I happen to believe that celebrities have the right to say whatever the hell they want; further, I tend to think that if an actor or an athlete feels strongly enough about an issue, he or she should use their higher profile to focus attention on it. Think: Lance Armstrong and cancer. Still, there are exceptions to every rule: Ladies and gentlemen, Clint Bowyer!

Needless to say, as GM and Chrysler churn toward bankruptcy, the state of the US auto industry in particular and the greater economy in general is Topic A in and around NASCAR. No wonder, then, that drivers are weighing in. Still, a man has got to know his limitations.

"This country can't survive without the auto industry, you know," Clint Bowyer said. "It's like I've said before, if they go under, we're walking. We don't drive, you know, we walk. They'll figure it out and we have to stay positive about this."

I admire Bowyer's confidence and faith in Detroit's ability to see its way out of a disaster decades in the creation, but the rest of it? We can't survive? Really? Sure, it will be painful, but we will survive. Or we're walking? I think not -- at the very least, that prospect might come as something of a surprise to Toyota. Or Honda. Or Nissan. Or Subaru. Or VW. Or Hyundai.