It has been suggested by one or two readers over the past week that my repeated slurs directed at NASCAR nation are in fact, clear examples of the sort of bigotry, ignorance and intolerance that is regularly condemned in CSTB.

So with that to consider, I paid rapt attention to this morning’s “SportsCenter” Nextel Cup preview, a fascinating bit of sports journalism that laid waste to all of my preexisting notions of NASCAR, it’s drivers and the rich mosaic they draw from.

Simply put, I’ve been wrong, wrong, wrong. For instance, I learned this morning that many of NASCAR’s fresh-faced new breed of drivers do not listen to country music. Amongst their favorites : Eminem and Kid Rock.

Not since the suburban protagonists of Robert Altman’s “O.C & Stiggs” showed their deep appreciation for King Sunny Ade’, has such a cultural chasm been filled.

Having had some heavy science dropped on my skull, I can only humbly apologize to all devotees of watching cars-go-round-in-a-circle.