NASCAR (DAYTONA) - ON NASCAR

On NASCAR: Penultimatum

Penultimate (adj.): The next-to-last in a series (American Heritage dictionary)

The final races of the NEXTEL Cup Series season are like the last day of a vacation. You're so worried about the fact that it's almost over, about getting everything packed up and making sure your passport is still lying well-protected in the safe, that you sometimes forget to sit back and enjoy it.

The majority of people tend to be goal-oriented, which is a good thing because if we weren't, nothing would ever get done.

When you think about it, quilting, painting the kitchen and racing for a NEXTEL Cup Series championship actually have a lot in common. You start out with an assortment of quite varied but loosely-related pieces, which by the time you're done have all merged to form something completely new and different.

Like snowflakes, no two handmade quilts, or home improvement projects, or racing seasons are exactly alike. That's why we keep coming back and doing it all over again.

I love buffalo wings, but I never want to eat the last one on the plate.

Chicken wings and sporting events constitute one of the great unions of the modern age, like Bogey and Bacall, or teenagers and iPods. I order them everywhere I go, and plow through the first five (okay, sometimes seven) flat flings and plump drummettes with gusto.

Each one is so delicious that it keeps me moving right on to the next without pausing for breath, propelling me forward like hungry kayak on a spicy river of cayenne pepper and saturated fat.

When I get to the final one, though--my last fling, you might say--I hesitate. It looks so tempting, lying there in all its deep-fried beauty, surrounded by a glistening pool of butter and Tabasco, but I can't bring myself to eat it.

If I do, it will be gone forever. My plate will be removed, and I will have to wait patiently for some period of time before my next order arrives and I can start eating all over again.

One of the great pop-culture mysteries of the 1980s was the surprise ending of lawyer Scott Turow's first internationally best-selling novel, "Presumed Innocent." I remember sitting at a table with a group of friends when one of them happened to mention the book.

"Oh, that's such a great book," another friend responded. "Can you believe that Barbara was the one who did it?"

"Gee, thanks," came the answer. "I guess I don't need to finish it now."

Talk about the ultimate buzz-killer. Some people do seem to want to know how something will end before it is ever begun, but others believe the journey to be much more interesting than the destination.

I have a friend who is so visually gifted she can assemble a jigsaw puzzle without looking at the picture on the box.

I find this to be a wonderful skill, gift, talent--whatever you want to call it. Literally, each puzzle is an experience full of wonder. She dumps all the interlocking pieces on the table, builds the frame to contain it, and then thoroughly enjoys the process of watching the whole thing come together one piece at a time, without knowing quite what the final result will be.

Is stock car racing really any different? The framework—the series schedule--is set, and the pieces, consisting of drivers, owners, pit crews, tracks, sponsors and cars, just to name a few, are placed in the middle. Then the fun begins, right along with the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup.

The allure of the classics, whether they be novels, meals or sports seasons, is that as soon as you finish one, you want to turn back to the beginning and start all over again, just in case you missed something the first, or 50th, time around. The great thing about the sports component, of course, is that the outcome is always different.

Between now and November, the last page will be read. The final puzzle piece--the face of a champion--will be set into place, and the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series season will be complete.

While it is hard to say goodbye, it is exciting to know that once again, the final contest will determine the outcome. The story must be followed to the very last page if we want to know how it ends.

I guess it's time to take the plunge and sample that last wing, after all. One should always save the best for last.