Is NASCAR fixed?

Anyone who knows me knows one of my guilty pleasures is NASCAR racing. Since the days of Ernie Irvan in the Kodak car, I've always had a soft spot for the sport of turning left.

But is there a conspiracy inside the ranks NASCAR? The short answer is...maybe.

Earlier this week, Tony Stewart on his Sirius radio show criticized his sport for throwing caution flags for "debris" at key times of the race, fining some drivers and not others -- basically having a hand in orchestrating the end of the race.

More information about Tony's comments is online.

I'm not a huge Tony Stewart fan (Go Carl!), but Tony has a very valid point.

Look back through history at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and see how Jimmie Johnson has faired. Pretty darn well.

Granted, it's his "home" track, and he's a hell of a driver, but Jimmie's done suspiciously well at the Lowe's track, in his Chevy sponsored by...Lowe's.

Earlier this season, Jimmie also won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta. For that one race, Jimmie had a different sponsor on his car. Guess who. Kobalt Tools.

Tony likened NASCAR to pro-wrestling, and I'll stop short of saying that NASCAR is "fixed." I don't think the drivers are in on this.

But I do think NASCAR makes a lot of judgment calls to increase the drama of the races, or to give a title sponsor an edge to maximize advertising dollars. I think NASCAR does have its dirty little secrets.

Like Michael Waltrip.

Michael was caught cheating at Daytona, and has "failed to qualify" in every race since. Granted, the Toyotas suck in their first year, but I think there's more going on.

My theory? Waltrip has been suspended, but since he is a fan favorite and a HUGE money maker for the sport -- openly praising and pitching sponsors like a snake oil salesman -- NASCAR may have given him special treatment.

He's also fielding a new race team as an owner, with his stable full of Toyotas in their first year of racing. The stakes are too high for NASCAR to slap down their prodigal son.

Insert your own conspiracy theories: was he told to qualify slow to "miss the cut?"

But there's more going on at NASCAR than we know. Let's hope they don't burn the fans.

CBS Evening Noose

Can't you just feel the rope tightening around Katie Couric's neck.

I've had a gentleman's bet with a guy at work over how long Katie would last as the anchor of the CBS Evening News with [Insert Name Here].

My co-worker -- we'll again call him Mitch since Tom would be pissed if I used his real name -- has a theory that CBS in the coming months will morph the evening news into a likeness of the Today Show.

He coined it the "KC6P Effect" -- Katie Couric, Perky Princess of Product Placement and Puff Pieces™.

I disagreed, and instead theorize that CBS will fire Katie and stick with the same format. For, while ratings are down in general, those who tune in, tune in to see the standard formula of "at desk reading teleprompter."

What's known is this: Katie's bombing big-time.

So here's my prediction: by the end of the year, CBS will announce that they are going in "another direction" with the Evening News. Katie will no longer host, in return for which her enormous salary buys the company "special news feature assignments" for the network.

She'll at first accept the change, but as she begins to realize there are NO special assignments, she'll realize what's happening and sue the network. The network will counter, claiming her performance didn't pull in the ratings CBS needed.

CBS will settle the case, Katie will disappear into oblivion, and thus will enter the age of the "CBS Evening News with Anderson Cooper."