David Newton
ESPN.com

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sank into the leather couch in the rear of his No. 88 hauler earlier this week and reflected on the good things — from finishing second at Daytona, to seventh at Bristol despite a speeding penalty — that have happened five races into the 2010 Sprint Cup season.

Then he jokingly was reminded of the real bonus: He gets more time with the media as a Chase contender.

“I just got to watch my mouth,” Earnhardt said with a smile.

Yes, Earnhardt is back in the top 12, in eighth place heading into Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

For the first time since 2008 he gets to park in the front end of the garage (haulers are lined up by points), and reporters won’t have to chase him down after practice or qualifying because of NASCAR’s mandatory interview session for top-12 drivers.

This is good for the fans who thirst for Earnhardt’s insight. This is good for the media who enjoy his wry sense of humor and brutal honesty. This is good for NASCAR, which sorely needs its most popular driver in the spotlight.

It’s good for … OK, not for everybody.

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Jay Busbee – Yahoo Sports

No matter how promising a young Chicago Bulls basketball player might be, he’ll never wear the number 23. Same thing with rookies for the Yankees and Broncos and the number 7, or a Lakers kid and the number 32. Icons wore those numbers, and closed the door on anyone ever doing so again.

NASCAR has its own icons, drivers who fundamentally altered the way the sport runs. And yet not only are their numbers not retired, they’re still very much in use. Richard Petty’s famous 43 has passed from driver to — let’s be charitable — less-than-Petty driver for years. And now, the most famous number in NASCAR — the black No. 3 of Dale Earnhardt — is returning to the track every single week.

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