By BILL WHITEHEAD, Scripps Howard News Service

A chance meeting with football great Mike Ditka -- and a few other sports superstars -- helped Jimmie Johnson put his three consecutive NASCAR championships into perspective.

NASCAR's offseason has led to plenty of uncertainty entering Speedweeks, but Daytona International Speedway officials are clear on one thing: They want you back.
The track is offering more-affordable ticket prices that kick in with a new racing format for Saturday's Budweiser Shootout.

I guess most NASCAR fans didn't realize it at the time, but we have been living in the sport's halcyon days over the last 10 years. You've likely walked around the track on a race weekend, so you know what I mean: Trinkets, knick-knacks and giveaways galore. And it was never any better than the 1990s and the early part of this decade.

Since this column originates in sunny South Florida, I can only assume many readers will be sitting in the Homestead grandstands this weekend, watching all three major NASCAR series wrap up the 2008 season.Mark Martin won't be there, though. He has other plans.

I must say this right up front: I like David Gilliland. I like him as a second-generation NASCAR driver and enjoy watching him race for Yates Racing. His improbable path to the Cup level, complete with an underdog win in 2006, is a story line that comes along very rarely.

By this time next week, when I get another chance to figure out NASCAR's unspectacular Chase for the Cup and avoid writing about how much of a Jimmie Johnson runaway it's been, we will have a new president-elect of this great nation. So I want to take the time to talk about an important issue -- change.

Remember that engraver who's always doing his work as the British Open golf tournament starts winding down? He's an older, grizzled gent likely called Pappy or Mac, and is best known for prematurely chiseling Jean Van de Velde's name on the Claret Jug at Carnoustie in 1999 while the Frenchman was authoring one of the greatest collapses ever in sports.

I know we should be looking ahead to Saturday night and NASCAR's Lowe's Motor Speedway's race, but it's hard to get the thoughts of Talladega last weekend out of mind even though they're out of sight.Here are a few mind-clearing points from yet another strange weekend in Alabama.DENNY HAMLIN'S HEALTH

Dale Earnhardt Jr. knows there's only one place for him to be after the green flags drops Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway -- up front, all the time, especially at the end. "We just kind of got to go for broke, really throw it out there and take some chances, take some risks," Earnhardt said this week.