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Jeff Hammond pulls Darrell Waltrip out of the Hollywood Hotel and surprises him with his undefeated 1981 Mountain Dew Buick.

It starts with 'P' and rhymes with 'T' and it stands for Trouble

Well the P is for Phoenix and the T is for trouble. Phoenix is a disaster in waiting for a lot of these teams because there are so many places at that track where you can get into trouble. You have the dog-leg off the back, the tight racing off of Turn 4, the front straightaway is really narrow and heavy braking getting into Turn 1 and the list goes on.

So it's a tough little ol' track. A lot of people are talking about Mark having won there in the spring and that it will give him an advantage this time. It's true he won but it was sort of a night race. This time the race starts in the afternoon. You will have the sun in your eyes as you head down the front straightaway and that will be an issue they have to deal with.

As we've told you many times in the past, that Phoenix track has an identity crisis. Sure it's a 1-mile track, but you race it like a short track and it acts like it's a superspeedway. And then on top of all that, you have to throw in the fact that it's flat.

Don't you find it ironic that the two best drivers at Phoenix -- Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin -- are not only teammates, but also 1-2 in the points? So that will be really neat to watch as they battle it out for the championship.

I always loved driving at Phoenix. It's a driver's track and it's a lot of fun. But again, looks can be deceiving. When you watch qualifying, watch that ticker because when they are hauling down that back straightaway they will be hitting 165 mph to 170 mph. Then come race time watch the drivers use the apron. You'll see guys like Kevin Harvick go all the way down on it in both turns to pick up some grip in those left side tires.

[Read the rest of DW's latest column . . . ]

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Darrell Waltrip entertains Pepsi Contest winners at his museum in Harrisburg, NC. (Darrell Waltrip Motorsports / Special to FOXSports.com)

The Pepsi contest winners got to enjoy a private luncheon with DW and hear all the stories from "back in the day" on all his cars on display. (Darrell Waltrip Motorsports / Special to FOXSports.com)