don't think Mr. Robertson cares, even though he endorsed Cruz, who is President if the said person is a Jesus man. Mr. Robertson knows and accepts God's will, and knows God's will trumps human wants and needs before all else. After reading your article, I guess you don't care about the facts, especially since Mr. Robertson views are not the same as yours and the Democrats. - Jeffrey

If you don't like the prayer that was offered at the race then why don't you simply turn the channel or turn the television off? The answer is because you only believe in freedom of speech as long as someone is saying something that you agree with. Whenever someone says something that goes against your politics then you moan and complain and call foul. Shame on you. You hypocrite. - Bob

The prayer could have been for an alien to invade the White House in a turnabout of Independence Day and the point still remains the same. There's no need to turn a race invocation political, even if the politics are playing to a very vocal segment of the fanbase. Why is wanting a sport to be apolitical such a hard concept to understand? We wonder how many people complaining about us being "offended" by the prayer (trust us, it takes a lot to move the offend-o-meter needle) would be unhappy if someone prayed for a political candidate they didn't support.

And by the way, nowhere did we advocate for the removal of pre-race prayers.

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Great column about the TX Motor Speedway's president defending the "prayer" last weekend. Keep them coming! - Paul

Hey, one positive email!

Simple answer: The Chase.

The definition of "The Chase" is still being defined, however. It was a necessary move in the crowded fall landscape as NASCAR made the move towards the national stage. It's no secret that we're much more in favor of the 10-race cumulative format and after two seasons, it's way too early to make a significant judgment on the the elimination-style Chase.

Part of the reason it's too early is because of NASCAR's propensity to change the Chase. While the sport seems committed to the current Chase format, you can never rule out any near-future changes just because of the pattern that's been established since the Chase's inception.

This is the devil's spin on the heat races that will debut at Bristol on Saturday. Perhaps the best outcome for the dominance-hating NASCAR fan is to have all three of the JGR cars in one of the heats, meaning the other has to be won by a driver who isn't in a JGR car. Because given the way the season has unfolded so far, the odds of a three-race sweep involving Kyle Busch in some fashion are pretty good.

It'll be fun to see the reaction if/when a JGR car wins a race with an Xfinity driver like Erik Jones or Daniel Suarez behind the wheel. Will the relative relief of NASCAR fans that a Cup driver didn't win the race outweigh the fact that they're in equipment that's currently head-and-shoulders above everyone else in the series?

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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!

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