by Ryan McGee

It is a long-rumored but rarely spoken of constant of NASCAR life. Like the Bermuda Triangle or Big Foot, its existence is never in doubt, yet never proven. Few in the garage dare speak its name aloud, but all have believed in its existence.

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"Did you see Harvick's practice speeds?"
"I guess he got The Call this weekend."
"Have you ever gotten The Call?"
"Shut up, dude. They might be listening."

As long as NASCAR has sanctioned races there have been those who look between the yellow lines of its most spectacular moments and dare not to believe, openly speculating that the illuminati in Race Control regulate everything happening on the racetrack. Every amazing win is followed by their mad search for a second tire changer behind the grassy pit stall. Every tear-jerking moment met with skepticism from those who believe that Brian France may actually be Vince McMahon in disguise.

Case study #1

The place: Daytona International Speedway
The race: Pepsi 400 | Results
The date: 7/3/04

Jeff Gordon's car features a special Pepsi Cola paint job, and if he wins the Pepsi 400 in the Pepsi Chevy then fans across America get a free 2-liter bottle of new low-sugar/low-cal Pepsi Edge. He starts from the pole and leads the most laps en route to the victory. In the Pepsi 400 Victory Lane he takes a swig of Pepsi at a track that sells only Pepsi products.

Sweet. Perhaps a little too sweet ...

The prophets of gloom and zoom claim that The Call comes in many forms. It could be a slightly larger than normal engine allowed to slip through tech inspection, a gallon of special fuel smuggled into the Chosen One's tank, or a restrictor plate that isn't so restrictive after all.

Case study #2

The place: Daytona International Speedway
The race: Pepsi 400 | Results
The date: July 4, 1984

Richard Petty and Cale Yarborough duke it out in front of the first U.S. President to attend a NASCAR race and on ABC's Wide World of Sports. Petty wins by inches, earning his 200th career victory.

After the race it is noted that both Petty and Yarborough are staunch Republicans and eyewitnesses swear that Ronald Reagan gives The King a wink during the congratulatory handshake.

Was it all a vast right wing conspiracy?

Our crack investigative team has been on the case for months now. But before we reveal our findings, it is important that you fully understand the accusations behind our probing inquiries. The Call allegedly comes in many categories, all of which are categorically denied.

Scenario number one — sponsor love.

Jimmie Johnson, driver of the Lowe's Chevy has made the Lowe's Motor Speedway his own personal improvement warehouse. Over 10 career starts he has racked up five wins, two All-Star wins, two pole positions, and hasn't finished lower than third since 2003. In May 2004 and 2005 Johnson was joined in the Lowe's Victory Lane by Kyle Busch, who won the companion Busch Series races in a car sponsored by ... Lowe's.

"I can see where the conspiracy theorists would have a field day with this," Johnson admits. "But there's nothing to it. Really. No, really."

Scenario number two — the heart-warmer.

In 1998, Ricky Craven was forced to sit out a dozen races due to a concussion suffered during practice in April. A New England racing legend, Craven climbed back into his car three months later at his home track, the New Hampshire International Raceway. In front of a very partisan crowd, he proceeded to shock the world by winning the pole. "This is too good to be true," Craven said at the time.

Yes, Ricky ... maybe it was.

Number three — the history maker.

Petty's 200th win falls into this category, as does Dale Earnhardt's 1998 Daytona 500 victory, coming on the first day of NASCAR's yearlong 50th anniversary celebration. Nothing guarantees a snatch of the headlines away from stick and ball sports quite like a major milestone. And nothing guarantees a major milestone quite like The Call.

Case study #3

The place: Daytona International Speedway
The race: Pepsi 400 | Results
The date: July 7, 2001

Dale Earnhardt Jr. returns to the Daytona International Speedway for the first time since his father's death and puts on a show never before seen in the age of restrictor plate racing. He passes three and four cars at a time throughout the night and comes from seventh to first over the closing laps to win. It is the most emotional win of his still-young career, but even the greatness of the feat isn't enough to curb the canonists of The Call.

"Quite frankly, that pissed me off," Junior says. "Why anybody would try to take away from that night I have no idea. The only things that won that race were a good car, a good team, and good luck."

Still, the night created an entirely new generation of skeptics. Once-gullible sportswriters began to question everything about the summer of '01. Was Lance Armstrong's third consecutive Tour de France win the work of dopers? Did Chan Ho Park groove a fastball to aging Cal Ripken Jr. so he could homer in his last MLB All-Star Game? Were refs on the take to help the Western Conference win the WNBA All-Star Game in Orlando? If so, did anyone care?

We recently went locked door to locked door trying to unearth the truth behind it all. First, we went to the drivers. Not surprisingly, most refused to speak on the subject. How does one expect to benefit from the magic of The Call if they run their mouth and give up its secrets? However a few brave souls did decide to stick their neck out. Sort of.

"Have I ever gotten what?" Jeff Gordon said, clearly playing dumb to protect The Man. "No. I wish I had."

"Yeah, I get calls," Kyle Petty admitted. "My wife calls me all the time."

"The calls I get come in crystal clear," added Ryan Newman. "With my Alltel mobile phone."

Okay, maybe we were barking up the wrong flagstand here. Our next stop was to the league itself, the men who allegedly sit in their skybox high above the action with briefcases full of performance-boosting equipment and chemicals.

After being denied access to the Concord, N.C. fortress known as the NASCAR Research and Development Center, we staked out the building by hiding in the woods behind the massive compound. A woman was spotted carrying nondescript brown plastic containers out of the building and loading them into an unmarked SUV. Did they contain some sort of secret remote control devices to pump nitrous oxide into the pre-scripted race winner's carburetor? Or perhaps detonators to burst the right front tire of any team on the outs with the league?

"No," she said when we rushed down the hill and questioned her. "I'm the caterer. These are ice tea dispensers. And what's with the camouflage?"

During last April's visit to the Texas Motor Speedway, we took our search into the epicenter of conspiracy theories — Dealey Plaza. It was there that we stumbled upon a man who wished to be identified only as Donnie, distributor of what he described as "groundbreaking information" about the JFK assassination.

"Lyndon Johnson gave the command to kill Kennedy, man," Donnie whispered, eyes darting left and right. "But it wasn't his fault. Castro controlled his mind with chemicals that they put in Johnson's beer. It's all in the pamphlet, man."

We handed him a pamphlet of our own, packed with the stories of Petty's 200th win, Junior's Daytona victory, and the Johnson/Lowe's collusion.

"The writing is on the wall, man," Donnie says. "These people can control whatever they want, man. You know Reagan was in an election year in 1984, man. An election year hanging with a guy they call The King, man? Think about that, man!"

We did, but it just confused us more.

"I guess people have always wondered about that stuff," His Royal Fastness himself told us during a recent trip back to NASCAR's version of Dealey Plaza, the Daytona International Speedway. "But even if NASCAR wanted certain guys to win races, the whole deal would be way too complicated to pull off. You're telling me that the other 42 guys are all going to lay down so that one guy can win a race? If somebody had ever come to me and said I needed to let up so that someone else could win because it be would nice, I might have tried to run over them."

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"I think the idea of The Call is something that race fans and even people here in the garage have always wondered about," says Jim Hunter, NASCAR VP of Corporate Communications and de facto spokesperson for the league. "But I think people know that we aren't actually arranging outcomes. It's just fun water cooler talk for fans to get worked up about. Hey, as long as people are talking about you, that's a good thing, right?"

And so we roll on down the road. To another race, another potential amazing memory, and no doubt another resulting round of scathing questions from those who doubt. Does The Call really exist? If so, from whom does it come and how is the beneficiary chosen each week?

Never fear, brothers and sisters, we will keep digging. The truth is out there. We know, Donnie told us so.

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Ryan McGee is the managing editor at NASCAR Images. He can be reached at his e-mail address: rmcgee@foxsports.com.