Honeymoon is over ... I'm baaacckkk!

After two weeks in Alaska where I saw more grizzly bears than NASCAR T-shirts, I'm back with you again. We went through part of the state and had a grand time hiking on a glacier, dogsledding, kayaking, bouncing on the open waters in a raft with a high-powered engine, flying in helicopters and float planes and cruising through the inside passage on a ship.

Saw whales, grizzly bears, eagles, caribou, moose, sea otters, sea lions, a wolf, a beaver and many more -- including the largest mosquitos anywhere (and I still have the bites on me to prove it).

Anyway, enough about the wild frontier and on to a sport that tries to show off its wilder side. Here's a few thoughts on some recent events.

# Kyle Busch destroying (or at least attempting to destroy) the guitar trophy after his Nashville win: Had no problem with it. Thought it was cool and better than seeing a driver just get up and raise his hands. Folks, you want emotion and personality, here it is. You don't like it, that's fine, but this is an example of some of the stuff people want.

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a new crew chief. Hmm, after the first start went well, Dale Jr. again showed Pocono isn't one of his better tracks. Whether this move with the crew chief change works will take some time to study, but at what point does it fall back on the driver?

# Jimmie Johnson seems to be showing the strength he often shows in the Chase. This could be a bad sign for many.

# Tony Stewart needs more wins. Not only for the bonus points but to continue to show his crew what it takes to win. Remember, a number of his crew guys were at Haas when Stewart joined and had never won a race. For Stewart to truly contend for a title, that group truly needs to understand what it takes to win and also understand how to survive the low points. The key for this group is to keep that winning feeling. Should they lose it, then it will be interesting to see how long it takes them to get it back. This will be a fun team to watch the next few weeks.

# Can't decide who is the bigger disappointment so far this season. What do you think? Dale Earnhardt Jr (20th in points with 3 top 10s), Kevin Harvick (26th in points with 2 top 10s) or David Ragan (31st in points with 1 top 10). Or would you select someone else for this?

# Goodyear has another Indy tire test following this weekend's race at Michigan. About a dozen teams are expected to test. Of course, even if things seem good, the true test will be in July when the series is there. Have you bought tickets to this year's Indy race or would you consider doing it after last year's debacle and all the testing done since? It will be interesting to see how fans respond this year.

# Patrick Carpentier will drive for Michael Waltrip in the 55 at Sonoma. Waltrip did something like this in 2007, putting Terry Labonte in the car for both road course races to make sure the car got in with Labonte's past champion's provisional. The real thing with Waltrip is that he's 32nd in the points, while teammates David Reutimann (11th) and Marcos Ambrose (18th) are in the top 20. Waltrip said before the season if he could find someone that was better and couldn't match that of his teammates, maybe it would be time to step away from his driving duties. At this rate, this could be Waltrip's final full season racing. Frankly, if he gets out this year, he should at least run the plate tracks in an extra team car.

# The fans, yes you, will be the grand marshal at Martinsville Speedway, it was announced Tuesday. Of course the key is how many of you will show up there.

# Keep an eye out for Austin Dillon in Friday's ARCA race at Michigan. The grandson of car owner Richard Childress is making his third career series start. It will be his first with new crew chief Dan Deeringhoff, who has taken over as crew chief for RCR's driver development program. Deeringhoff was the crew chief for Clint Bowyer when Bowyer won the Nationwide title last year.

# Triple play. Kyle Busch will race the trucks in Michigan and then the Nationwide car at Kentucky on Saturday before competing in the Cup race at Michigan on Sunday. He's the first driver in NASCAR history to win a truck and Nationwide race in the same day (doing it earlier this year at California) but he's never swept all three races in a weekend.

# ESPN The Magazine is reporting that Jeremy Mayfield tested postive for methamphetamine. A NASCAR Scene story last week stated that in Mayfield's complaint that Mayfield tested positive for amphetamines. NASCAR has not publicly stated what Mayfield tested positive for but stronly hinted it was an illegal drug.

# Does qualifying matter anymore? Tony Stewart became the fourth driver to win a race after having started at the rear. Matt Kenseth did it in the Daytona 500 after going to a backup car. Kyle Busch did it at Las Vegas after an engine change. Brad Keselowski did it at Talladega for an engine change. Stewart did it at Pocono because of a backup car.

# Kasey Kahne is scheduled to run the new Dodge engine this weekend at Michigan.

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