NASCAR roundup

News:

• Sources: Sadler set to return to No. 19
• Petty, Gillett Evernham to merge
• Chevy to remain Daytona sponsor
• Owner reaches deal on fraud charges
• Logano to defend All-Star title
• Baldwin to debut Cup team at Daytona

Analysis:

• DW: Teams spend too much
• Owens: Where were the fireworks?
• DW: Petty cash, not enough
• McReynolds: It all starts here
• Mondaca: Nine stories for '09

Looking back at 2008:

• Sprint Cup
• Nationwide
• Trucks

Blog:

• Check out the NASCAR community

There were old cars and drivers. Oh, and I should say old drivers, too. It was so reminiscent of the Goodwood Festival I attended in England back in 2002. To drive into Darlington and see all the people was just a thrill. The highway patrol estimated the crowd at 20,000 there on Saturday.

It was a two-day event. I was fortunate to be there on Saturday with Junior Johnson, Ned Jarrett, Charlie Glotzbach, Waddell Wilson and a host of others. We did a question-and-answer session with the fans, then we had an autograph session for a while, then ol' DW got to hit the track with my Mountain Dew car.

There were call kinds of old cars there. There were old stock cars, old modified cars and old Indy cars. It was just a treat to be there. It's just a shame to have such a historical track like Darlington and for it to have the place in our sport that it has and for us not to be racing there on Labor Day weekend.

That's why I titled this column the way I did. For the life of me, I just don't get it. To take a race with the significance of the Southern 500 away from Darlington, to me would be like taking away the Daytona 500 from Daytona or the Indy 500 away from Indy. I just have never understood the method to the madness as to why they did that.

Darlington is a place of great historical value in NASCAR. It exemplifies what stock car racing is all about. It represents our sport from the past. It bridges our sport into the future. Think about the Who's Who of drivers who have raced and won at Darlington.

The Southern 500 was one of the most prominent events on our calendar. That race was one of our crown jewels. Back in the day we had our version of the Triple Crown. That was the Daytona 500, the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte and the Southern 500 in Darlington. For anyone that could win all three in one year was the biggest accomplishment you could have in our sport as a driver. I had a shot at it once back in 1989 but wasn't able to pull it off. Even though I have won five times at Darlington, I wasn't able to finally win the Southern 500 until 1992.

The Lady in Black is a place that needs to be preserved and enhanced, not just allowed to exist. On Saturday I told track president Chris Browning and his entire crew down there that I deeply appreciated the hard work they have put into the facility the last couple of years. It's cool to now have a nice big new tunnel to drive into. They have made a lot of improvements to the infield and the surrounding property.

Now don't get me wrong, the Mother's Day weekend in Darlington has turned out to be a very special weekend in its own right on our schedule. Darlington under the lights on a Saturday night in May has really allowed the race track to be showcased. On the heels of that, it was announced a week or so ago that the name Southern 500 will be returning to Darlington for the May race.

It's better that at least the name is there in May than being at some other track, but it still is not the same. I speak as a driver when I say it was a big mistake to take the heart out of Darlington and try to put it somewhere else. You know what it is? I call it identity theft. They need to call that LifeLock bunch and stop Darlington's identity theft.

I will always be an advocate of putting the Southern 500 back at Darlington on Labor Day weekend. I think it is decisions like that that have alienated some of the fans who have supported our sport for the 60 years it has been around.

I don't want to be negative about Darlington because it has a great future. It has a Sprint Cup date and like I mentioned earlier, Chris Browning and his group continue to make the facility better.

But what a huge thrill it was for me to get out there in my '81 Mountain Dew Buick and run some laps. I just didn't want to quit. Barney Hall was the moderator for the question-and-answer session with Junior that I mentioned earlier. It was like a flashback to all the Victory Lane interviews that Junior and I did for those six years and three championships together.

So it was a very emotional weekend for me and I was truly honored that Chris and the track invited me to be a part of it. If they would ever put it to a vote, I would be the first one in line to vote to put the Southern 500 back in Darlington over the Labor Day weekend.

Oh By The Way

I want to congratulate Jimmie Johnson and his crew chief Chad Knaus on their win Sunday at California. That track lends itself to dominance. I think we saw that on Saturday night with Kyle Busch and then we saw it again on Sunday with the No. 48 car. Being a little bit better than everyone else shows up a lot at that race track because of the low banking, big sweeping turns and long straightaways.

That team is going to be one to give Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch a run for their championship money. Chad told me a couple years ago that when they were up for their first championship run, they were burned out and out of gas. They've learned to budget their assets better. They work the schedule so that folks have time off throughout the season and so when it comes time for the Chase here after next week, they are fresh and ready to attack.

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So Chad has a good strategy to win the championship and it's also good to have another player. If it ends up being Jimmie, Carl and Kyle vying for the championship it will be fun to watch. Also think about this: If it is those three leading the way, you have a Chevrolet, Ford and Toyota but unfortunately it doesn't look like Dodge is going to have a dog in this fight.

Oh By The Way II

Kudos to my buddy Bruton Smith for buying Kentucky Speedway. He had told me from Day 1 his intentions were to buy the track and turn it into a showplace. It won't take much because that is a pretty nice place already. Bruton has big plans for the track. He hopes to see a race there one of these days and I do, too. That was a dream of mine from the first day we stuck a shovel in the earth over there. Hopefully I will be able to see that dream come true.

It is a great facility with a great market. Hopefully Jerry Carroll and his folks can get this lawsuit resolved soon. It probably would make this transition easier for everybody. They feel justified in what they are doing. Remember, this is not a fight about not getting a Cup date. This is a fight to create a process to allow you to qualify for a Cup date. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and we can get to some first class racing at a beautiful facility.