Changes to the Chase, Smoke to Haas CNC?

Just a couple thoughts that have been rolling around in my head lately and probably should break these down into seperate blogs since they're completely seperate thoughts, but I'm going for efficiency today (guests coming for dinner, gotta clean and cook, etc.)
First, there's been a lot of talk lately on the rowdy podcast about potential changes to the chase - especially adding a road course to the chase, maybe changing one of the pocono races to a road course, etc. First, I do like the idea of more road courses, but I do understand that it would be tough scheduling stuff to get tracks to give up dates, races, etc. Let's face it, there's a lot of fans that want to see another Darlington race before another road course. I'm a big dreamer, so I'd like to see both.

So my suggestions to changes for the chase:

1) Have the Daytona 500 count for double everything. Double points at the beginning of the season, and double tally for the winner when it comes to the chase (have it count as 2 victories instead of 1 when calculating positions for the chase.)

2) Give the previous year's series champion get an automatic provisional into the chase in the 13th spot if necessary. So this year, if Johnson for some reason didn't finish in the top 12 and failed to make the chase, he would get into the chase in 13th position as a provisional. If he is in the top 12 after Richmond, then there would be no 13th place provisional - only use the last season's champion (so we don't wind up with Bill Elliot in the chase somehow - no disrespect for Awesome Bill, just that he wouldn't be competitive anymore.) I could be wrong, but I think the only time this would have gotten an extra driver into the chase was the year after Smoke won it and then didn't make the chase.

Speaking of Tony Stewart. I remember the first season he won the series title (when he battled Mark Martin through the last race of the season.) There was an article in ESPN the magazine that summer where he said that if he ever won a Winston Cup title, he'd retire at the end of that season and go race dirt tracks the rest of his life. He mentioned in the article that the politics, scheduling, and sponsor responsibilities of NASCAR didn't suit him.
I guess he changed his mind a few months later when he won the title since he kept racing and won a second title, and then kept racing after that, but I can't help but wonder what was festering in the back of his mind that might now be coming out with this rumored desire to get into ownership and back into open-wheel racing. Which brings up a final thought...

There's been a lot of talk about the former open-wheelers coming to NASCAR because they want a challenge. Is the converse true? If a NASCAR superstar went to F1, Indy, Rally Car, etc. etc. would they also find a challenge just because it's different from what they're used to, or is NASCAR just on a different level of difficulty that Indy would just be too easy? I have a tendency to think that certain drivers - Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, etc. - could go drive anywhere and be successful - just like Juan PablanoPepper Montoya, but how would the 'Dinger or Sauter or Frosted Tips McMurray fare? Could Dale Jr. win the Indy 500? How would Kyle Petty fare? Too tough a question for me to answer on a day I'm not drinking my coffee (hey, my wife's a manager at Starbucks, I'm addicted.)

My deepest apologies for the complete randomness on the organization of my thoughts. At least I didn't give you my stock picks for the next year or my presidential election opinions.

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• Chase, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Petty, Tony Stewart, Daytona 500, Indy 500

Current NASCAR drug policy not broken, so why fix it?

So the NASCAR drug policy has been a big debate lately, and on Thursday's (4/17) podcast someone said that maybe NASCAR isn't making the hard changes to the drug policy that some folks (Harvick, etc.) are calling for because...maybe it's a policy that isn't broke, and if it isn't broke don't fix it.
So prior to the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr., the safety mandates weren't broke and didn't need to be fixed. Mandatory HANS devices, soft walls, a safer car, etc. weren't necessary right? Does somebody really have to die from a drug overdose at the track, or in a wreck caused by a driver that's used drugs until a tougher policy becomes mandatory? And let's be clear about how civil liberties play into this too. Civil liberties are things that we consider to be Creator given to us at birth - life, liberty, persuit of happiness, protection of self and personal property. NASCAR would not be violiating anybody's civil liberties to have a tougher drug policy. To drive in NASCAR you do have to sign contracts that limit certain behaviors (has NASCAR ever handed out a penalty for "Conduct Detrimental to Stock Car Racing? - all the time!) I agree that people are entitled to have their own opinions as to the legality of using recreational drugs in situations where they're not infringing on the civil liberties of others, ie. in their own home, if they have a designated driver, etc.but when a company determines that recreational drugs affects the performances of their employees, then it is not a violation of civil liberties to require a drug-free workplace. I would completely disagree with the U.S. government instituting a mandatory random drug testing of the entire population with fines or imprisonment as punishments, but I can't say that a business that determines it wants to police itself with a tougher policy would violate civil liberties.
We saw a horrible wreck in qualifying at Texas, probably one as bad or worse than the one that took Dale Sr., and that's a testament to the safety that's been integrated into the sport. My question is - does NASCAR want to wait until someone dies at the track due to someone's drug use before they institute a tougher drug policy? I feel confident in saying that if they don't deal with this issue now, they absolutely will deal with it under much more painful circumstances sometime in the future.

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• drug policy Dale Earnhardt Sr. safety soft walls

Sam in the 77 car at where???

So I was listening to the Rowdy podcasts and there seems to be a general consensus that Sam Hornish Jr. isn't going to be racing in the Sprint Cup by the end of the season. Then I looked at the entry list for the Indy 500. I noticed that Penske has entered 3 cars, with one of the cars not having a driver named yet. The car number....77. Hey, isn't that Sam's car number in the Sprint Cup?

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• Sam Hornish Jr. Indy 77