Posting live content and commentary from a good race weekend without the contributions of our colleague and friend David Poole doesn't feel at all right. It's no doubt the same on the reading end.

David Poole: Strip away everything from the final lap of Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway and there is one question that matters. Is racing at Talladega out of control?

David Poole: It's all but impossible to take your eyes off of a pack of 35 or 40 cars running inches apart at around 190 mph.

David Poole: I will be in Talladega for the Aaron's 499 and its associated events, but I could just as well be at three other places within driving distance of Charlotte and seeing some pretty fun stuff.

“If you won a race at Columbia, you know that you had done something,” Buddy Baker says of the now-closed track where engines roared for more than 40 years.

David Poole: I am home in North Carolina, watching the Phoenix race on television like everybody else this weekend, but that doesn't mean I have been totally goofing off.

David Poole: It seems Steve Letarte had a very good offseason. Apparently, he figured out a way to grow a brain.

David Poole: When it comes to giving winner’s interviews, Jeff Gordon hasn’t lost his fastball.

David Poole: When Eddie Gossage was growing up there were two people he wanted to meet more than anybody else.