Another year and another 1,100 miles of Memorial Day weekend racing has gone by (well, a little shorter than that due to Mother Nature's intervention at The Brickyard).

And again the great debate, which race was better on Sunday - the Indianapolis 500 or the Coca-Cola 600?

I was in Indy covering the marathon and then watched the TiVo version of Sunday's nightcap in Charlotte. From where I sit, both races had plenty of compelling stories, interesting angles, good racing, drama and strategy.

While Indianapolis isn't what it once was, being there - even in the rain - is an experience that makes it something special. The Coca-Cola 600, while the longest race on the schedule, sometimes drones on and really from the times I've covered it, has a tone of just another NASCAR race.

Holding up this year's editions in a side-by-side comparison, I'd have to go with Indianapolis as the best of the two.

And really, unless the 500 continues to erode in the coming years, it'll be hard for me to say the Coke 600 is ever going to one up Indianapolis.

The TV numbers might say otherwise, but the 500 beat the 600 in my book this season.

What do you all think?

Pete Pistone

So Bill Elliott is going to bring his precious six past champions provisionals to the Wood Brothers starting this weekend at Charlotte. Since Ken Schrader and Jon Wood can't get the team's No. 21 into the field through qualifying these days, the team has opted to tab Elliott as its driver and earn an automatic berth into six races via the champ's provisional.

What a load of garbage.

Only the Top 35 rule locking those teams in rather than other worthy drivers who may qualify with a faster speed each week is dumber.

The time to stop giving a free pass to someone who accomplished a title 19 YEARS AGO, since Elliott's championship season was in 1988, has come.

It makes no sense and is not fair to a great many teams and drivers, who support the series on a full-time basis and have high dollar sponsors who also sit on the sidelines when they fail to make the field.

I realize the Woods have a long history in the sport, run the entire NEXTEL Cup schedule and also have several corporate sponsors who support their operation.

But it's a cheap shot to pull someone like Elliott basically out of retirement in order to cash in his champions provisionals.

Come on NASCAR, dump this rule pronto.

Until they do, stand by your phones Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison. Your six gimme starts are very valuable.

Did anyone spend part of their weekend watching the travesty called Indianapolis 500 qualifying? Judging by the pitiful number of people in the stands and the television ratings that made NHL playoff hockey on Versus look like Super Bowl numbers, the answer is no.

It's no secret that Indianapolis has lost its luster in the twelve years since the great open wheel racing split. Pole Day, which was once a spectacle of an event that attracted 100,000 fans and worldwide attention, has been reduced to a blip on the radar, one of the saddest after effects of the 500's decline.

Even the phoney bumping process introduced a couple years ago hasn't restored a lick of interest in filling out the field for the 500. The most interesting thing I saw on ABC/ESPN/ESPN2 (was their coverage on The Ocho too?) was an interview by Jack Arute of A.J. Foyt, which really only served as a sad reminder of just what Indianapolis used to be.

There's one way to get some buzz back in the 500 and it has nothing to do with reunification (do you really think that having Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy and Will Power in the field is going to raise the needle at all?).

Move the race to Memorial Day.

Instead of running on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, recapture the tradition of the race by moving it to the Monday holiday and let Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, John Andretti, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, A.J. Allmendinger, heck even Morgan Shepherd if he wants, compete.

Having that group mixed in with the current crop of IndyCar "names" is the only way to get some respect and attention back. Charlotte's Coca-Cola 600 can have Sunday to itself and the promotion for the next day's race would generate a built-in audience of fans guaranteed to tune-in to the 500.

It's a simple idea. But as open wheel racing in this country has proven time and again, the simplest things to help fix the sport never happen.

Pete Pistone

It's an age-old question in the world of sports - is it good or bad to have one team or player dominate?

Whether it's Tiger Woods, the Chicago Bulls, the Yankees, the Lakers, the Patriots or Hendrick Motorsports, there has always been dominance in the sporting world. But when one entity takes complete control, the end result may turn off some fans and viewers.

As a Chicagoan, I loved it when the Bulls were winning six straight NBA titles. But obviously, I'm sure that wasn't the case with millions of other fans around the country.

Some most likely tuned in to root against Michael Jordan and company, but I wonder if more parity across the board makes a sport more popular than one powerhouse.

Hendrick Motorsports is the NASCAR juggernaut this year, with seven wins in ten races. If you're a fan of Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and oh yeh, Casey Mears, the start to the season has been a dream.

But if you're a fan of any one of the other drivers and teams, the start to the year stinks.

I think having one team win everything hurts the sport and "casual" fans don't care as much. Spreading the winning around is more interesting and probably makes for a better show.

That's what I think. But I'd rather hear what you all believe.

We had an interesting topic to discuss on my weekly Thursday visit with Dave Moody during his "Sirius Speedway" radio program this week. With Major League Baseball celebrating Jackie Robinson Day last week to honor the first African-American to play in the big leagues, there is some sentiment that NASCAR should follow suit and honor Wendell Scott, who broke the color line in the 1960s and 1970s to race in NASCAR's top division.

While I mean no disrespect to Scott and his accomplishment or what he was forced to endure, I'm not sure he deserves a day or an automatic induction into NASCAR's new Hall of Fame on the first ballot. While he certainly has a place in NASCAR's history, honoring a driver with one career victory doesn't seem on the same par as what Robinson accomplished in the Major Leagues.

If NASCAR follows suit with a Wendell Scott Day or some other celebration, it would smack of just being a copy cat ploy to ramp up the diversity initiative the sanctioning body wants so dearly to take flight.

All races and creeds and colors should be allowed to participate in any sport, NASCAR included. Wendell Scott broke a barrier that had been up for decades around the sport of stock car racing. But let's not tarnish those accomplishments with a half-hearted attempt to capitalize on his diversity.

With the way this NASCAR season began, the last few days have been almost kind of creepy.

It seems since the year began we've been under some kind of controversy or story - cheating scandals at Daytona, a wild Daytona 500 finish, the ongoing Michael Waltrip saga, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s contract negotiations, Toyota's entry into the sport, the "Car of Tomorrow" introduction - you get the idea.

But since Martinsville ended, with a little bit of squabbling between teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, there hasn't really been a peep to talk about.

It's actually been kind of refreshing.

Certainly things will crank up again in a couple days when we crank things back up at Texas. But despite the fact that we've already used up two of our precious three off-weekends, the last several days have been kind of enjoyable.

But we shouldn't get used to it.

One of the great things about spring, besides the warm waether finally making it to those of us in parts of the country that have been freezing our rear bumpers off for about six months, is that the short track racing world comes back to life. Granted, there are many tracks on life support, but at last count, there were nearly 1,000 local tracks in operation around the country.

Whether you're a fan, a driver, a crewperson or a media member, odds are your first introduction to auto racing was at some Saturday night bullring. I think that's why Bristol and Martinsville and Richmond remain such popular stops in big-time NASCAR racing. They're throwbacks to the way most everyone begins in racing.

Short tracks are facing a battle to survive and I urge you to support your local speedway as much as possible. The future of the sport is really at the grassroots level and it's a shame to see some of the places I grew up reading about as a kid and later getting a chance to visit professionally gone. Let's not let this industry go the way of drive-in movie theaters or miniature golf courses.

And if the NEXTEL Cup Series is racing on a Saturday night, fire up the TiVo and get out to the short track. It'll be winter again before you know it.

The battle between the two television networks carrying the bulk of this year's racing programming is going to be interesting to watch. And in the short time ESPN has been back in the fold, I'm impressed by what they've brought to the table.

I have to say that initially I was skeptical of the "NASCAR Now" programming plans, ESPN2's new daily news program. But while it's not anywhere near what the old "RPM2Nite" show was, the new effort is pretty good.

Hose Erik Kuselias isn't a racing person per se, but he's got a deep sports broadcasting background and has toned down his over the top enthusiasm from the show's debut. He basically plays traffic cop on the show, throwing to a variety of reporters and "insiders," raging from the plugged-in Marty Smith to Rusty Wallace and Stacy Compton. Another pleasant surprise has been the contribution of former NBA player Brad Daugherty to the program. A former Busch and truck series owner, Daugherty is knowledgeable and articulate.

The production value is top notch, with the show presented in high definition.

When you compare "NASCAR Now" to SPEED's weekend news offering, the ghastly "Speed Report," it's no contest. The major problem with SPEED's effort is in the co-hosts, who come off as nothing more than plastic-looking teleprompter readers. While the cast of "insiders" is solid, with the likes of Bob Dillner, Bob Varsha and Brian Till in the mix, the show is flat and uninteresting.

I sincerely believe ESPN - with a slate of NASCAR, IRL, NHRA, Champ Car and Outlaws events already on its plate - is putting together a plan to launch a motorsports-only network in the not too distant future, ala ESPNU, its college sports offering. If you're a racefan, that's good news. If you're SPEED, I'd surely be looking over my shoulder - and worried.

I've already shared my opinion of the NEXTEL Cup Awards Banquet in my R1 column, so maybe this is piling on. While I didn't watch the entire show (and thus missed Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s shout out to RacingOne in the process), I did see a few bits and pieces while we channel surfed Friday night. We were slammed with a foot of snow here in Chicago, so with Chinese food delivered, we were safely tucked away in front of the television most of the night.

In short, the bits I saw were as bad as they've always been. Host Jay Mohr, now in his third year as emcee of this mess, was painfully bad. His monologue rambled forever and although he got off a few minor funny zingers, proved once again that employing someone with really no working knowledge of the sport to host your gala awards affair is about as bad an idea as they come.

Mark Martin got a laugh when he re-introduced himself to his wife Arlene, Kyle Busch of course calling his girlfriend Eva and Tony Stewart's quips were about all the show had to offer in the way of pure entertainment. Watching Kasey Kahne read the teleprompter to exclaim, "Wow, what a season" was more on par with what this fiasco had to offer.

But the good news for me at least is I wasn't there and I only saw a small sampling of the show. To those of you who watched the entire affair, my condolences.

You could have had a baby in the time the NEXTEL Cup Series season lasted this year. It began of course with the Daytona 500 and finished nine months to the day at Homestead, so if you're one of those who had a gestation period that covered the season, congratulations on the new addition.

NASCAR is the only sport that literally overlaps every other sport - the NBA, NHL, Majoe League Baseball and NFL seasons all begin and end during the NASCAR year. It's a grind to be sure.

The drivers have it relatively easy, jetting in on private planes, getting helicopter rides out of race tracks to avoid the traffic jams around every event and sleeping in million dollar motor homes in the comfort of the infield. It's the crewmembers that sleep four to a room, travel by commercial airlines and work 14 hour days that are the true heroes in my book.

It's not that easy for us media types as well, although I'm sure we won't get any sympathy. It's a great sport to cover and an awesome gig to be sure, but the long grind is tough to handle. In fact, I'm sure it's tough for some fans as well.

Well we all get a little rest over the next few weeks and I'll bet the mortgage come February, most everyone will be ready and fired up for another season.

And this time next year there'll be a few new fans coming into the world - as well as another bunch celebrating their first birthdays.