Talk about being isolated.

Not isolated like many of our service people are, wherever they are around the world. And considering we're coming up on Memorial Day weekend, I can't miss the chance to say God bless every member of the armed forces -- past, present and future -- that enables us to enjoy the lifestyles we do and the sport we love, at an enormous sacrifice for themselves and their families. We should love and treasure each and every one of them.

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But no -- on the night of the All-Star Race, I was out in the wilds of northwest Volusia County, Fla., doing some dirt racing with a couple buddies who own Mini Stocks.

The choice between going to a racetrack where the pits were full and the grandstands reasonably so was no choice -- no matter which race was happening on TV, the same as it was never a choice between watching a basketball or hockey game back home in New England or going out to play 'em.

It was always game on. And so it was on Saturday, when dodging clay clods was more appetizing than lounging on the recliner.

But I didn't say total isolation. I have a mobile Web browsing device that definitely does more than I ask it to, but in this case all I wanted was a periodic headline to read between checking staggers, tire pressures and the lineup board.

"Sadler leads, out with crash damage."

Wow. It even had an image of that No. 19 Dodge, which sadly looked like a 10-races-old Pure Stock. The imagination ran wild on that one, because there was no other explanation.

"Allmendinger, Hornish Jr. transfer to All-Star Race."

Double "wow!" I knew there was some horsepower in this event, like Kasey Kahne, the series' leading race winner only two years ago; former champion and all-star race winner Bill Elliott; and former Cup winners like Elliott Sadler, Brian Vickers, Joe Nemechek and Robby Gordon.

I know. All the heavy hitters were on the bench gearing up for the big show. But does anyone else think that for A.J. Allmendinger -- to overcome the personal agony of wrecking the pole-sitter, then persevering to win the race -- it marks a significant career step?

I do. The kid can drive racecars. Remember, he doesn't even have 25 starts in Cup cars. In fact, he has 20 in point races. Without question he's a future winner and even more unquestionably, to this point maybe his most endearing quality is his humility.

He stepped up and took responsibility for wrecking Sadler and sincerely apologized. Good for him.

And the result -- not only coming in second in the Sprint Showdown but backing it up with a seventh in the All-Star Race -- was good for Sam Hornish Jr., too.

All-Star Race

Kasey Kahne needed the Fan Vote just to have the opportunity to compete in the Sprint All-Star Race. Then on old tires, he pulled away from Greg Biffle in the final segment to become the first voted-in winner of the event.

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It's bad enough he has to insulate himself from all the news this month surrounding the unified Indycar Series at Indianapolis; but he's had a mounting toll of wrinkled fenders in stock cars, so to do so well at the tough Lowe's quad oval was a cool moment.

"Kahne wins fan vote."

Let me make one thing perfectly clear: I still think the fan vote to get someone into the All-Star Race is bogus. But to me, if you must have a vote-in process, the fact that Kahne won only serves to legitimize it.

I guess the only thing it proves is that not only Kahne but who knows how many other people would be good enough to win -- on a perfect night -- if they took the green flag.

The fact is, per the stated procedure, Kahne did not legitimately qualify -- not by winning a race -- and he was only fifth in the qualifying race.

But he did legitimately win the All-Star Race, so how's that for some noise?

Short Takes

• In the case of Ted and Justin Musgrave, dad really does know best. Father Ted, who had a significant Midwest Late Model racing career before coming east to race in Cup and win a Craftsman Truck Series championship, is staying low-key with his son's dirt Late Model career.

"He is just starting out with the dirt Late Models, running a crate engine series to keep the costs down a little, within the Carolinas [and] just in the two or three states nearby," the father said. "We don't want him to get in too far over his head just yet.

"As far as the advice I can offer him? Well, there isn't any because I've never driven one of those. Those dirt Late Models are really neat but very different from what we're used to on asphalt, so what I do is just stay out of the way and do what he asks me to do."

• Another bright light from short track racing went out this week when Gene Glover, 73, father of Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Tony Glover, passed away last Sunday.

Gene Glover won the 1979 Late Model Sportsman championship, the forerunner of the Nationwide Series, and more than 300 races during his career -- in which he battled Sportsman legends Jack Ingram, L.D. Ottinger, Bob Pressley and Butch Lindley, among others.

Godspeed, "Big Glove."

• Is that "yikes," "wow," or "look out?" Bottom line, it was shocking news last weekend when Dale Earnhardt Jr. made an about-face on what he'd previously said about moving JR Motorsports team into the Cup Series.

Earnhardt's reasoning could be a bad forecast for the junior series, which already stands to possibly lose a number of independent teams, which are already struggling to survive, when the series makes a planned move to a new chassis next season.

"I used to say 'no way, no way.' But it's almost as expensive to run in the Nationwide Series [as it is in Cup]," Earnhardt said. "And they're going to bring a [new car] in and we won't be able to race in the Nationwide Series with the [new car], probably. That'll just be too expensive to switch all that over."

Now, Earnhardt says a Cup program could come as early as next year.

"If the right opportunity comes along with the right sponsorship and driver, we'd love to do it -- and it would cost the same amount of money to do that, as it is to run the Nationwide Series [because] it's harder to get sponsorships," Earnhardt said. "And the [new car] program is going to be too expensive for me to justify creating a whole new program with [new] stuff, so I'd just as soon go into the Cup Series or get out of the Nationwide Series altogether."

The funniest aspect of the discussion came when Earnhardt was asked if he's recruit his buddy and former Dale Earnhardt Incorporated teammate Martin Truex Jr. into his alleged Cup team.

Earnhardt's flat response was "no," which was just what you'd expect from the man whose disarmingly blunt manner is one of his most endearing characteristics.

"Why would he want to come drive for me? He's in good stuff now and he's going to have great opportunities from other people," Earnhardt said. "And I would never do that to him -- for the first year coming out of the box, man, we'll struggle like hell.

"Come on, man. He's going to have deals offered to him by these great companies around here and from DEI. I'll be at the bottom of that list, right there with Haas and a couple of other people. I mean, no way would I even do that to Martin, even if he wanted to."

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.