NASCAR's last tradition may be gone

In the past 10 years, NASCAR has stopped racing at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, lost its main-stay sponsor in Winston, changed how the champion is crowned in the Sprint Cup Series and drastically changed the look of its race cars. But there were two constants in NASCAR from its early days. Petty Enterprises and the Wood Brothers. Now both may be gone as we know them.

Petty Enterprises, who has nine Cup championship between founder Lee Petty and his son, Richard, sold most of itself to Boston Ventures. Major teams selling interest to marketing agencies is becoming prevalent, even for the big teams. Jack Roush sold 50 percent of his Roush Racing organization to Fenway Marketing and owner John Henry, who is the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox. Ray Evernham did the same thing with his team.

But Petty's team may not enjoy the same fate as the other two organizations. It was leaked last week that Boston Ventures is looking to sell, or merge is the popular term, Petty Enterprises to Gillett Evernham Motorsports. That move could keep the famous No. 43 out of NASCAR. Maybe for good.

The Pettys and Boston Ventures lost their sponsorship for Bobby Labonte and the No. 43 car for 2009 to Richard Childress Racing. They also have no sure driver or sponsorship for the team's second car. So Petty Enterprises may be sold to GEM to form a four-car operation.

Also a fall from grace is the Wood Brothers organization. The Wood Brothers famous No. 21 car was a coveted ride through the 60s, 70s and 80s. Some of NASCAR's best drivers have driven for the team including David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, A.J. Foyt, Buddy Baker and Dale Jarrett.

The Woods announced just days after the Petty rumor arised, that the No. 21 team will cut its schedule to running just 12 of the schedule's 36 races. Part-time driver since 2004, Bill Elliott, will pilot the car in those races.

NASCAR has changed a lot in its 60 years of existence, but none of the changes have been more obvious than those made in the past decade. Now that the famed No. 43 and No. 21 cars may be gone; NASCAR's links to the past may be disappearing with them.

Throwing caution to the wind

Tony Stewart is usually full of hot air. He's said so many stupid things over the years, but he finally said something I agree with.

On his radio program 'Tony Stewart Live' last night, Stewart said that NASCAR is "playing God" with the debris cautions that they throw.

He is absolutely right. Cautions labeled as 'debris' have been thrown 19 times in eight races this season. Three races experienced debris cautions four times apiece and twice did a debris caution wave with less than 20 laps to go.

The yellow flag should only be waved for one reason: driver safety. How many times have you watched a race where there was a 'debris caution' and the television camera was unable to find any debris? I guarantee it was more than a handful.

During the race at Phoenix, I noticed a trash bag in turn three before the drivers had reached the 15 lap mark. NASCAR waited until Lap 38 to display the caution for the same piece of debris. Over 20 laps later! This screams of arrogance by NASCAR and how stupid they think their fans are. We understand what's going on.

NASCAR sees the field stretch out and passing becomes fewer and fewer. How do you make for a more exciting race? Throw the caution! That'll bunch the field back up and make for more exciting racing (at least for a while).

Just stop trying to deceive us! If you throw a caution because you want the field bunched up, say so! We're not fooled. If all you're after is better television ratings, than by all means, keep throwing these 'debris cautions.' Why don't you use pyrotechnics and scripted play like the WWE does and just throw all competition out the window.

NASCAR used to be a sport where the best driver with the best car won. Now, I'm not so sure.

What's it worth to you?

It has been rumored that Dale Earnhardt Incorporated owner Theresa Earnhardt finally offered her star driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. 51% of DEI... at the cost of about $55 million.

Is she crazy? So, that means DEI is worth, roughly, $100 million. OK... so what's DEI worth WITHOUT Dale Jr.? $55 million is an insult. Earnhardt Jr. is the face of DEI. If he leaves, what will DEI be worth? It won't be $100 million, I can tell you that. After Dale Jr., you're left with a two-time Busch Series champion who has struggled at the Cup level and a rookie who finds it difficult to just qualify for races.

Dale Jr. is not the most talented driver on the circuit. That's a fact. But, he is the most marketable driver. That could be worth more than talent. It certainly is worth a lot to DEI.

Earnhardt Jr. is a car owner already. He owns JR Motorsports in the Busch Series with driver Mark McFarland. He also co-owned Chance 2 Motorsports, with Theresa, that won back-to-back Busch Series championships with Martin Truex Jr. Earnhardt is ready to step up to handle ownership at the Cup level. I doubt that he'd be doing most of the work anyways, but I'm willing to bet that he has some good ideas to get DEI into a championship contender.

Tell you what, Theresa. Drop the $55 million to $25 million and get rid of the independent arbitrator idea. This will guarantee keeping NASCAR's most popular driver with you and it will also keep Dale Jr. happy. This will also put the sponsors at ease and will be more inclined to sign with DEI if they know Dale Jr. is there for the long haul.

If this doesn't happen, how could you blame Dale Jr. for leaving DEI? The only way Dale Jr. will ever win a championship is with another team, and not with DEI. That's unless he can make the necessary changes at DEI to make it a championship contender once again.