In the world of NASCAR, Monday's are usually reserved as a day to look back and analyze the weekend's race, celebrate the winner (Jeff Burton) and look at those who may have fallen down the standings because of a poor performance (Kyle Busch, David Ragan and Daytona 500 winner Kevin Harvick to name a few).

But because of nine laps at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, everybody (and quite possibly their mother) will be talking about Dale Earnhardt Jr. today.

No, the nine laps I am referring to are not the ones before his race ending accident - when Tony Stewart spun which as a result led to Jr. getting hit from behind by Busch on lap 253 - nor are they the ones that saw "Junebug" and Jeff Gordon fight for the lead in the early stages of the race, but rather the final nine laps when the driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet jumped inside Busch's No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet.

"Was he trying to send a message to Teresa Earnhardt and the rest of DEI"

"Will he jump to Hendrick Motorsports next season?"

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

In response, I offer only Dale's own words: "Are you crazy?"

Jumping into another team's car after you are eliminated from competition is a common practice in NASCAR, but usually it is a lower profile driving making the switch - not the most popular driver in the sport.

Although his post race comments did raise an eyebrow or two - "I could tell that it was a real nice car before we had the accident. Smooth steering, just smooth,'' - It was nothing more than a sign of sportsmanship from Junior, nothing more.

By driving the No. 5 Chevrolet, Junior helped that team move up one spot in the final standings to 37th - one spot behind himself and one spot ahead of defending champion Jimmie Johnson.

This was not an audition, nor was it a sign of things to come; it was just Junior being a good friend to some of his buddies on the No. 5 crew.

Anyways, he is off to Richard Childress Racing in 2008, not Hendrick.

Let the debate begin.