Mike Metcalf just missed out on the start of Appalachian State's run of three consecutive national championships in football.

There is something about the sound of children playing on a brand-new playground that just brings a smile to people's faces, and that's just one of the many projects funded by fans purchasing a $5 NASCAR Day pin.

The field for the Sprint All-Star Race is set. Almost.

He plants one foot on the accelerator, one foot on the brake, and the rear tires begin to spin and scream. Thick, white smoke starts to billow from beneath the racecar, drifting into a grandstand filled with cheering fans. Engine parts mangle and melt. If he's really good, the driver can make the tires blow out, the loose pieces of tread ripping into the sheet metal of the rear end. When they finally roll the thing into Victory Lane, the vehicle is a charred, smoking husk of what it used to be.

You can always count on H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler to put on a riveting dog-and-pony show about this time every year.

Charles Buckman, a crewman for Dale Coyne Racing, has been released from Methodist Hospital four days after being struck by Danica Patrick's race car during practice for the Indianapolis 500.