by Darrell Waltrip

Photo galleries ... Atlanta remembrance Ordinal out of range Candlelight vigil Ordinal out of range Video ... Also ... DW: How to help DW: Heart goes out to Hendrick Hammond: Grieving before racing McReynolds: Extended family McReynolds: Coming together Stewart on his helicopter pilot McGee: Brother led team McGee: Dorton powered titles McGee: Like father, Ricky won

Larry from Norwell, Mass.: A loss like Hendrick Motorsports suffered affects all involved in the sport. Should NASCAR stop all activities for a week or so to show proper respect for this devastating loss?

Darrell Waltrip: Larry, one of the hardest things about our sport — and I've said it for years — is we never have time to grieve.

When tragedy strikes as it did in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt died at Daytona, we had to be in Rockingham the very next week. We had a race to run. Our sport touches so many folks — crew members, sponsors, fans. So many people are involved in what we do that as much as it hurts us to put on our gamefaces and act like nothing ever happened, that's just what we have to do.

Deep down inside, teams hurting. You don't want that hurt to stay inside forever. You've got to let it out. Whether you are a driver, crew member, owner or sponsor, the old saying, "The show must go on" never applied better than it does in the case of NASCAR.

Everybody will be sad, and in our hearts, we'll be thinking about the Hendrick crowd, but by the same token, I've been a driver my whole life. I know how drivers and crew members are. When they put on the uniform or the helmet, they lock out everything for awhile and do their jobs.

Ask DW
AskDW Subject: Comment/Question: Name:  Email:  Hometown:

As sad as it may seem and as cruel as it may sound, sometimes that's just what we do. In a lot of ways, that's how we medicate — by going back and doing what we all do so well.

NASCAR is always in a tough spot. There are going to be those who say they don't do enough while other people will say they do too much.

The bottom line is if we show the proper respect to all the Hendrick folks, and they know that we care about them and are sorry about what happened, it will go a long way in getting everybody over this tragedy.

I appreciate the thought. I've thought it many times myself. Why do we have to go to the race track when we're all hurting so bad? We do, and we'll all put our best face on and go out and do our jobs.