FFS Nascar. And here I was thinking you were being serious in trying to make the racing better. The cars have WAY TOO MUCH DOWNFORCE!! It's not a HP issue. They all run through the CORNERS at the same speed. Now they still will be running through the corners at the same speed, just barely slower. What ever happend to the bigger tire they tested a few years ago? I heard that test went well. Get rid of the splitter and shark fin, get rid of the bump stops so air actually goes under the cars. Let them have as much HP as they can engineer. Thats only good for the straighaways. It's the way the cars get through the corners that is the problem. Oh, deciding not to re-introduce something(roof wicker)that proved to make the racing better even after it was tested again was a retarded move NASCAR, but that seems to be the only type of decisions you make anymore....

We received this email from reader Philip, about a run-in last week with a certain NASCAR driver:

So we're in Homestead, Fla., for work and the hotel bartender tips us off that a few drivers will be coming to town to do a few tests at the track before the upcoming race...

After a decent number of brewskies, Martin Truex Jr walks out and sits down at the table next to us. The least I could do is buy a round of drinks for both our tables. I do this two or three times (Captain and Dr. Peppers at Truex's request, which I found out are freaking delicious) and tell them about a coworker back in Maryland, the biggest Dale Jr. fan I've ever met. This guy forgot his steel-toed boots, which were required on the job site, so he left. Once he found out that teams were coming to our hotel, he was distraught.

He begged us for a Dale autograph when we told him Hendrick Racing would be testing as well. Anyways, I thought that this guy would like an autograph from any driver, even if it wasn't his beloved 88. I happened to buy a new pair of steel toes the night before. After giving Martin the background info on the recipient of his John Hancock, this is what I received from him.

If the pic is hard for you to read, one says 'U R a puss' and the other, 'Jr sucks, F U!'

Labonte would run trucks full-time: Bobby Labonte is one of only two drivers to own championships on NASCAR's top two circuits. Should the right opportunity arise for next season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, the veteran driver might be willing to make a run at the sport's triple crown. The 49-year-old Labonte hasn't yet announced any plans for next season, and admitted this weekend his phone hasn't rung as much as he'd hoped. Labonte has been a fixture at NASCAR's premier level since 1993, winning 21 races - the most recent a decade ago - as well as the 2000 championship. His preference, it seems, would be to remain in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next season. But if an offer doesn't materialize, Labonte said he wouldn't dismiss a competitive ride in the Truck Series, which is the only title at NASCAR's national level the Texas native hasn't won. "If an opportunity came (in the Truck Series) to race for a championship, that would be awesome. Again, it's not easy. I'm not saying you're going to pop in and do it. But it would be great to have that opportunity. If that can happen, heck, I'd do it, I believe, just because of the fact that I've done this for 20 years." The opportunity to claim all three national series titles seems to appeal to Labonte, as does the reduced Truck Series schedule. "It's kind of one of those things where at this point in time, you know, a Truck Series deal would be really, really nice to run 22 races," he said. "That would be something that I might not have thought about three or four years ago, but today I'm like, you know, that's probably not a bad thing." (NASCAR.com)(11-9-2013)