When NASCAR's Silly Season Goes Too Far

It's inevitable that every rumor spread over the course of one silly season cannot come true, as often times drivers or sponsors are rumored to be going to multiple places. However, these rumors eventually come to a point where they lack any and all substance, but some people buy into them anyway.

Unfortunately, I fell victim to one of those rumors—the David Reutimann to Petty Enterprises suggestion.

It made sense at the time: UPS looked set on leaving Michael Waltrip Racing to go to Richard Childress Racing and Clint Bowyer for next season. Without a sponsor, Reutimann would head over to Petty and take over the No. 45 Dodge.

On the surface, there's no move there that seems out of the ordinary. Bowyer is the kind of driver that a sponsor could forge a long-term relationship with, and Petty looks to be on an upswing, given their new partnership with Boston Ventures.

But wait a minute.

Why would UPS leave Reutimann? After all, Reutimann is a former UPS employee. He's steadily improved over the course of this season, he has a lot of potential as a driver, and he's one of the friendliest drivers in the garage area (personal experience).

Not only that, Jack Daniel's is signed with RCR and Bowyer through 2009.

Meanwhile, Kyle Petty announced at the Petty Enterprises buy-in that he'd like to continue driving for a while.

What gives?

I looked up the source of the rumors, and discovered that the man first publishing this nonsensical rumor was Bob Margolis at Yahoo! Sports. Margolis has sort of a history of reporting false rumors, such as the Bobby Labonte to RCR rumor that lacked substance.

I read further in the article containing the Reutimann rumor, and found out that Penske Racing is apparently considering Michael McDowell, who "somehow has fallen out of favor with the folks at MWR," to replace Ryan Newman, instead of Casey Mears or David Stremme.

Hold on now.

This would leave Michael Waltrip Racing with only its namesake driving for the team. Two cars would most likely disappear from the Sprint Cup Series. Do you really think that team would be able to rebound with potential replacements Scott Riggs and/or David Stremme?

Does Bob Margolis honestly think that MWR is going to implode before Dale Earnhardt Inc.?

It's not going to happen.

Sorry folks, but there are some rumors that just don't make any sense, and the latest ones that Bob Margolis has been spreading fall under that category. I'm sorry that I ever wrote a semi-analysis of something he suggested, because it doesn't make any sense.

So, folks, be careful when you hear the latest rumors coming out of the garage area. Make sure they make sense.

Chances are that means they don't come from Bob Margolis.