According to media reports, NASCAR is considering further punishment for hapless Jimmy Watts, the unfortunate sap who made the absolutely dumb-as-a-rock decision to chase a stray tire into the infield grass at Atlanta on Sunday -- hey, those cars out there, they sure are moving fast! I wonder what would happen if one of those suckers suddenly, inexplicably lost control and came barreling toward me. Ah, never mind ... now, where'd that dang tire go?!?

Obviously, Watts vapor locked, and he said as much almost immediately; for his momentary lapse of brain function, Watts was suspended for the remainder of the race, and crew chief Gil Martin was fined $2,500 as the one ultimately responsible -- am I the only one who thinks fining the crew chief in this instance seems a bit extreme?

Anyway, NASCAR might put a further hurt on poor Jimmy. Really? Hasn't the guy been through enough already? Call me naive or ignorant or even dumb-as-a-rock, but from where I sit, professional and very public humiliation, something I know nothing about, is fairly sobering in its own right. At the very least, it serves to drive a point home pretty effectively, again, not that I'd know anything about that. But on top of that, poor Jimmy's got to deal with Matt Kenseth -- Kenseth! -- piling on.

"Maybe he hasn't seen us drive, but we tend to wreck a lot," Kenseth said (what, Tony Stewart was unavailable for comment?).

Somehow, I think Watts gets the idea. He can't be doing that again. From where I sit, any further punishment would be a bit like beating on a boxer who's already been counted out by the ref. Leave the poor guy alone.