He was kidnapped from his homeland at age 16 and taken to the north as a slave. At 22 he escaped from his captors and made his way back to his family in Britain. After being ordained as a bishop by the church, Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary and devoted his life to teach the gospel to the very country where he spent six long years of slavery.

Last week, after the Coke 600, normally mild-mannered Jeff Burton got into Kyle Busch's face after the race. This week, after the Gillette 500, normally mild-mannered Joey Logano got into the face of points-leader Kevin Harvick. It is interesting to note that Burton and Harvick are Richard Childress (RCR) drivers, while Busch and Logano drive for Joe Gibbs (JGR). Both teams have three drivers, and both have been running exceptionally well this season. As the Hendrick dynasty has been having its troubles, RCR and JGR have been finding success. It is no surprise then that these two teams would be in fierce competition. It is a surprise though what that competition is bringing out in each team.

You gotta love Dale Jr. Although I am not fully invested as a card-carrying member of the JR Nation, I admire his honesty. If you don't want to know what Dale thinks, don't ask him a question. While the rest of the NASCAR circuit seems to be ready with politically-correct answers that neither inform nor infuriate the fans, sponsors, owners, other drivers, etc., Junior just tells it like it is. A couple of weeks ago when he was driving the AMP Juice car for the first time, he explained to the interviewer that AMP Juice is essentially a high-energy orange juice. Then he said that he couldn't wait to get home to make it into a screwdriver. Priceless. You just can't help but to love the guy.

I'm not exactly sure if I'm a fan of the green, white, checker, rule (GWC) that NASCAR has instutited this year. But since my family and I were sitting in the Allison stands for last year's AMP Energy 500 that ended under caution, I'm not exactly a fan of that either. I understand the reason for the rule; it makes a lot of sense. But I just don't see how two laps is enough racing to determine much of anything. In reality, it makes the end of the race a self-fulfilling prophecy as everyone in the top 10 does everything they can to get to the front.

It should be obvious that NASCAR is singling Edwards out because he's Carl Edwards. NASCAR knows that Carl will take his punishment as the seasoned veteran that he is.