What did we learn-Daytona Edition

After watching what turned out to be a pretty exciting race, a few things came to my mind while watching the race:

-A lot of Nascar fans sicken me. I know Kyle Busch isn't everyone's favorite driver, but what does throwing beer at a car solve? I know he beat their demi-god, Dale Jr., but Dale Jr. can't win all the time. He won't be his dad. The guy that won is much more like Dale Sr. than the younger Earnhardt ever will be. Deal with it.

-Robby Gordon scored a victory for small teams everywhere with his sixth place finish. This is one of the few places where a small team can make some noise, and if he wasn't blocked going in to turn one just before the accident, could have definitely had a top 5 finish, which would have been amazing for an owner-driver. How nice is it for him to be bringing in $145,000?

-JJ Yeley definitely has some talent. All he needs is the right car and equipment. He showed some muscle after taking over for Tony Stewart, and easily could have been in the top 10 had he not been in the wrong place at the wrong time twice.

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Changes to qualifying

I've officially had enough with the way things are set up with qualifying. I don't have a problem with segregating the guaranteed starters from those that need to get in on time. But there are several tweaks that need to be made to qualifying.

First, I think there should be a change on the number of guaranteed spots in the field. I would like to see the top 30 guaranteed a spot in the field, and the rest get in on time. There is very little difference between 30 and 35 in terms of cars on a track in a given week, and I think it would make qualifying a lot more interesting.

And second, and most importantly, get rid of the champions provisional. Terry Labonte made Daytona, but was 2 MPH slower than Scott Riggs and JJ Yeley, both who missed the show. How's that fair to them? And what's the point in Labonte even trying to qualify? He's in the show no matter what. He might as well qualify driving in reverse. Or for that matter, his team could just push the car around the track, and he'd get it no matter what. You know what's really sad? Once Labonte's out of the car, there won't be a lot of champions provisionals left. Bill Elliott is driving here and there, but he's "done" after this season. If things align a certain way,and maybe if they're in a pinch, Petty Enterprises can get Richard Petty in the car, and he'd be eligible. What's really sad is Dale Earnhardt. Sr's corpse could be dug out of the grave and entered in a race, and he'd be eligible for a championship. But they would have to be in a few races to do so. But that shows how flawed the system is.

One other thing-if qualifying on a Friday is rained out, how about making it so qualifying can be held on a Saturday morning? I know some Nationwide races have qualifying just hours before a race, so why not make it so everyone qualifies on a Friday, so there's a window on Saturday in case bad weather hits? That's not too much to ask is it?

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The oversaturation of the cookie cutters

I don't know why, but when tracks seemed to pop up in the '90's, there was a fascination with the making the tracks 1.5 miles long, or in the case of California, 2 miles long. I don't know if the track designers were trying to start a trend, but whatever it is, just like reality TV, there's way too much.

Places like Chicagoland, Kansas City, California, and Las Vegas bore me. They're so vanilla to me that I get thoroughly bored watching races at these tracks. Not only that, but these tracks are so heavy on aerodynamics that any team that is two cars or less is automatically at a disadvantage, and I have just as much of a chance to win as they do. I wish these people would have done something different. They should have made more short tracks, where the fodder of the sport can at least compete.

A lot of drivers cut their teeth on short tracks, and making more short tracks would have made things fun for drivers and fans alike. It sort of brings everyone back to the sports roots. The cookie cutter tracks prove a couple of things:

1. Only about a dozen drivers are able to be competitive on a regular basis. From time to time, a Dave Blaney will sneak in and get a top 10, but it doesn't happen much.

2. Drivers like J.J. Yeley, Robby Gordon, and David Reutimann are guaranteed to finish at least three laps down because their engine shops can't compete with Roush, Gibbs, or Hendrick. It's a pointless endeavor. But then again, every now and then, the needle is found in the haystack, and these teams score a decent finish, but mostly beacuse of fuel strategy.

With places like Bristol, Martinsville, and Richmond, everyone has a chance. Aerodynamics mean very little. We've seend Dale Jr. barely have a car and finish in the top 5. That's what I like to see.

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Defying logic?

I always have a soft spot for the underfunded teams in Nascar. But there's one that I root for more. They defy logic in Nascar's way. While everyone wants to set up shop in North Carolina, this team's across the country setting up everything. I'm talking about Furniture Row Racing, which hails from Colorado.

I enjoy seeing this team attempt to do things the opposite way. And they've done quite well given the circumstances. They're 42nd in points, mostly because they struggled early on. But they have come on as of late. They won the pole at Talladega, and started fifth at Pocono.

They aren't finishing quite as well as they would like (best finish of 25th), but in my mind, with a team that is vastly underfunded, and having to get in to the races on time, they have the right driver for the job in Joe Nemechek. Nemechek's always been a good qualifier, and he fits this team quite well.

I tip my cap to this team for doing this differently, and at least in one fan's case, have made a fan out of their circumstances.

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• Joe Nemechek, Furniture Row Racing