Track Smack: Homestead

November 7, 2001
9:24 AM EST (1424 GMT)

Question No. 1: Does Casey Atwood deserve to be farmed out to the No. 7?

Marty Smith: No way. It sucks how team owners have no patience whatsoever anymore. The patience the Wood Brothers had shown Elliott Sadler is the exception rather than the rule.

Dave Rodman: It is pathetic that a team owner who is astute as we know Ray Evernham is expects more than he got from Casey. He is very good, deserves the spot but needs more time to blend into the Winston Cup Series. Guys like Harvick and Stewart are anomalies - freaks.

Tim Packman: I talked with Kevin Lepage about that this weekend and he says he feels he found a home with No. 7 team. But, if Casey is going to go there, his dad is going to put up one hell of a fight to keep him in the No. 19. Why should Casey have to start all over again in a new Dodge team?

Ryan Smithson: I know this probably sounds stupid, but I wish Casey would go to the 33, so that he is not under the Dodge microscope, and so that a veteran teammate like Hamilton could show him the ropes. Hamilton and Atwood are from the same neck of the woods.

Marty Smith: I wish Evernham would nurture Casey like he nurtured Gordon.

Ryan Smithson: Atwood is a fine driver but he looks uncomfortable sometimes. He needs a car that is not so high profile. Casey didn't belong in the pressures of Dodge. It's too much to ask of a rookie.

Tim Packman: Hamilton was very influential in getting Casey into racing; he would work with him real well.

Bobby Hamilton

Dave Rodman: Bobby could show him the ropes but there's no reason, short of previous familiarity and both coming from Nashville, that Bill couldn't do the same. If his dad is going to pitch a fit if he is squeezed out -- what good does that do him? If he isn't wanted, he darn sure isn't going to succeed, so why should he stay?

Marty Smith: Casey's got talent, lots of it, I just think the pressure on him this year has been immense.

Ryan Smithson: You can argue Harvick faced more pressure, but Harvick is a good three years older than Casey. Big difference.

Marty Smith: Four years older.

Ryan Smithson: Don't you know Southern, boy? When I say 'a good three years older" that means "at least three years older!"

Marty Smith: I reckon.

Ryan Smithson: You're a good 25 years old, meaning you are older than 25. Marty Smith: Rodman's a good 55.

Tim Packman: At least Harvick shaves; let's leave it that.

Casey Atwood

Question No. 2: What can be done to make the racing at Homestead more exciting?

Marty Smith: Throw on a restrictor plate? Maybe put a wicker bill on the spoiler? I KNOW! Put a blade across the roof, that'll do it. Kidding, kidding.

Dave Rodman: Probably drop 10 degrees of banking on there. AFTER they try all MartDawg's aero adjustments and spend a couple years fiddling with plates.

Ryan Smithson: Dave, you idiot, if they drop 10 degrees of banking, it'll be negative five degrees! They'd be turning uphill!

Tim Packman: Have them go the opposite way around the track. Or, better yet, turn the track into one big Figure-8 and let's see what they're made of. Seriously, they need to add some banking to that thing and improve the action there.

Marty Smith: I think a Figure-8 track would rule.

Ryan Smithson: Plow the track, start over. Build a .6-mile track on the site. Make it a North Wilkesboro-style bullring.

Marty Smith: Bristol Motor Speedway South.

Ray Evernham

Tim Packman: With a Figure 8, there would be plenty of plowing going on, Ryan. As in, "He plowed right into him!"

Dave Rodman: Condense it into an 18-degree, .750-mile track with stadium seating. AND an optional Figure 8 layout.

Marty Smith: So pretty much what we're all looking for is a figure-8 Richmond.

Ryan Smithson: I really hate the fact that that two of the next three races are at flat tracks.

Tim Packman: No, only one is flat. The other is good racing and the last one is snow covered.

Will Atwood get a second shot at Evernham next season?

Ryan Smithson: NASCAR, welcome to the world of hurricanes and snowstorms.

Tim Packman: Get your parkas for the Snowplow 300 from New Hampshire. Ice is free, hot chocolate is $5 for a cup.

Dave Rodman: True. Ralph Sanchez was a real well-meaning promoter who thought he was doing the right thing. But since he wasted his money twice -- once building it and once "fixing" it -- let ISC take some of its stash and do it right.

Ryan Smithson: Again, Rodman is out in left field.

Marty Smith: Good Lord Dave. Get me some of what you got man.

Ryan Smithson: You're like Pluto, man. You're gone. Out there. Not coming back. You swing by the sun once every 150 years.

Dave Rodman: I can't help it if y'all switch directions faster than Michelle on steroids.

Ryan Smithson: Maybe Homestead will sell 816 seats and lose their Winston Cup date. Good location, market is awesome, but the racing is just plain bad.

Marty Smith: Oops, my fault. I didn't mean to insinuate anything negative, or discuss the intake of substances that result in intoxication. A few families emailed me following last week's column to discuss their disapproval of my having said I had "too many Clydesdales." Meanwhile, they're kids are running around the house in Budweiser and Viagra T-shirts.

Ryan Smithson: I saw a three-year old in a Viagra t-shirt.

Marty Smith: There's nothing wrong with that. But don't tell someone they're pond scum for enjoying beer, and then tell them your kid loves his Budweiser T-shirt.

Ryan Smithson: But, I got to admit, I'll bet Kenny Wallace is glad the 27 didn't get that Crown Royal sponsorship now. He might still be in that car.

Marty Smith: I'm so stoked for Kenny, man. What a weekend.

Ryan Smithson: He was fired up.

Tim Packman: Kenny Wallace Weekend at Rockingham was great.

Ryan Smithson: Talk about a surge in confidence.

Ryan Smithson: Hell, Nemechek was just as fired up after the race. What a burnout!

Marty Smith: I wonder what Barry Dodson thinks of Kenny's success.

Kenny Wallace

Dave Rodman: Barry was about as helpless and frustrated as Kenny was, no doubt.

Ryan Smithson: You gotta love it for Andy Petree. He won in his own backyard.

Tim Packman: Joe even thanked the media for all that is done to cover the sport and for getting the word out to the fans.

Dave Rodman: He'd take a win in Colombia.

Ryan Smithson: Dave, take your meds and fall back asleep.

Tim Packman: Petree ruled when he was Big E's crew chief. Now, he has two wins in one season as an owner.

Marty Smith: Y'all heard that commercial with Petree? Andy Petree on world peace -- "I'm for it." Andy Petree on politics -- "Crazy system." Andy Petree on.... That's some funny stuff.

Kevin Lepage

Ryan Smithson: I can't believe a small team like Melling needs a sponsor to pay $8-10 million. Only 10 years ago, the top teams spent half that.

Marty Smith: Soon Busch teams will require that.

Ryan Smithson: That is scary.

Tim Packman: This is all going to be very scary to sell to a sponsor for all three series in the next few years.

Marty Smith: I got some news late last night, Welliver Racing is going to be the first Busch program to run Dodge Intrepids full time.

Ryan Smithson: All three cars?

Marty Smith: That's what I was told.

Ryan Smithson: They need something to pump them up. Off year for those guys. They are a lot better than that.

Dave Rodman: They are probably two inches from the grave.

Marty Smith: Montgomery Gentry rule. Every song they sing kicks ass.

Ryan Smithson: I have never heard of Montgomery Gentry.

Marty Smith: And you claim to be country.

Ryan Smithson: That's a big myth about Nashvillians. Everyone thinks people born in Nashville know everything about country music. It's just made there.

Tim Packman: They are awesome in concert. Great partiers, too. Ryan, even my Buffalo-butt knows who they are.

Marty Smith: I bet you haven't heard of three-fourth the bands I like, Ryan.

Tim Packman: I know all five country songs topics every recorded. Truck, dog, woman, divorce and boozing

Ryan Smithson: You could combine divorce and woman. No need to draw it out.

Ryan Smithson: Actually, you could combine truck and dog, too.

Kevin Harvick

Marty Smith: Whoa, there, Packman. Your Yankee butt is asking for a serious hiney kickin'. Some homeboy in Talladega's going to hunt you down, strip you naked and string you up in the infield with rebel flag underwear.

Tim Packman: Better be some big underwear.

Marty Smith: Packman in a thong.... absolutely heinous thought.

Tim Packman: You should talk, you'd slip right through it.

Ryan Smithson: I refuse comment.

Question No. 3: What is the most overrated statement made by NASCAR announcers?

Marty Smith: Anything that has to do with door-to-door racing. They'll say they're door-to-door and the leader has a five car-length lead.

Joe Nemechek

Ryan Smithson: "It's one thing to catch him -- another one to pass him." I hate that one.

Tim Packman: I got it..."Oh, I'm sorry..I didn't realize that. Why yes, the car is doing that."

Tim Packman: Wally: "Today, I have my wife's blue cotton underwear on with Winnie the Poohs on them for good luck."

Ryan Smithson: He actually did that?

Tim Packman: Yes, he wore his wife's underwear one race when he ran out. He ran great and then told everyone about it the next week.

Marty Smith: Pack, I bet you wear your wife's underwear, too.

Ryan Smithson: Why is Track Smack dominated by underwear talk all of a sudden?

Ryan Smithson: Marty always talks about his tighty-whities, too.

Marty Smith: Got to son. Boxers suck.

Tim Packman: Marty, you've seen my wife. You know I'm a foot taller than her. It would be like a rubber band around my wrist.

Ryan Smithson: Well, Packman, I'll bet a rubber band would be enough to hold it in.

Ryan Smithson: Anyways, back to the announcers. The pit reporters sure do like those driver-like space suits. I wonder if they go into 7-Eleven looking like that. Harvick said they looked like Power Rangers. That was classic.

Tim Packman: Classic was when he put one on last weekend and busted on Matt Yocum.

Ryan Smithson: Harvick put on a Power Ranger suit?

Tim Packman: Yes, he put one on and played pit reporter and cut up with Yocum. It was good to see Kevin's humorous side.

NOTE: Track Smack appears every Wednesday on NASCAR.com and the opinions listed here are solely those of the participants.