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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.

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If you follow us on twitter, you may have seen me point this out over the weekend (NASCAR Scene writer Jeff Gluck beat me to the punch with a post about this incident on his blog). During the regular press availability for the Chase contenders this weekend Juan Pablo Montoya got a surprise scolding from a reporter.

The reporter, who identified himself as Michael Morales from American Forces Radio and Television Service, Voice of America and Radio and TV Marti was clearly agitated about not being able to secure a one-on-one interview with Montoya.

Here is what ensued:

MM: Micheal Morales, the American Forces Radio and Television Service, Voice of America as well as radio and TV Marti. I want to tell you this in English because I want everyone to understand what we have been going through with you. In the past with Adrian Fernandez, Carlos Contreras, Felix Sabates, the Spanish language media didn’t have any problems getting a one-to-one interview. You came to NASCAR with a different attitude…the attitude is whenever we tried to get an interview with you on a one-to-one we are always denied, you are not available…

JPM: (Montoya interrupts) I’m not in charge of making…

MM: May I finish please? May I finish. This is something that you must understand, Spanish language media is also important, especially for you, OK?

JPM: So what’s the question?

MM: The question is was it you or was it your people?

JPM: I don’t make the decisions. They tell me where to go and what to do…I don’t make the decisions of what interviews to do they think which…

MM: (Morales interrupts) That’s not true.

JPM: …interviews are worth doing and which ones are not, you know what I mean? There’s always a value…

MM: So we’re not important?

JPM: I don’t know? Is USA Today more worth it for Target than a small latin interview? I would think so. And there is certain amount of time you always spend with the media and I think there is time always spent with…I do, myself being Colombian, I try to do a lot of interviews…Diego’s beside you and I do a lot of interviews with them and they cover a lot of Colombian media. NASCAR brought some Colombian media and Latin media to Daytona, so because you haven’t got an interview I wouldn’t assume everybody didn’t.

They went on to exchange a few more words before the moderator cut them off. (EGR has posted the videos from the weekend press conference here. The exchange starts at the end of video one and continues onto the beginning of video two).

Let me start off by saying I hope this guy was OK with being blacklisted by the team, because he is never going to get a one-on-one with Montoya after that; and deservedly so.

I think what some don’t understand (this gentleman apparently) is as a PR person for a team, you can’t approve every one-on-one media request you get, especially if you have a popular driver (oh and the drivers aren’t handling the requests). How many media requests do you think Dale Jr.’s and Tony Stewart’s PR people turn down in a weekend? It’s a lot. It is simply impossible to grant every local and national media outlet what they want.

Not to mention as a PR person you have a commitment to the company (either the team or some of these people are directly employed by a sponsor) to get a sponsor as much exposure as possible. That means the USA Todays and the ESPNs get first dibs at interviews, no matter how many times you’ve asked for one.

Also part of this big media game is forming relationships with the individual PR people. It’s always helpful for them to be willing and happy to take your phone call; or answer an e-mail you’ve sent them. Sometimes if they can’t help you one weekend, they can squeeze you in during the week, or during the next weekend. Along with this is the amount of people who make these requests at the last minute. The PR people put together schedules very early in the week and if you’re not on it, you’re probably not getting an interview that weekend.

Another thing to consider is that Juan has had three PR people in the last two seasons. It’s difficult for someone to come into a new position and know who requested what, where in past seasons. Juan’s present PR person has been on the job for a couple of months. If he’s swamped with other media and sponsor commitments (oh yeah he’s there to race too), they’re probably not going to be able to make time for you. It’s that simple.

I commend Montoya for maintaining his cool and really showing some class during a very uncomfortable, very unprofessional incident. As Jeff Gluck pointed out, this incident “lends some insight into his personality…“