No, what I meant to say ...

I caught myself the other day - you know how we do sometimes, start talking and letting the words get about halfway out there before realizing we haven't thought this thing all the way through yet. I'd started to say I was concerned, maybe even worried, about the track surface at Lowe's Motor Speedway with this weeekend racing almost upon us.

But that would be wrong.

Crew chiefs and drivers, maybe even car owners to a point, are concerned.

The "levigation" problems that helped produce 20-something cautions during last May's Coca-Cola 600 don't appear to have been cured. Some cars got torn up during Nextel Cup testing at the track in recent weeks and some of the drivers involved were rather outspoken about the track conditions.

When Busch Series teams arrived at the 1.5-mile track a week later to test, far fewer incidents were reported and some drivers even stepped up to say the track was getting better. Never mind that Busch cars are well down on power and are slower compared with their Nextel Cup brethren.

Track boss H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler and his bunch have been working their tails off to get some new rubber down on the speedway surface, but aren't being helped by the rain we've been having in our part of North Cackalackee this month. The weather guy on TV last night noted that we've had cloudy, drippy weather for eight of the 11 days in October. And from the looks of this morning, that will be nine for 12 by the time the weather guy comes back on tonight.

That's extremely bad timing for Wheeler and his folks.

So I've got no business saying I'm concerned or worried about what the track will do when the racing starts this weekend at our home - and favorite - track. What I probably meant to say was that I hope the track isn't the story this time. A great race or two would make for much better reading.

Concern about it? That's for the teams.

And worry? That would be Wheeler's department.