It is about 1:30 in the morning, and I am still awake, waiting to watch the end of the Auto Club 500. Coverage started at 3:30 in the afternoon and since only 87 of 250 laps are complete, this race will take at least 12 hours to run. At this point, I have no choice but to stay up until the end. It's like staying out late in the race on old tires. I've already committed and there's no turning back now. I can handle the lack of sleep, but I'm starting to worry that I will have to leave for work before the checkered flag waves. Whatever happens in the final 163 laps, I have to commend NASCAR and FOX for some very entertaining hours of rain delay coverage.

Bad jokes, interviews with every driver and crew chief that could be found and a 30-minute conversation about the pinewood derby were some of the highlights, but nothing could top the quest to find a name for FOX's newest piece of technology - Gopher Cam. For those that aren't as obsessed with NASCAR as I am, Gopher Cam is an in-ground camera that shows the cars running over the top of it. Everytime there is a shot from the in-ground camera, a goofy gopher graphic appears on the screen. Kyle Busch won the contest, naming the graphic Skid.

As far as I am concerned, the graphic should just be called stupid like all the other weird graphics that go along with NASCAR television coverage these days. There is no way that these things attract new fans and they only annoy the die-hard ones. The Aaron's Lucky Dog can go the way of Old Yeller. We don't need thermo-cam. I already saw that in Predator. Don't even get me started on Draft Boost. The glowing aura around the cars, looks like something out of Star Trek. 

Well, I've killed some time and the race should go green soon. Before I go though, I have one last question. Does Tom Cruise know he was never an actual racecar driver? I mean, I got a tear in my eye when Cole Trickle pulled into victory lane at the Daytona 500, but Days of Thunder wasn't even that great and certaintly doesn't give him enough street cred to walk around the pits talking NASCAR. Now if he had been in Stroker Ace, it would be a different story.