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First things first..   congratulations to Jimmy Johnson, Chad Knause, Rick Hendrick and the entire No. 48 Lowes team.

I don't like you one guys one bit, but fact of the matter is, you got the field covered and you kicked every one's rear end and you are the best of the best right now.  You earned it, you deserved it, savor it.

Now, on to NASCAR.

It would be an understatement to say that NASCAR is facing a cross roads.  There is a serious lack of funding in the sport right now.  While a number of start-and-park drivers made it so each race had the 43 cars in it, face of the matter is, there were not 43 real teams out there.

Not because there isn't any interest, but because there isn't enough funding to teams.  Some of this traces back to the economy in general, but most of it traces back to manufacturer support.  There is a reason why the top teams from the top manufacturers do well..   because they get the most support from the manufacturers.

Enter Volkswagen.

WHAT ??   VW ?   We are going to see a bug race ??

You might not realize it, but Volkswagen is the No. 1 car manufacturer in the world.  Under one brand.

And it isn't just VW that's interested in coming, so is BMW.  And the 400lb gorilla is peaking in the door also..   Honda.

Back to Volkswagen.  Volkswagen's Hans Stuck is checking out the sport for his company.   Kris Nissen is VW's motorsports director; Stuck's role at the company is to work on "strategic development of possible new sporting commitments."

Now..  VW immediately down played the whole thing.

Stuck said he is simply taking advantage of a holiday trip to visit NASCAR. He met with some series officials during the weekend, but was quick to deny any speculation in the American media suggesting that VW saw NASCAR as an option for the near future.

"I'm here number one because I'm a great NASCAR fan and I'm here on holiday," Stuck told AUTOSPORT. "Of course we investigate everything. We're opening a plant here in Chattanooga within the next two years and we're visiting here. I've heard some reports but there have been no talks, nothing about it. Unfortunately when you have a face that is well known, people bring up some ideas.

"I'm enjoying my visit and I will report what's going on. But in any way there has been nothing, no serious talks about coming here."

Stuck praised NASCAR's spectacle and considers it provides the best racing and gives fans value for money. He also perceives the sport as being less political than Formula 1, but said it probably does not fit with Volkswagen's approach to motorsports.

"To me this year NASCAR is the best racing you'd be looking at," said Stuck. "Forty-three cars on the grid, you see what the car is doing, see how they handle, there's no 'BS' talking about diffusers, you know, it's all handled internally and the people see a good race. But that's very difficult for the Germans to accept, that's the biggest problem.

"Here we can't show our technology. So [Volkswagen] would have to understand that this is a marketing work, and this is not an argument that they would accept. So I would say at the moment there's zero chance [of VW coming]."

Want more fuel for the fire, consider this.

NASCAR is studying fuel injection.  Are the days of carbs, restricter plates and racing 40 year old technology nearly over ?  Is what Stuck said "we can't showcase our technology" and "NASCAR is studying fuel injection" code for "If they change their FI rules, we will be here" ?

Brian France, NASCAR's chairman, said this year that NASCAR would be totally cool with having more manufacturers come on board as long as it has at least one production plant in the U.S. VW is building one right now in Tennessee and should get rolling in 2011.

It all makes for interesting speculation..  and now that the silly season is officially here..  let the rumors begin.