RICHMOND, Va. -- Seventy-three laps into his Nationwide Series debut Friday night at Richmond International Raceway, running under caution after a better-than-average pit stop, Travis Pastrana asked where he was on the leaderboard.

"You can't see the pace car, so that's all that matters," crew chief Scott Zipadelli said, trying to keep things real.

Replied Pastrana, then in 24th, "Good point."

Yes, the X Games star was a bit overanxious to get to the front, where he's been on every level prior to this transition into NASCAR. But if his 22nd-place finish was an indication of how he'll progress -- it could have been 17th if not for a pit-road speeding penalty -- it won't take him long to get there.

Short of finishing on the lead lap and beating the two female drivers -- Danica Patrick (21st) and Johanna Long (20th) -- Pastrana met most of his goals.

And he had a lot of fun.

"Dang, Danica," Pastrana said as he sat in his car on pit road.

Pastrana had a bet with a friend that if he didn't beat Patrick and Long, he would donate money to a charity. The speeding penalty on his first green-flag pit stop of his NASCAR career cost him that and a chance to finish on the lead lap.

Until then, Pastrana was sailing, at one point passing former Nationwide Series champion Brad Keselowski.

"You were fabulous," shouted his wife, Lyn-Z, as she approached the car.

Pastrana looked at the infield scoreboard, realizing he was two laps down, and replied, "I got beat by both girls."

Said Lyn-Z, who is starting to like this NASCAR thing, "Maybe if it wasn't for the mullet you could have beat them."

In case you missed it, five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson gave Pastrana a mullet with a pair of metal cutting sheers as part of a spoof video on what it takes to be a champion.

Listening to Pastrana communicate with Zipadelli, using all the correct terminology -- loose in, tight off -- and watching him at times drive the same speed as cars in the top 10 made you believe he can be a champion one day.

"I don't know where he got all that from," Zipadelli said of the terminology. "He told me exactly what his issues were."

Pastrana got the attention of Patrick, who like Pastrana is converting from one form of motorsports to another.

"Travis did a really great job," Patrick said. "I was really impressed."

Speeding penalty aside, it was hard not to be impressed. Pastrana handled the turns for the most part with the accuracy it takes to perform a flip on a motorcycle.

He believes he can contend for top-20s in his remaining six races this season, maybe even a few top-10s, and contend for wins sometime next year or early the year after. Those around him believe he can do it. There were thoughts of him doing it on this night.

On Lap 123, Zipadelli said, "You can almost see the pace car now."

"Exactly," Pastrana said, adding, "I'm ahead of both the girls in the race."

Then came the speeding penalty for exiting too fast with just less than 50 laps to go.

"I just got excited," Pastrana said.

You hardly can blame him. He comes from the extreme sports arena, where adrenaline flows hard, where there are no brakes on going fast.

But one mistake aside, this was an overwhelming success.

And Pastrana knew it.

"Helluva ride," he said. "Helluva ride. Sorry it wasn't the best finish, but, man, that was a lot of fun."

Oh, in case you were wondering, Kurt Busch beat Denny Hamlin in a thrilling side-by-side race to the finish.

Brandon Wade/Getty ImagesSprint Cup points leader Greg Biffle had reason to smile Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Greg Biffle flashed a winning smile on Tuesday as he addressed a group of youngsters at Lake Norman Elementary School.

Not because the Roush Fenway Racing driver was still riding high after Saturday night's victory at Texas Motor Speedway -- although he is still riding high.

Not because he extended his points lead to 19 over teammate Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

But because he can.

In case you missed it when Biffle posed in Victory Lane, he's not wearing braces anymore. He had them removed about this time a year ago, but because he didn't make the 2011 Chase or win a race there weren't many opportunities for him to be photographed with a smile.

Nor were there many reasons for him to smile with the way his team struggled.

But with a win and five top-10s in seven races, Biffle finds himself smiling all the time.

So what does this have to do with Tuesday's appearance? Everything.

Biffle was there to promote the American Dental Association's "Give Kids A Smile" program in conjunction with Henry Schein Inc. and his primary sponsor, 3M, which made the braces that gave him his winning smile.

His No. 16 car will feature the "Give Kids A Smile" paint scheme for the April 28 Richmond race, and there will be free dental health screening and education for selected children who can't afford it.

So, yes, this is personal for The Biff.

"There are over 16 million kids that live with dental disease," Biffle said. "There are so many things you probably don't know about, that once you start learning and get educated about it you're amazed."

How Biffle, 42, wound up with braces at an age when most are getting them for their kids also is a good lesson. He opted not to get them as a teenager because he wrestled and didn't want to go through the discomfort while in competition.

Next thing you know he was racing and there wasn't time.

So when his teeth started "moving all over the place" after having impacted molars removed a few years ago, braces became a necessity. He had them put on at the time of the 2009 spring race at Texas and scheduled orthodontist trips around race weekends at Indianapolis, Dover and a few other places near specialists.

"I would have been way happier with wrestling with braces on than driving a car," said Biffle, who still wears a permanent retainer. "To have that helmet squeezing your cheeks, then my mouth's sore ... it was a lot."

But at least now Biffle has a winning smile to go along with his winning car.

In case you're wondering whether Chad Knaus and Jimmie Johnson will bring the infamous C-post Daytona 500 car to Talladega Superspeedway next month, let me help.

No.

Team owner Rick Hendrick told me on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway the No. 48 car that NASCAR deemed illegal, the one that cost him 30 days of "hell'' fighting the penalties, will be laid to rest in the woods surrounding Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s property in Cleveland County, N.C.

It'll be in Junior's car graveyard with the mangled No. 42 that Juan Pablo Montoya drove into a jet dryer to cause a two-hour delay in the Daytona 500 and more than 50 other cars Earnhardt calls "yard ornaments."

So is this an admission that the car was illegal, even though chief appellate officer John Middlebrook overturned the 25-point deduction for Johnson and six-week suspensions to crew chief Knaus and car chief Ron Malec?

You know, the car that Johnson said was "completely legal'' when the appeals process was over?

No. Hendrick's just not willing to test the governing body and possibly create another 30 days of turmoil.

Smart move. Sprint Cup Series director John Darby told me that if the 48 car with the same C-posts goes to Talladega, it will be confiscated again and the same penalties will be applied.

Remember, Middlebrook didn't remove the $100,000 fine on Knaus, an indication he felt something was wrong.

And as Hendrick noted, one of the big issues he fought during the appeals process was that NASCAR didn't give Johnson's team a chance to fix the C-posts after they were discovered in initial tech inspection. Several other teams got that chance without penalty.

So the infamous C-post car -- or at least the legal version that was wrecked on the second lap of the 500 -- is in a proper place. It is in a place with other cars that, if they could speak, could tell great stories.

And that's the end of this story.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- NASCAR finally has entered the wacky world of college football.

There could be a split champion in the Sprint Cup Series.

For the first time since the sport went to a playoff format in 2004, there is the opportunity for a different driver and owner champion. What's next? A BCS poll to determine who makes the Chase?

Here's how this scenario -- that few if any in NASCAR ever imagined when making the guidelines -- would work. Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 driven by Mark Martin, Brian Vickers and Waltrip is eighth in owner points. If it is in the top 10 after 26 races the car's points will be reset just like the driver's points and it is eligible for the owner's championship.

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Jonathan Ferrey/Getty ImagesIs Mark Martin going to be the key to a split Sprint Cup title?

If the car has the most points after the 10 Chase races, it wins the title, not the owner of the car for the driver who wins the title, as has been the case so far.

That means there would be two tables on the stage for the banquet in Las Vegas, one for the driver's champion and one for the owner's champion.

If you really want to get crazy, try this scenario: MWR's Clint Bowyer or Martin Truex Jr. wins the driver title and the 55 has the most owner points. Where does owner Michael Waltrip sit in Vegas?

"On cloud nine," Waltrip joked.

But trust me, the split title is a possibility. It's on Page 36 of the NASCAR rulebook under Section 17-3-B. And you thought the only rule that existed was Section 12-4-A, aka "actions detrimental to stock car racing."

Here's what the rulebook says, "After the completion of the first 26 Events of the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship season, the top 10 drivers in the driver championship point standings and the top 10 car owners in the car owner championship point standings will each have their accumulated aggregate total adjusted to $2,000 points."

"It's always been there," Series director John Darby said.

Darby said the odds of that happening are long. The 55 could fall out of the top 10 on Sunday if Brian Vickers has another run here like he had in October.

Darby also admits that anything is possible when you have Martin driving a majority of the races.

Wouldn't that be crazy?

CONCORD, N.C. -- A reader recently suggested that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the Tim Tebow of NASCAR. The reader suggested that Earnhardt is just as overrated in a stock car as the new New York Jets quarterback is on a football field.

So I asked Earnhardt what he thought about the comparison.

"I haven't really thought about that one," NASCAR's most popular driver said Wednesday after a two-hour drifting session for a Degree Men video shoot at Charlotte Motor Speedway. "Do I need to work on my throwing motion? Is my throwing motion OK with everyone?

"No, I'm right-handed. I don't know."

Some would be offended, but not Earnhardt. He's been compared to too many people during his career to get sensitive. So he played along with the line of questioning that many would have avoided, another reason fans like him so much.

"That guy is under too much damn pressure," Earnhardt continued on Tebow. "I like him and think he's a good guy, but Jesus, man. I think he lives under twice the microscope I ever did.

"He's incredible. He doesn't really … fan the flames on that stuff. He just does his own thing. But [I] don't know. I guess that ain't a bad guy to get compared to."

He's right, although a comparison to Peyton Manning by the reader would have been more flattering. But since the comparison was with Tebow, let's have fun with it.

Differences

• Earnhardt doesn't get down on his knees and pray after a great pass. Not that he could even if he wanted to since his passes take place at high speeds in a race car.

• Tebow has Tebowing, but there are no nicknames for any of Earnhardt's mannerisms. He likes to TiVo, not Tebow.

• Earnhardt curses frequently and once was fined $10,000 for saying "s---" on live television; Tebow occasionally says darn.

• Earnhardt owns several bars named Whisky River. Tebow owned Denver last season, but no bars.

• Earnhardt lives in the country on a ranch called "Dirty Mo Acres." Tebow is looking for an apartment in New York City and his idea of dirty, according to an ESPN New York story, is not returning a cereal bowl to the sink.

• Tebow doesn't smoke or drink alcohol; Earnhardt has been known to do both, and once drove for a beer sponsor.

• Tebow won eight times in 2011; Earnhardt hasn't won since 2008.

Similarities

• Each leads his sport in merchandise sales, popularity and criticism.

• Earnhardt won two Nationwide Series titles in NASCAR's second-tier series; Tebow was part of two national championship teams in college, second tier to the NFL.

• One of Earnhardt's bars is in Jacksonville, Fla. Tebow is from Jacksonville, and rumor has it his brother occasionally goes to Junior's place.

• Both have rules named after them: "The Tebow Rule" banning messages on eye paint in college football and "The Junior Rule" that NASCAR calls a caution whenever Earnhardt is in danger of going a lap down. OK, the latter is more myth than rule.

• Both are single and apparently like blondes; Earnhardt dates one and Tebow is a big fan of Jennifer Aniston.

• Earnhardt has a life-size Forrest Gump manikin sitting on a bench at his ranch. Tebow has the too-good-to-be-true personality of Forrest Gump.

• Earnhardt was happy with second in the 2012 Daytona 500; Tebow appears happy to be second string with the Jets.

OK, they're really not that much alike.

Bruton Smith is one of the richest and most powerful people in NASCAR. He usually tells people what he wants to do, not the other way around.

When he doesn't get his way he's been known to threaten with lawsuits, or as was the case in 2007 when he threatened to move Charlotte Motor Speedway out of Cabarrus County if officials didn't allow him to build a drag strip on his neighboring property along Bruton Smith Boulevard.

The county buckled.

Then came the March 18 Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway. When only half of the 160,000 seats at what a few years ago was the toughest ticket in the sport were filled, Smith found himself in the unusual situation of being told what to do.

And he did it.

He had no choice.

Wednesday's announcement that BMS will be reconfigured before the August night race -- specifics weren't released -- was the right call. It was the only call.

The fans had Smith where he typically has everyone else -- in the pocketbook.

By staying away from what is advertised as "The World's Fastest Half Mile,'' they were telling Smith that if he wants them to keep paying high ticket prices and hotel bills, he'd better return racing to the way it was when beating and banging were the order of the day.

Never has any sport been more dictated by fans than NASCAR today. We saw it when the governing body went to green-white-checkered restarts because fans were tired of races ending under caution. We saw it when officials gave the "boys, have at it'' edict because fans were tired of the overpolicing. We saw it when officials moved the start times back to early Sunday afternoon.

And we saw it again on Wednesday as Smith declared, "The race fans have spoken.''

Smith announced the changes despite pleas from drivers to leave Bristol alone, claiming the racing in Thunder Valley is better than ever. He will make changes despite suggestions that he first look at a softer tire, which many drivers believe would have helped, before jumping to a $1 million rebuild.

He will make the changes because approximately 75 percent of the fans surveyed said that's what they wanted.

Smith became rich and powerful in large part because people went to his races and purchased cars from his 200 dealerships.

On March 18, they stripped him of some of that power.

Smith listened.

He had no choice.

CONCORD, N.C. -- The happiest face at Charlotte Motor Speedway for Tuesday's press conference to announce tweaks to the May 19 Sprint All-Star race didn't belong to track president Marcus Smith, who hopes the changes will spark a more competitive race and more ticket sales.

It didn't belong to NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton, who talked about rewarding drivers for winning the event's first four segments instead of how it felt to have penalties against Jimmie Johnson's team overturned.

It didn't belong to one of the invited fans; thanks to one of the tweaks, fans have a chance to win the opportunity to introduce their favorite driver before the main event.

It didn't belong to 2008 All-Star winner Kasey Kahne, although he was happy to finally get through a race -- even if it was rain-shortened -- without wrecking.

No, the happiest face belonged to Steve Addington, the crew chief for Tony Stewart.

Addington's demeanor had nothing to do with the All-Star Race changes, one of which will allow the drivers who win the first four segments to line up one through four in pit lane for the mandatory stop prior to the final 10-lap segment. It had everything to do with the 14 car winning two of the first five races, and how the self-imposed pressure Addington felt after replacing Darian Grubb following an amazing championship season has gone away.

Typically one of the more relaxed crew chiefs, as one would have to be to deal with Stewart and before that the Busch brothers, Addington didn't realize just how much pressure he felt until he and Stewart won for the first time at Las Vegas.

"That was all myself," Addington said. "I did it [to] myself. That was something I thought I wouldn't do. I was doing it and not really knowing it. I was working myself up for no reason. I was working a lot of hours, not getting home from the shop [until late].

"I was, 'Man, you can only do so much. Calm down.'"

He did.

Now, for the record, Addington and Stewart lead Grubb and his driver, Denny Hamlin, 2-1 in wins after Sunday's victory in California. But Addington isn't counting, he and expects both teams to win their share the rest of the season.

He also expects to remain happy.

"He tried to explain that to me, that we're going to have fun and we're going to race hard and take what it gives us," Addington said of Stewart before the season. "He said, 'Don't put pressure on you.'

"Well, I did put pressure on myself, and I felt like we needed to win."

The only pressure now is to win a title. That count remains Grubb 1, Addington 0.

But who's counting?

CONCORD, N.C. -- The scene outside of NASCAR's Research and Development Center on Tuesday will be much like you'd see outside of a courthouse during a big trial.

It will be a media circus -- or a stakeout, as some call it -- but on a much smaller scale than you'd see with Casey Anthony or O.J. Simpson.

CNN and CNBC won't be here.

There will be a hearing going on inside, but there will be no judge in the pure legal sense, or attorneys cross examining witnesses. And there's no pretense that those under the spotlight are innocent until proven guilty.

Here you are guilty, without question, going in.

This is the scene of the National Stock Car Racing Commission. There are 45 members, but they rotate through for hearings. Two members and the chairman, who doesn't vote, hear each case. They will be listening to the Hendrick Motorsports appeal of the hefty penalty given to Jimmie Johnson's team for violations discovered last month during initial inspection for the Daytona 500.

Team owner Rick Hendrick doesn't believe the six-race suspensions that NASCAR handed to crew chief Chad Knaus and car chief Ron Malec -- as well as the 25-point penalty given to Johnson -- are fair. He'll argue that the governing body confiscated the C-posts deemed illegal before they went through tech.

He'll argue that the same car with the same C-posts -- pillars that come down from the roof to the rear quarter panel -- passed NASCAR's inspection 16 times previously.

Odds are, he'll lose.

Not necessarily because he doesn't have a good case, but because the commission seldom overturns decisions.

When Richard Childress Racing appealed Clint Bowyer's 150-point penalty in the fall of 2010, the commission had upheld 88 of 132 decisions between the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series, reduced 42 and increased two.

Most of the reductions were in the lower series. The last time a Cup penalty was reduced was in 2008 with Robby Gordon's team.

The last time a Sprint Cup penalty was completely overturned came in 2005, when insufficient evidence was found that Michael Waltrip made an inappropriate gesture during a television broadcast.

That the C-posts were deemed illegal on eyesight before the car was measured with templates in the inspection process might leave NASCAR vulnerable, but the system in place doesn't leave opportunity for HMS to directly question officials.

It also doesn't leave HMS the opportunity to question officials about what Hendrick believes could be a possible bias against Knaus for a history of violations.

So it's not a true hearing.

Former Roush Fenway Racing president Geoff Smith, a former attorney who was oh-for-at-least-five against the commission, said it best in 2010 when he explained what Childress faced.

"Well, the appeal process has got a public veneer of fairness attached to it," Smith said. "But the reality is that it's quite a bit different than what you would be thinking from looking at the veneer.

"I would say when the actual Cup series director makes a call, the penalty reduction [chances are] minuscule."

Former driver and current analyst Kyle Petty was a bit more direct during Sunday's "NASCAR RaceDay" broadcast on SPEED.

"This appeals process is a crapshoot," he said before the Las Vegas race. "There are 45 members on this board. … I challenge anybody out there to find me more than eight or 10 out of this 45 who have been to the race track in the last 12 to 24 months. These people don't go to the race track, they don't understand the process. They don't understand sometimes where this sport is."

Petty went on and on, but his bottom line was a point Smith made in 2010, that violators should be judged by their peers -- current drivers, owners and engineers -- not by track presidents and others who have a vested interest in NASCAR as a business.

"That's why I say it's one of these things where the deck is stacked against you," Smith said.

You could argue that current drivers and owners might be biased against another team, but if they expect to be treated fairly when their reputation is at stake, they're more likely to be fair with others.

Plus, they understand what a C-post is.

So there's a good chance Hendrick will lose, then make his final appeal to John Middlebrook, a retired General Motors executive who serves as the chief appellate officer.

That will create another small media circus.

And that will gives us all time to ponder if the system in place is fair.

There's a solution to save Dodge's presence in NASCAR.

It's not totally realistic thanks to existing contracts and a few other not-so-minor details, but if the manufacturer could pull this off, it would remain a major player in the Sprint Cup Series after Penske Racing moves to Ford in 2013.

Busch Brothers Motorsports.

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Jerry Markland/Getty ImagesIf Dodge could lure Kurt Busch, left, and Kyle Busch into its Sprint Cup program, the manufacturer would have two of the most talented drivers in NASCAR.

Yes, throw a ton of money at Kyle and Kurt Busch the way Dodge did with Ray Evernham when he re-entered the series in 2001, persuade Kyle to turn his Nationwide Series organization into a Cup organization, and have at it.

There are issues. Kyle is under contract with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. He also doesn't have an engine shop at Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Otherwise, it's the best solution to keep Dodge viable.

And Dodge wants to remain a player. Otherwise, it wouldn't be revealing the 2013 Charger designed for NASCAR's premier series before Sunday's race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway despite Penske's recent announcement that leaves the manufacturer basically homeless.

But look at the options:

Hendrick Motorsports and satellite team Stewart-Haas Racing aren't leaving Chevrolet. Neither is Richard Childress Racing. Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing could, but it also doesn't have an engine shop, and the Earnhardt part of the equation never will leave Chevy.

Roush Fenway Racing is more committed to Ford than many husbands are committed to their wives. Richard Petty Motorsports could be a viable option, and Petty has a big history with Dodge. But RPM doesn't have an engine shop, and there's no realistic reason to believe that the financially strapped organization could survive on its own.

Toyota might be susceptible to a raid. Michael Waltrip always is open to ideas, but like others, he doesn't have an engine shop and is heavily invested with the Japan-based manufacturer.

Joe Gibbs Racing left a comfortable situation at Chevrolet a few years ago to stand on its own, and it has the infrastructure to build engines again. Outside of Busch Brothers Motorsports, that may be the best option, but it's not likely.

So the best option is BBM. Kyle and Kurt are two of the most talented drivers in the series, and without great talent you have no chance. Kurt is in the market for a ride, and the brothers might behave better if they're forced to apologize for themselves instead of having an owner do it for them.

It might be a costly initial investment for Dodge, which was totally blindsided by Penske's decision. But it's better than throwing money into a dark hole with smaller teams that will reap few benefits.

Maybe it would be a gradual process. Put Kurt in the Monster Energy Drink Dodge for a year or two until Kyle's contract with JGR expires or JGR simply releases him.

But Busch Brothers Motorsports is the best solution despite all the roadblocks.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Danica Patrick won't take away many good memories from her first full Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway.

She wrecked on the final lap of the 150-mile qualifying race.

She wrecked on Lap 49 of the Nationwide Series race.

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Tom Pennington/NASCAR/Getty ImagesDanica Patrick (10) got caught up in a Lap 2 crash in her Daytona 500 debut Monday. She finished 38th.

She wrecked on Lap 2 of the Daytona 500.

None was her fault, mind you. She simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time, particularly Monday night, when she barely got past the first lap around the 2.5-mile track before being collected in a crash ignited by Elliott Sadler turning five-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

But it'll still be hard for Patrick to leave Florida with a feeling of accomplishment. Even her winning the Nationwide Series pole seems lost amid the crumpled sheet metal.

Patrick sounded despondent as she sat in her car in the garage for more than the first quarter of Monday's race, which was run under the lights for the first time because of Sunday's rainout. She didn't take down the window net for most of that time as crew members worked on her car.

She sounded as though she wanted to be left alone.

Yes, it was that kind of week. Around all the hoopla of her becoming the third woman to start the Great American Race and anticipation of her first full season in the Nationwide Series, the results were what most will remember.

People won't remember that the wrecks were for the most part unavoidable. They'll just remember she wrecked.

But this isn't the real test for Patrick. She has shown in the past that she can handle Daytona, having finished 10th in the Nationwide race here last season. Her real test will come on the intermediate and short tracks that make up the majority of the schedule.

To her credit, Patrick didn't just ride around after returning to the 500 on Lap 66. At times she was able to hang with the big pack, using the race as a learning experience. Her tone sounded more upbeat as the long night wore on.

The irony is that Patrick found trouble in all three races. Before her IndyCar finale at Las Vegas, a race that wasn't completed due to the death of Dan Wheldon, she finished a series-record 50 consecutive races.

That's more than double the second most by championship driver Scott Dixon with 24. And as bad as her day was in the 500, Patrick finished 38th, and ahead of Johnson (42nd) and four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon (40th), who blew an engine on Lap 81.

Baby steps.

Patrick took time during a red-flag stoppage after Juan Pablo Montoya ran into a jet dryer under caution with 40 laps remaining to apologize to her team for not avoiding the first wreck. She also thanked her team for working so hard to get her back on the track.

In the end, she reminded, the No. 1 goal was "getting experience."

Patrick got plenty of that.