Earlier this afternoon I was surfing through major news Web sites checking on the day’s happenings. As I scrolled down the page on MSNBC.com I got to the ‘other top stories’ section. About halfway down was the headline ‘Opinion: NASCAR In Trouble.’ Next to it was a separate article that said something like ‘But Danica Could Help.’

Turns out the opinion piece was written by Scene Daily’s Jeff Owens, he called it “Five things NASCAR needs to happen to rekindle fan interest.” The piece was nothing ground breaking, or earth shattering (if not for the point about the spoiler the Five Things piece could have been written a year ago) but it’s just another example of a marginally negative piece that got a lot of attention.

(Before I go any further, let me say this is not a knock on Jeff Owens he’s a good and talented guy. It just happened to be his story that sparked the idea for this. It really could have been anyone.)

Over the last year I have gotten so tired of these doom and gloom stories. I don’t personally want anything to do with them. Sure things aren’t great, but do we need to make it a constant talking point? No.

I wonder too if anybody has considered that these negative stories and negative comments on mainstream sports and news channels are hurting the sport, and driving people away. It’s becoming a self-fulling prophecy.

Larry McReynold’s last year while talking on the subject quoted Darrell Waltrip. Waltrip compared it to people telling you over and over how bad your favorite restaurant is. Eventually your probably going to start to believe it. You’ll probably stop going. I think Waltrip makes a good point.

Now I’m not saying you need to drink the “kool aid,” or become mouthpieces for the ‘all is fine’ line from NASCAR (it’s not), but can we start focusing on whats good? There really are a lot of positive things to talk about (like this).

I know the lawsuits and penalties and economy talk are all very topical, and it’s fun to examine all of NASCAR’s problems, but at the end of the day it’s all irrelevant. They’re at best distractions (at worst they’re hurting the sport) to what is important and that’s what happens on the racetrack.

Stock car racing returns to Daytona this weekend with some highly anticipated storylines. Please, have fun, enjoy the racing, and don’t get bogged down in all the background noise.