DOVER, Del. - It's not so much that NASCAR fans seem so agitated these days.
What's curious are the things that have their collective knickers in a bunch.
Based on the reaction to Michael Waltrip "buying" a ride in the Coca-Cola 600, for example, you'd have thought someone took pictures of him at a Dixie Chicks concert.
Waltrip made a business deal. He needed to get NAPA, his sponsor, in the race. So had and McGlynn Motorsports reached an arrangement. Nobody got hurt. Nobody held Derrike Cope's family hostage until the team that owns the No. 74 Dodge that Cope qualified agreed to let Waltrip drive.
Waltrip got to race and McGlynn got a nice check. McGlynn got the owner points, leaving Waltrip is the same hole he's dug for himself this year.
Waltrip came to Dover ranked 37th in owner points, but he qualified 33rd to make Sunday's Neighborhood 400 with no money changing hands.
Some of the backlash is from fans pre-hating Waltrip for his move to Toyota in 2007. But "buying" a ride is certainly not without ample precedent in the sport.
Neither is what Brian Vickers did after crashing in last week's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, returning after a wreck to primarily to scuff tires for his Hendrick Motorsports teammates. Still, some fans got bent all out of shape about that as well, but it really, honestly, was not that big of a deal.
Kyle Busch acted like a 3-year-old who'd had the red licked off his lollipop after being crashed out of the 600 after Casey Mears lost control of his car.
What did fans get mad about?
Busch's impetuousness and the mechanics of his throw when he hurled his HANS device at Mears' Dodge.
What should fans be upset about?
The fact that Busch got fined $50,000, twice as much as Chad Knaus, Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, did for breaking the rules before the Daytona 500.
Busch also lost 25 points and Johnson lost none.
Or, how about the fact Tony Stewart will start Sunday's race when he's obviously in no condition to go 400 miles?
By starting, Stewart gets the points earned by the finish of his No. 20 Chevrolet, even though he plans to turn the driving over to Ricky Rudd at the first reasonable opportunity.
The idea of a driver getting points for a race somebody else drives is patently absurd. If Barry Bonds pinch hits and knocks a grand slam, the player he batted for doesn't get credit for a homer the four runs batted in.
But NASCAR rules have been forever such. Rudd once ran a race with swollen eyes taped open. Davey Allison had a broken wrist but started a 1992 race at Talladega with his hand fastened to the shifter with Velcro. Dale Earnhardt ran with a broken collarbone and Dale Earnhardt Jr. started races in 2004 despite painful burns he'd suffered in a sports car racing incident.
Last weekend, NASCAR had Cup cars riding around Charlotte with teacup-sized fuel cells in what was supposedly a safety move. How is it safe to have a driver racing with his eyes taped open or his hand lashed to the shifter?
NASCAR's rules should discourage such insanity, not ensure it. Races don't become official until they reach halfway. What if the rule said a driver must be in the car at halfway to get the points? That might keep injured drivers out of the car to start with.
Doesn't that, or the continuing inconsistency with NASCAR's penalty policies, seem like issues far more worth worrying about than Kyle Busch blowing a gasket or Waltrip finding a way not to miss a race?
