By MIKE MULHERN, Winston-Salem Journal

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrated Cinco de Mayo Tuesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway with a long, hot day of testing.While Earnhardt was trying to keep his nose to the grindstone, Busch was front-and-center, not dodging the media but stating his case about his tangle with Earnhardt at Richmond on Saturday night and taking all questions.

Patty Moise was a regular on NASCAR's Busch circuit for almost 10 years, and drove in six Nextel Cup races along the way. Popular and personable (enough to get a few TV jobs), she never quite made it over the hump, but she was competent, rugged and dogged about it, running her own team for a while.

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- What do Tony Stewart and Danica Patrick have in common, other than both wearing Nomex suits and $5,000 helmets to work every day?Chrissy Wallace.Stewart, as her mentor and coach. Patrick, as her role model.

CHARLOTTE -- You'll have to pardon Charlotte promoter Humpy Wheeler for having mixed emotions about Danica Patrick's historic IndyCar tour victory on Sunday.

At one time, when NASCAR men talked about South of the Border they probably were talking about the tourist stop Interstate 95 at the North Carolina-South Carolina border.Those talking about south of the border this week are talking about Mexico City, where drivers on the Nationwide tour will race Sunday in the Mexico 200 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, a historic road course.

NASCAR's stop at Phoenix International Raceway over the weekend was filled with more than enough issues and miscues to keep half the stock-car teams and officials and TV execs scratching their heads for another week.

So how did NASCAR's Big Four team owners fare down in Texas last weekend?

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The Samsung 500 was a disastrous day for many of the sport's biggest stars:- Jeff Gordon parked his ill-handling car early, after brushing the wall, and demanded that crew chief Steve Letarte come up with a new chassis setup. He returned to the track an hour or so later, ran a few laps, and then parked for good. He finished 43rd.

En route to winning NASCAR's points championship, Jimmie Johnson was tough at Texas last fall, but he's a bit leery about what to expect this time down there."Anything we did last year doesn't apply with this car, especially on these big tracks," Johnson said of Sunday's Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

A crowd of about 50,000, mediocre by NASCAR standards, turned out for the Goody's 500 on a drizzly, 40-degree Sunday in Martinsville, Va.