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In a way, I understand why events in New Hampshire and the country took attention away from the NASCAR race run there.

Let’s be honest. It wasn’t much of one.

So desperate were NASCAR officials to make an example of Joey Logano that they made him sit in his car for an entire practice session. This was cruel and unusual punishment. They could have at least allowed him to write 100 times on a chalkboard “my car must pass inspection.” They could have given him a copy of the rulebook with the warning that there would be a pop quiz. They could have held him in the pits until he could recite the Gettysburg Address. They could have given him a choice of being paddled.

Thank you, sir. May I have another?

But nooooo. They made Logano just sit there, stewing in his juices, while desperate writers recorded for posterity the visit of his girlfriend and the possibility that it might be hot in there.

My God! The cruelty! They won’t even let him tweet!

You’re looking live at the No. 22 car on pit road. Joey Logano is still incarcerated in his cockpit. The vigil is now 19 minutes old. Logano remains strong and confused. He just had a piece of toast. He can’t believe it’s not butter.

I think Kyle Busch won on Sunday, but I’m positive everyone stood for the national anthem. The only unanswered question as the gypsy troupe left New England was whether or not the president would call Dale Earnhardt Jr. an S.O.B. based on his shocking use of the words of that noted radical John F. Kennedy.

The Golden State Warriors are no longer welcome at the White House. LeBron James said no one wants to go there ever since the new guy got elected. Hundreds of pro football players kneeled during the playing of the national anthem.

In Loudon, everyone stood for the national anthem, and, somehow, this was newsworthy, too.

Someone ought to come up with a new name for elected officials. The world as presently situated makes politicians out of everybody. Sports is politics. Music is politics. A Twitter feed is more political than the House of Representatives. Most people who claim not to want politics in sports and entertainment don’t mind it a bit as long as it’s their politics.

I understand it. I avoided distractions. I watched the race. Thank God for coffee.