The boo birds have become quite imaginative these days. It's not enough just to heckle Kyle Busch, or think he's a little too smug and immature, or bristle because he wins unapologetically and then gives that little bow that tells everyone where they can stick those boos without saying anything at all. No, now they have to leap into that dark underworld of scandal and subterfuge, where loathing is allowed to undermine credibility and myth is somehow accepted as fact. Down there, they've found a much more convenient way of explaining Busch's success.

He's cheating.

Oh, goodness, here we go again. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won all those races at Daytona and Talladega in the early 2000s because NASCAR allowed him to use a secret restrictor plate. Jimmie Johnson won back-to-back championships because inspectors looked the other way when crew chief Chad Knaus fiddled with the car. And now they've leapt on Busch, claiming that his on-track dominance is strictly the product of some evil collaboration between Toyota and the sanctioning body. Why, don't you know that Camrys are being allowed to use engines that are more powerful than those of other manufacturers? It's a conspiracy, I tell you!

Please. You guys really need some new material.

The fact that people actually believe things like this -- and it's not only in Busch's case; the conspiracy theorists tend to crop anytime something controversial or contentious arises in NASCAR -- is beyond disappointing. It's sad. But nevertheless, they're out there, folks that either don't search for the true facts or can't comprehend them, people who will take any shred of rumor or whisper of speculation as gospel. People like Shirley (last name withheld) from North Carolina, who let fly with this beauty not too long after Busch's victory Sunday at Dover International Speedway was complete:

"If NASCAR keeps allowing Kyle Busch and the Toyota teams to win, knowing he has more horsepower than all the others and NASCAR doesn't do anything about leveling the playing field as they have stated over and over as being their goal, then NASCAR has been bought off by Toyota in order to bring more attention to Toyota being brought into the Sprint Cup Series. I have even heard a rumor that the other drivers have been told not to touch Kyle Busch in the Sprint Cup Series so he can do all his fancy moves and get to the front to win because they want him to win."

Last we checked, Joe Gibbs Racing is based in Huntersville, N.C., Kyle Busch was born in Nevada, and Toyota's racing headquarters are in Southern California. So stop acting like Toyota's NASCAR effort is some Godzilla who's stomping the competition and taking all the money to Japan.

Gracious, Shirley, you've cracked the case! You've broken the whole thing wide open! Of course, nothing would be better for NASCAR than sheer dominance by a driver and a car manufacturer disliked by a sizable portion of the fan base. Now, Shirley, I want you to blow the lid off this whole moon landing charade. We all know it was sham put together in the Arizona desert. Now get on it!

Sadly, Shirley isn't alone. A report out of Daytona early this season claiming that Toyota engines had posted better numbers on the dynamometer than those of other manufacturers has become the Dead Sea Scrolls for the anti-Camry crowd, which would rather see Busch as the creation of some shady back-room deal than the leading Sprint Cup championship contender that he is. In their minds, those mythical dyno numbers equal assistance from NASCAR. "Everyone knows that the Toyotas are averaging about 20-25 more horsepower than any other manufacturer, so can someone please tell me how the racing aspect of all this is supposed to be fair?" wrote Kelly, whereabouts unknown.

Evidently, Kelly missed it when NASCAR vice president for competition Robin Pemberton told our own Joe Menzer that these rumors of souped-up Camry engines were bunk. "We take 'em home and dyno 'em. We have the results," Pemberton said at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March (read more). "There is nothing that shows us that anybody has got anybody by a significant advantage ... [Series director] John [Darby] and all his guys have evaluated all that, and there is not anything that we've seen that points to an advantage by anybody. Everybody has their opinion. But everybody has the same opportunity with parts and pieces in all three garage areas."

NASCAR hasn't let Toyota run unchecked in the months since. "We continue to monitor all of our competitors," Pemberton said Tuesday through a series spokesman. Hate to break it to you, gang. But Busch and that No. 18 squad are just good. The relative looseness of the Gibbs shop, the hands-off approach taken by crew chief Steve Addington, a pit crew capable of turning out consistently strong stops -- that's not a fix. That's the pieces fitting together perfectly.

Besides, if the Toyota engines are as hot as some out there beyond the grassy knoll think they are, why are Busch and Denny Hamlin the only two Camry drivers to win Sprint Cup races this year? Why is Tony Stewart winless? Why is Busch the only Toyota driver in the top eight in championship points? Why are Toyota drivers Michael McDowell, Michael Waltrip, J.J. Yeley and A.J. Allmendinger dancing around the top 35 in owner points, and in danger of missing the big show on any given week? If Toyota does have this incredibly unfair advantage, why aren't we seeing better results across the board? Busch is a machine, and Brian Vickers has shown marked improvement. But beyond that, the rest of the manufacturer's results thus far in 2008 could easily be classified as disappointing.

If Toyota really is squeezing more horsepower out of its engines, even while playing with the pieces NASCAR mandates and within NASCAR's set of rules -- a scenario that doesn't seem that farfetched, to be honest, given the efficiency with which Toyota makes passenger cars -- then more power to it. The other nameplates need to step it up. But more than likely, this isn't about engines at all. Because many of those e-mails screaming about conspiracy theories eventually deteriorate into tawdry remarks about Pearl Harbor and rice wine. No, this all stems from the same thing that makes many politicians want to build a 20-foot-high fence around the country. This is about fear.

Which, in this case, is completely unmerited. We're not talking about a factory that could get shut down and shipped off to Zihuatanejo. We're taking about a sport, and people who have willfully chosen to compete in your backyard, at your tracks, with your people and your rules. Last we checked, Joe Gibbs Racing is based in Huntersville, N.C., Kyle Busch was born in Nevada, and Toyota's racing headquarters are in Southern California. So stop acting like Toyota's NASCAR effort is some Godzilla who's stomping the competition and taking all the money to Japan. Keep doing that, and you're being as obstinate as you often believe the driver of the No. 18 car to be.

And what about Busch? He'll almost certainly still hear the boos, taking heat from people who see him as the personification of a car manufacturer that makes them shift nervously in their seat. Too bad. The kid's going to bust his butt this weekend, trying to drive in three races in three cities in three days -- Craftsman Truck Friday in Fort Worth, Nationwide Saturday in Nashville, Sprint Cup Sunday in Pocono. That, on top of an appearance in Stewart's charity dirt race Wednesday in Rossburg, Ohio. All those folks who whine about what the old-school drivers used to be like? Well, you've got one, if you can just get past the kind of car that he drives.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.