Just last week, Joey Logano and Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones engaged in an odd back-and-forth over a late-race mistake by Logano at Talladega.

So of course, it was Logano who would go on to take the checkered flag a week later in Texas.

The NASCAR gods are having fun with us.

Chipper Jones raised issue, seemingly innocently, with a decision by Joey Logano in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega.

Logano, he of obviously thin skin, fired back at the Baseball Hall of Famer.

This is a real thing, as our NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, explains on our weekly podcast.

Also on today’s show:

The uncomfortable couple of weeks with no activity in the talent-acquisition part of the silly season ended Monday with the news that UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom has landed a top Euro prospect, 6’11”, 235-pound German center Johann Grünloh.

Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-drought-is-over-uva-basketball-is-a-step-closer-to-filling-out-a-roster/ 

I’ve been telling everybody who writes me worrying about the financial state of UVA Basketball, don’t worry, we have the money to play big-boy basketball.

Then I see today what Maryland is paying Buzz Williams, and, gotta say, sorry, I take it all back, y’all were right, I was wrong.

Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/maryland-is-paying-buzz-williams-how-much-yeah-uva-basketball-is-falling-behind/ 

The NASCAR Cup Series had last weekend off, but the Truck Series and Xfinity Series were busy down in Rockingham, N.C.

Rod Mullins joined me on our weekly NASCAR podcast to hit the highlights from the weekend, focusing on the DQ of apparent Xfinity winner Jesse Love that gave the victory to Sammy Smith, and the threats from fans that have derailed the week of Katherine Legge following a late-race crash.

The Armentrout Towing/Old Dixie Towing guy facing a criminal reckless driving charge for driving menacingly through a Staunton political protest rally on April 5 got himself on the radar of the Staunton Police Department last fall for something else.

Story online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/staunton-pd-had-past-issues-with-tow-truck-driver-charged-in-april-5-rally-incident/ 

You might remember, I was on top of the UVA Basketball coach search from the get-go, being the first to tell you, among other things, way back in December, that Ryan Odom was one of the top candidates getting a look from the powers-that-be.

I only know that kind of stuff because people in the know tell me that kind of stuff.

I wish I was just that smart intuitively.

Nope.

Have you noticed that I haven’t had a lot to offer lately on the transfer portal?

It’s because the people in the know don’t know, either, why the flow of guys into the program has come to a halt.

There is talk in the industry about former UVA Basketball coach Tony Bennett being a possible target for the San Antonio Spurs, who don’t exactly have an official opening right now, but the writing seems to be on the wall, with respect to Gregg Popovich.

I can argue a million reasons why I don’t see Bennett-to-San Antonio happening, but still, this story has traction behind the scenes.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, in the first week of the Senate’s two-week recess, risked his life to try to bring home Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

Virginia’s senior senator, Mark Warner has been puttering around the state doing grip-and-grins with locals around the occasional roundtable discussion with important people in business suits.

Tim Kaine, the junior senator, spent the week in Europe.

He did make a stop in Ukraine, which is something.

Advantage: yeah, obviously, Chris Van Hollen.

MAGA Gov. Glenn Youngkin is claiming that an outfit called the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force has made more than 500 arrests as of Monday, though the governor’s office isn’t able to give us much detail on the nature of the arrests.