IN SIGHT Sorry, Robby. Kerry Wood's job is safe. FOCUS: PAUL TRACY Tracy Is Paul Tracy getting better, or is the CART competition simply weaker? And is the Canadian bad boy getting calmer, or is he wilder than ever? Answers to those pressing questions depend on one's perspective. At 34, Tracy is within reach of his first Champ Car series title since joining CART as a red-faced, blond-haired wild thing in 1991. He leads the series with 139 points after claiming his fourth victory of the season last weekend in his native Toronto. Tracy was moved to tears during the Canadian anthem afterward and called it the high point of his career. "To hear the fans start singing and everyone still standing, it gave me goose bumps," Tracy said. Maybe that's his softer side coming through after all the years of swirling controversy. For Tracy has gone wheel-to-wheel with the Andrettis, Unsers and Fittipaldis, as well as exchanging paint on the track and unpleasantries in the pits with those open-wheel greats. He's fifth all-time in CART victories, but he's never won the series title and in 2002 made bigger headlines for controversy after finishing second -- or should it have been first? -- to Helio Castroneves at the Indianapolis 500 after a ruling that he passed on a yellow caution. Tracy started this season by doing something nobody in the series ever had done -- winning the first three races. But he's also been accused of blocking by Michel Jourdain Jr., Roberto Moreno and Mario Haberfeld, the last driver giving him the one-fingered salute at Long Beach. In Portland, accusations of blocking were everywhere and Tracy countered by telling everyone he'd "show them who's boss" on the track. A tame Tracy, as his tears Sunday might indicate? Nah. Bruno Junqueira had said going into the Toronto race that he was going to try and make the pole-sitting Tracy crack, to which Tracy answered after victory that he was determined not to let that happen. "That kind of pissed me off a little bit," Tracy said. "I said, 'I'm going to show him crack -- he's going to look at my ass all day.' " Tame indeed. Pundits can argue until they are blue in the face that Tracy's biggest year is more a result of nine CART rookies than anything else. But they won't convince Tracy or even his current competitors of that; even his rivals called him a legitimate star after this weekend and said he'd earned his time in the spotlight. "I've been doing this a long time, and I've been in the shadow of a lot of great stars of our sport,'' Tracy said. "I'm in that position now because of the years and the experience in the series, so it's my time right now and I am relishing that time.'' The only thing we know for certain is that life with Tracy is never dull. PIT PASS Up North: Winston Cup heads up to Loudon, N.H., this weekend for Sunday's New England 300, and the flat 1.058-mile oval should once again challenge the drivers. "I consider New Hampshire to be one of the most challenging tracks on the schedule, but like anywhere else handling will be the key," said Mark Martin, who has never won at NHIS but does lead all drivers with 11 top-10 finishes at the track. "If you can get the car to handle right, you can overcome the other issues." Lack of banking and tough track conditions make passing difficult at Loudon, but Martin is optimistic that the racing will be better this time around. "It was almost impossible to pass there in the first race last year and a lot of teams, including us, had a lot of trouble. Rain played a major factor during the second race there, but the track was better. Hopefully it will be even better this year and we will be able to put together a strong finish for the Viagra Team." Ryan Newman, coming off a win in Sunday's Tropicana 400 at Chicagoland, returns to the site of one of his best racing memories -- his first Winston Cup win. "Last year's win came a whole lot later than we or anyone really expected. I'm just glad we got it over with and behind us," said Newman, who won the rain-shortened New Hampshire 300 last September. "It really meant a lot and all the other drivers coming up and congratulating me made me feel really good. I felt as though I earned their respect as a driver that day. "We're all competitors, but to be able to show that much class means the world to me and shows that when the checkered flag falls, we're all friends, too." Mailbag: Well, we did receive plenty of e-mails off last week's Gas & Go, but we answered the majority of them in Exhaust Fumes (look over to the left just a few inches ...). Got your own questions about what's happening in the pits? Ask away, and we'll answer a question or two in the next Gas&Go. Name: E-mail address: City, state: Your comment: OK, race fans. Buckle up. We're going to play a compare and contrast game that will show, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all forms of motorsport are truly in harmony. We will show that Europe has nothing on the U.S. when it comes to vision, a good thing for those of us deeply concerned about political intelligence in this country. And we might even bring a smile to the face of even the most ornery motorsport enthusiast somewhere along the way. How, you ask, can we accomplish all this with wrenches in our hands and grease in our eyes? Two words: search buttons. Our first search takes us to New Delhi, where a story in the Indian news magazine 'The Week' reveals that Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has gone on record promising a future grand prix somewhere in India. Well, this is big news. China and Bahrain already are on the 2004 Formula One schedule for the first time, and if Ralf Schumacher's words are to be taken seriously, Russia could be joining the fun as well. You NASCAR fans might be starting to panic, realizing that F1 is globalizing and wondering if life with Nextel is going to be enough to keep up in this brave new world. Rockingham and Martinsville are cool, you all realize, but how much cooler might Hyderabad be? Or what if Moscow is suddenly thrown into the mix? Tobacco Road vs. the Red Square, bringing us all back to the Cold War era and a rift only marginally bigger than those seen on some of our racing message boards. And what if they took the Brothers Schumacher out for a weekend and threw them into the IROC madness? (No, this isn't in the works, breathe deeply. We're just playing with you.) Before you go and turn in your Ricky Rudd hat (fetching $9.95 on eBay for the Motorcraft 2003 version, but that was with 50 hours to go and a buy-it-now option of $15.95) for a Michael Schumacher jersey (going for $6.99, with 26 hours left but the reserve's not met), remember, we promised harmony and American vision. Not shameless shilling of motorsports memorabilia in the name of economic recovery and all things rhyming with capitalist venture. Speaking of which, we have harmony, vision and capitalism as NASCAR, not wanting to be left in the past, is pulling up some of its roots and going all the way to California to prove it's not just for Southerners anymore. The plan is genius. The profile of the average stock-car fan continues to evolve. And in the end that's going to be a good thing for everyone. We think. Dropping suit: Bill Simpson's suit against NASCAR has vanished. Simpson and NASCAR announced that Simpson is no longer pursuing the $8.5 million suit he filed last year. NASCAR and Simpson both say they want to move forward, while NASCAR president Mike Helton "recognize(s) that Bill has contributed to the safety of motor sports for over 43 years." Not exactly the apology or ringing endorsement Simpson was looking for, especially after taking some of NASCAR's blame for the death of Dale Earnhardt -- a death which occurred in a sport which is inherently dangerous to its participants no matter how many safety precautions are taken. But the resolution does allow Simpson to refocus his efforts on protecting race car drivers. That's pretty much all he's ever tried to do during his association with the sport. And NASCAR knows it benefits from Simpson's efforts, regardless of whether Earnhardt's belt was faulty or whether he himself didn't follow the specs in regards to proper installation. Auto racing needs the relationship between Simpson and NASCAR to be mended, and Tuesday's announcement was a major step in the right direction. We're not so sure an ugly, drawn-out court battle -- regardless of whether the suit had any merit -- would have been beneficial to anyone. EXHAUST FUMES Full of gas: Last week we spent a few grafs pointing out the problems with the size of the fuel cells at Daytona, explaining that they set the race up for a fuel mileage finish. Based on the number of e-mails we got from users calling us not-so-nice names, we conclude that one of the following happened: Those users just don't get it or we did a lousy job of explaining our position. Just in case it's the latter, let's try again. The fuel cells at Daytona were such that a race with few caution laps -- like we saw in the Pepsi 400 -- would turn into a fuel mileage battle. Our problem with that is this: NASCAR should make the fuel cells a certain size so that based on generally green flag runs, a team could go, say, 43 to 47 laps on a tank rather than the 35 to 40 in a 160 lap race. Do the math. If only a few teams can reach 40 laps on a run and a race is 160 laps long, only a few teams will be able to make it on one less stop. We're not talking about caution-filled races that force teams to alter strategy and bring fuel mileage into the equation. That happens all the time. It's part of racing. No complaints here. What we're none too pleased with, however, is a race which sets up the default fuel mileage in such a way that a gas game will come into play if there aren't many cautions. That's what happened at Daytona. And the solution is easy. Slightly increase the size of the fuel cells. If cautions later dictate fuel mileage playing a significant role, so be it. But fuel mileage should never -- never -- be the key to winning a race before it even starts. Shameless plug: This weekend ESPN and ESPN.com are teaming up to present the Information Dragway, a breakdown of NHRA drag racing and the power and speed that accompany it. Tune in to ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN.com this weekend and learn all you need to know about the dragsters. Here's a primer: They go really, really fast. And, as a compromise for oval and road/street course fans, they don't turn at all! Said NHRA founder Wally Parks: "There's a motto in drag racing: If you can still make the turn you aren't going fast enough." And yet, a couple of those guys might run IROC. Good stuff. OVERHEARD Michael Waltrip On his team radioing him regarding the No. 99 car behind him racing for position. "Yeah, I know. Leave me alone." Michel Jourdain Jr. On Paul Tracy's Canada win. "The whole crowd is going crazy here. I am really jealous of him, someday I would like to win in Mexico City and be like him. He really deserves it and I think it's great." Valentino Rossi On being stripped of his MotoGP win: "I only hope the outcome of the race does not affect the championship. I won a hard-fought race clean ... on the track not in the office."

RPM.ESPN.com's Gas and Go appears each and every Tuesday on ESPN.com.