An insider analyzes Darlington, Busch-Junior tangle, driver salaries

Heading into Saturday's race at Darlington , an anonymous NASCAR insider shares his thoughts about the latest vibes in NASCAR nation:

"Before I raced at Darlington for the first time, everybody would talk about how tough it was to drive on, and how you had to race your own race. It's one of the staples of the NASCAR circuit, a place where you really feel like there's a lot of history at the race track. The cool thing about any sport is the history of it, and this is one of those places that we go to that has it. I think there are those race tracks where you're truly respected when you win by how tough it is to get around the place -- and Darlington is one of those tracks."

"But Darlington is a completely different race track now after the repaving. It's smooth and fast, so I think it'll be completely different than we've ever seen. I hate the term 'race the race the track,' but that's really what it used to be here. You didn't worry about other cars; you just tried to go where your car could go on the track. Now, I think it's going to go back to racing the other guys. At least they haven't moved the wall. so you're going to have to maneuver around everything while dealing with the fact the track is so much faster. We'll be going 200 miles an hour down the straightaway; these things just have so much horsepower, it's crazy. Down the back straightaway, we're going to be screaming ... it's going to be pretty wild."

"The race is going to be exciting. Hell, we have enough practices, for sure. I don't know why we have to have 17 practice sessions like we have this weekend -- which can be a good or a bad thing. Sometimes, it's good because you need to get the car right, and sometimes it's bad, because you have too much time to mess your stuff up. We've done that before; one time, when I was a rookie, I didn't even get a lap on the race track, and I qualified with one of my best runs ever. So, maybe there's a little something to less track time."

"I think the race could go one of two ways -- you're not going to see anything in the middle, really. I think you're either going to have hardly any wrecks because everybody's going to be getting used to the race track, and it's going to be fast, and everybody's going to be trying to take care of their stuff, because -- like I said -- they didn't move the walls at all. Or, it's going to be just yellow after yellow because it is going to be so fast and tight, and we're going to have all that grip on the race track, which will make you feel like you're Superman and force you to dive under somebody. So, it's going to be clean, or it's going to be a wreckfest."

"It's a tough call to pick a favorite this weekend. It's a new track [with the repaving] ... I think the No. 11 and the No. 18 are going to be really strong again. But I think Junior is going to have a little chip on his shoulder, and he's going to go out there and get this one. They were getting close [to the win before the wreck Saturday night]; but it's still going to be up in the air, because [this track] is kind of new for everybody."

"I think Kyle Busch and Junior's [wreck at Richmond ] was just a racin' deal. Kyle drove in pretty hard, but Junior didn't give him room ... he didn't give him a ton of room, but he gave him enough, and Kyle just drove it in too deep. Kyle did get into Junior, so you have to fault Kyle a little bit. What disturbs me more about it is the attitude he had afterwards. That, to me, is the worst thing. You're going for a win with three [laps] to go, and it's hard to win one of these races, so I'm OK with the aggressive driving and making a mistake. But for Kyle to come off with the attitude that basically it had nothing to do with him, and throwing it out there that he's going have to put up with all the Junior fans and the press ... I thought that was wrong.

"Junior will come out of this just fine. It's different because he's been running well all year; it's not like he was running like that and that it was his one chance to win in the next 20 races. The No. 88 is arguably the best Hendrick car right now. He's high up in the points, so I think that run gives him and the whole team more confidence. Once again, they were close, and it's hard to win these races. So, I don't think it'll be an issue.

"I think over the last couple of years, Junior has had to go through more than anybody else out there. With the name, with everything that's happened in his life, he's always going to have [people pressuring him to win]. If he won 10 times a year, we'd still be arguing he's not winning enough. People that aren't in the sport, who don't understand racing, they don't understand how hard it is to win a race. There are times you get on a hot streak, like Kyle Busch , or Jeff and Jimmie the last couple of years -- they make it look so easy but it's really damn impressive. Unless you're inside the race car, you don't understand how difficult it is. Their frustration [Earnhardt's and crew chief Tony Eury Jr.] was a lot worse the last couple of years when they didn't do as well. They may fight a lot, but that may be how they get along during the race. If I were in that position, I'd be more frustrated about the last couple of years when I'd been running like junk. To compete for a win every week, they just need to keep knocking on that door and the wins will come."

" Denny Hamlin probably got the penalty he deserved. He didn't endanger anybody, he didn't wreck anybody; he just had a flat tire and we all knew what he was doing. It's no secret, but no, it wasn't team orders. Denny was trying to do what he could do to salvage the best position possible. It's stupid. He's sitting there thinking, 'I should have won this race.' He's not thinking about Kyle. If you pit, you're going to lose two laps. If you stay on the race track, then maybe NASCAR will say, 'It's OK he stopped on the track, he didn't endanger anybody,' and they don't give you a penalty. But no, he got the right penalty; he shouldn't be penalized any worse than two laps, which is your penalty by pitting, anyways. That's really all that matters at that point."