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.