Where everybody knows their game: the folks at Dale Earnhardt Inc. have mastered restrictor-plate racing. With Talladega looming, the team shares a few secrets. (NASCAR).

This story begs for a prologue. Or at something along the lines of how an episode of a TV serial drama opens. You know the deal.

A deep voice rolls mellifluously through your speakers and says, "Previously on ..." whatever the show is. Then comes the series of quick video clips calculatingly designed to trigger your memory about past shows or else to catch you on up what wasn't recorded while your VCR blinked "12:00." Maybe it's a series of bad guys blowing away other bad guys on The Sopranos. Or a doctor on ER applying those electronic paddles to a victim's chest. Or a reminder of who recently has dumped whom and who has taken up with whom on some soap opera.