Speaking of publicity, thousands of people who had no idea who Bass was last Friday now know. Thousands of people who had no idea Nashville Superspeedway hosted a big-time stock car race now know.

As to the celebration itself, the only thing missing was the noise.

Typically, a rock-star-style guitar smash is incomplete without a stack of Marshall amplifiers blaring at 120 decibels. Add a few ultra-loud chords, the smash of the guitar and an atonal din as the neck breaks and releases the tension from the strings and you have a moment worthy of Hendrix.

Maybe next time — with lighter fluid.

If there is a next time. Given the speedway's condemnation of the celebration, it would be hard to blame Busch for skipping next year's Nashville races. If that happens, throngs of fans ready to scream epithets at the controversial driver will lose that reason to come to the track, and that won't help the speedway's bottom line.

The real bottom line, however, is this: It's the height of hypocrisy to demand the stars of the sport express their diverse personalities and then condemn them when their self-expression doesn't conform to accepted social norms.

So save your outrage for someone that deserves it.

How about Carl Long?

by Reid Spencer/Sporting News