Earnhardt learned recently that the wife and children of new crew chief Steve Letarte will be regular listeners on his scanner frequency.

"I just learned on the plane ride here (to Las Vegas) that his wife and kids listen to the radio at home through the speaker system in the house," Earnhardt said after Thursday's Myers Brothers Luncheon at Bellagio, where he received his eighth straight award as NASCAR's most popular driver. "Definitely going to have to change my vocabulary if I can."

Busch said Shell/Pennzoil, his new sponsor, wouldn't mind some self-control when it comes to his language on the radio.

"These Shell guys want me to clean that up—I know that," Busch said. "It's good and it's bad. My guys understand it, sponsors are confused by it, race fans enjoy it—some like it, some hate it. I need to be better with it. It's a weakness.

"Like (Jeff) Gordon wants to talk all about how, when I wrecked him (at Martinsville), that I've got a short temper. No, I've just got a long memory, Jeff, on that side of things. But when you give a weakness to somebody, they're going to try to exploit it. So that's something that I need to fix." Sporting News