I'm not really all that AMPed up

Last week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. talked about how important it was for him to remain the same person, for his image to remain the same with his fans.

I get AMP energy drink. I get the Mountain Dew thing. Both are hip, young, rebellious, to some extent. What I don't get is how the National Guard fits into the whole Junior "thing." When I think of our armed forces, I hardly conjure up the images of t-shirts and jeans, caps on backwards and designer sunglasses.

Hearing Earnhardt's new boss, Rick Hendrick, tell us all about how it's the way a sponsor fits with what you're trying to do (i.e., "it's not about the money") is insulting. The only 'fit' owners today are concerned with is how to fit all those decals in prominent positions on one race car. It's about the money, pure and simple. It's about big, big bucks -- bigger than most of us can fathom. It's not wrong for Earnhardt to cash in on the Junior franchise, but he's toeing a dangerous line when he tells us that it's about keeping his image the same

Carquest and Kellogg's. Smirnoff and DeWalt. Irwin and Crown Royal.

There have been some fairly odd primary sponsorship partners in Nextel Cup racing in recent years. AMP and the National Guard can be added to that mix.

Random thoughts:

* NASCAR continues to hold on to tight to its money-grubbing image. Executives from Pepisco in formal business attire in one corner, Hendrick and Earnhardt with their casual shirts smeared with more logos than John Daly's golf bag in the other. It just comes across as tasteless.

* In the land of cheesy press conferences, though, Kasey Kahne's Budweiser one takes the cake. Riding in on a wagon pulled by the Clydesdales? Come on. I knew Dodge was down on horsepower this year, but that bordered on ridiculous.

* Loved the question about Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and how they can serve as mentors to Earnhardt. People forget that not only are Gordon and Johnson not exactly at retirement age looking to pass on wisdom, but Earnhardt isn't that 20-something-year-old kid any more. These guys are contemporaries and competitors. Though if Junior marries a supermodel in 2009, I'll retract my statements.