There is an old story about the NFL referee that was involved in the Immaculate Reception game in 1972. And the refs involved in the Music City Miracle as well as the Tuck Rule Game found themselves in the same predicament as well. As fans for storming the field in celebration, the ref calls the press box to make sure that the play was legal (in those days a pass could not be deflected from one offensive player to another without hitting a defensive player). The league official tells the ref the play was not legal, but that there are only six security guards available to escort his crew off the field. The referee responds, �You mean you have only six people??? THEN SIX FOR PITTSBURGH!!!!!

Which takes us to the events that occurred at Talladega SuperSpeedway this past Sunday. Starting with the Spring race at Talladega in the Spring of 2001, which was in response to the events of the Daytona 500 earlier that season � it was announced at the drivers meeting before that race that any driver going below the yellow line (at Daytona or Talladega) to pass a fellow competitor would be penalized. We were told that there were no ifs, ands, or buts. Go below the yellow line (doesn�t matter if you were forced down), and the driver is black flagged. And before this past Sunday NASCAR held true to their word. Tony Stewart ventured below the line in the waning laps of the Pepsi 400 that season, and was busted. Sterling Marlin did the same in this year�s Daytona 500, and also was busted.

But now it was the chosen one, Dale Earnhardt Jr. going below the line to pull himself into the lead. NASCAR has two choices. Either be consistent and black-flag Jr. as they would do with any other driver in any other circumstance, or to swallow the whistle. NASCAR chose to swallow the whistle, and to endure some criticism about favoritism being shown to who is by far the sports most popular driver. But what if NASCAR had made the call??? Remember the hissy-fit fans had in Daytona about the race not being red-flagged with two laps to go??? That reaction would had been multiplied by 100 had Junior been busted in the final laps. Then the sport would had gotten negative attention in the mainstream sports media, with everyone saying �Look at those rednecks rioting down in Alabama over a race��

Had it been mid-race, the call would had been made - since Junior would had time to get back in the fray with a few breaks (which he usually gets). Had it been say, Matt Kenseth passing Junior below the yellow line in the final laps � the whistle would had blown. NASCAR nation would survive even if Wisconsin succeeded from the union. Busting the likes of Jeff Gordon or Tony Stewart wouldn�t alienate too many fans either. In fact seeing Stewart storm after Cup officials afterwards has great entertainment value. Even penalizing Harvick is acceptable, just to see Richard Childress blow a valve afterwards. But the stock car world revolves around Junior, as it will for the foreseeable future, and he basically has home field advantage every week. Some say it smacks of WWF material, I choose to compare it to the superstar calls in the NBA, or those NFL playoff scenarios I just mention.

And yes, Junior got other breaks on Sunday with longer than usual debris cautions that allowed Junior (along with some other cars involved in the early �Big Wreck�) to get their cars patched up. Some choose to call it a conspiracy. Again, I chalked it up to �home team calls� � and Junior basically has 36 home games a year. OK, maybe Kurt Busch would get a call over him at Vegas.

I�m wondering which TV sports reporter had the toughest job over the weekend, Bonnie Bernstein or Jeanne Zelasko. They�re the ones who have to ask the tough questions such as �I know this a gut-wrenching loss, but what about that Carolina job???� or �Aren�t you sick of being involved in wicked accidents Ryan???� One needs to have a mike ten feet long to ask those zingers, cause the reporter knows he/she is going to get their heads bitten off otherwise. I think Newman needs to take a cue from Coach Williams�

Z: What happened out there???

And then there was Ricky Craven, who was out on an island as a lone wolf in the waning laps. He should get over that quickly as Martinsville and Richmond are two of his better tracks. It appears Rick hit the jackpot moving over from being a second-level Ford to being Pontiac's top dog with a spanking new model. He is becoming a legitimate top ten driver.

Da Big One settled the majority of the Sweet 16 matchups in the JAYSKI/Fantasy Cup bracket game, but one thrilling finish in the final laps marked the elimination of the first #1 seed. The results are as follows�

#1 Tony Stewart over #5 Johnny Benson � You have to like Tony�s chances of winning this thing. Tony only needed to show up to advance over Kyle Petty last week, and didn�t do much more than that. Stewart gets in trouble again this week and places 26th, but advances over Benson who was finished in the Big One. Now Stewart has two of the final three weeks on the Virginia short-tracks where he is at his best, not to mention the racing gods owe him about a months worth of good finishes.

#3 Dale Jarrett over #2 Ryan Newman � If Robbie Gordon had just beaten Jarrett last week, as the #31 had another strong plate run by placing 10th. Jarrett was a lock here after Lap 4 and was in the lead pack all day, eventually finishing 12th.

#1 Jeff Gordon over #5 Joe Nemecheck � The #24 was never threatened here, as Gordon places eighth while Nemecheck limps to a 21st place finish.

#3 Jimmie Johnson over #2 Kurt Busch � Johnson was the stronger car all day, and any chance of a Busch triumph went by the wayside when the #97 found trouble midway through. Despite spinning out late, Johnson�s 15th bests Busch�s 19th.

#1 Dale Jr. over #3 Michael Waltrip � Waltrip looked like the better bet for the first half of the race, but Waltrip�s crash ensured Junior�s advancement here.

#2 Rusty Wallace over #6 Jimmy Spencer � Spencer came within four laps of advancing despite spending time in the garage. Both cars were collected in the Big One, then returned briefly. Rusty (37th) made nine more circuits while Spencer (38th) only made six.

#5 Kevin Harvick over #1 Matt Kenseth � Best battle of the day!!!!! And don�t think FOX didn�t know what was going on, as they actually showed the positions of both cars at one point during the final laps. Kenseth (who is quickly showing to be a force even in the plate world) was battling for the win while Kenseth was buried back around the 10th position. But Harvick found the right line, pulled behind the #17 nose-to-tail, and eventually got himself behind Junior while the #17 got shuffled back. Harvick likes the short tracks so he�s Final Four material.

This leads us to the Regional Final Round in Martinsville, and all four matchups can literally go either way�

#1 Tony Stewart v. #3 Dale Jarrett � Stewart has lived a charmed life, but will have to be at his best to defeat Jarrett. DJ won this race in 2001, and had finishes of fourth and eighth in Martinsville last year. Go with the #88.

#1 Jeff Gordon v. #3 Jimmie Johnson � Gordon struggled here last year, placing 23rd and 36th. Johnson didn�t do much better placing 35th and sixth. Flip a coin.

#1 Dale Jr. v. #2 Rusty Wallace � Junior is surprisingly strong here, and scored a pair of top fives last year, and gets a slight nod over Rusty, who was 16th and ninth last year.

Nine straight weeks of hammer-down racing culminates this weekend in Martinsville. Believe it or not there are still occasional off-weeks in NASCAR, Easter, Mothers Day, the holiday season and Armageddon. Besides Dale Jarrett, keep an eye out on Elliott Sadler and Ricky Craven come Sunday. Craven won the Fall 2001 race and also placed seventh in the fall last year. This is Ricky Rudd�s home track, and had finishes of 2nd, 7th, and 3rd in the #28 over the past two years. Of course it will be now fellow Virginian Elliott Sadler in that car now, who is fourth on NASCAR.COM�s power rankings this week. By the way, when will Matt Kenseth ever be ranked #1 in that, Matt finally passed Kurt Busch � but was leapfrogged by Dale Jr. I imagine Kenseth will still be #2 or #3 when he accepts the championship with two races to go in the season.

Kenseth finished second in this race last year, and this is the kind of track where hard pit work pays off. Kurt Busch won the fall race last year, so this should be a banner day for all four of the top drivers (Junior, Kenseth, Busch, Sadler). And don�t forget Bobby LaBonte, the defending winner of the spring race. Terry LaBonte is racing well and is a good darkhorse, and finished sixth in this race last year. Johnny Benson also came very close to winning last year�s fall race, losing out to Busch in the final laps. Look for a lot of cautions, along with the leaders being held back by lapped traffic. Last spring's race saw 20 cars finish on the lead lap, along with 13 doing all 500 laps in the fall.

Also, Dale Jarrett may be interesting to listen to on the in-car radio. Hear that there was some intriguing dialog/disagreement a couple races ago between DJ and his Crew Chief/spotter.

JUNIOR SHOWS HOW MANY BREAKS HE GOT SUNDAY