Greg Biffle refers to himself as "The Biff." I'm not sure if that's supremely confident or supremely uncool, but whatever. What's indisputable is that sand dune racing is flat-out awesome, and The Biffinator (which is a far better nickname than "The Biff") had some fun recently out in the Cali sand:

But Biffle's not just playing around in the sand. He's also the point man for the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 Census effort. Videos of Biffle cruising the suburbs will soon start showing up; you can see some of the filming right here. When Greg Biffle comes to your street, friends, you'd better stand up and be counted.

Posted above: your first shot of cars rolling in the 2010 NASCAR season, taken Thursday during Bud Shootout practice, featuring Matt Kenseth's new look. Posted below: your info on the first wrecks of the 2010 NASCAR season.

Denny Hamlin is right there in the middle of the photo above, and Hamlin is also putting himself right in the middle of this young NASCAR season. During practice on Thursday, Hamlin collided with Mark Martin, setting off a multicar wreck that collected Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer. (Bowyer was running in the No. 29 car for Kevin Harvick, who was out sick.)

The wreck, which happened when Martin made contact with Hamlin, cut short a projected 45-minute practice session after 20 minutes and forced the drivers to use backup cars for Saturday night's Bud Shootout.

Oh, but the denting wasn't done. Just three minutes into the second practice session, Kurt Busch collided with Juan Pablo Montoya, sending KB into the wall. 

"That's what we were looking for -- aggressive bump-drafting [and] trust me, we're not finished," Biffle said afterward. "What are we, 20-30 minutes into practice? It's gonna be awesome." (Unfortunately, as I didn't see Biffle's interview live, it's tough to tell whether he was being sarcastic or serious.)

Martin, meanwhile, addressed the question of whether this kind of racing is an outgrowth of the "have at it, boys" new school of NASCAR oversight: "I don't think so. That's two guys trying to be on the safe side and ran together anyway. That's definitely not having at it. There wasn't no having at it." Darn tootin'.

You can check out video of the Hamlin/Martin dustup right here. Below, video of the Montoya/Busch wreck:

Oh, racing. We've missed you so.

If it's time for the Super Bowl, that means it's time for more Danica Patrick ad silliness. We've already brought you the '80s Weird Science homage ad, and now we've got one you won't be seeing.

CBS has rejected the following GoDaddy ad, for reasons which you'll have to determine for yourself. For those of you interested in such things, it's worth noting that CBS has already accepted a "Focus on the Family" ad featuring Tim Tebow but rejected a "ManCrunch.com" ad spotlighting a gay-dating site. It's your call as to where this ad, entitled "Lola," fits in:

Danica Patrick's banned Super Bowl ad @ Yahoo! Video

GoDaddy was shocked, shocked that the ad wasn't accepted, and made sure via press release that you know exactly how shocked they were: "Of the five commercial concepts we submitted for approval this year, this NEVER would've been my pick for the one that would not be approved," said GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons. "This is about a guy who starts an online business and hits the jackpot. I just don't think 'Lola' is offensive, in fact we didn't see this one coming -- we were absolutely blindsided!" Uh-huh. And if you believe that, I've got some Danica Nationwide Champion 2010 T-shirts to sell you.

Anyway, there'll be plenty of DanicaMania at the Super Bowl. And it's only just beginning.

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For more daily NASCAR and automotive news throughout the 2010 season, click here to bookmark Yahoo! Sports' From The Marbles blog and follow us on Twitter. 

Bringing you the best in NASCAR news and info to keep your day rolling right ... or left, whichever.

• Bill Elliott "don't feel no different than he did in his 30s," and bless him for that. Every year could use a little more Awesome Bill from Dawsonville. [NASCAR.com]

• These days, NASCAR drivers face their biggest dangers off the track. No more basketball, Frisbee or golf cart riding for you, drivers! [All Left Turns]

• Wait a second ... are the tracks making more money than we thought? Are they taking in a lot more cash than we all expected? Hang on a second! I want some money back! [Racin' Today]

• A Q&A with Kyle Petty about his expanded role at SPEED. No questions about the ponytail, alas. [Catchfence]

• The New York Times weighs in on Danica. The verdict? She'll have a tough time. [New York Times]

• Joey Logano will run a God of War III car this March. Sweet! [Playstation LifeStyle]

Got a link/tip? Hit us up at jay.busbee@yahoo.com and follow us on Twitter.

Here's a fun little clip from the ongoing HBO series "Jimmie Johnson 24/7: The Road to Daytona." As you may have heard, Jimmie Johnson wins races every now and then -- enough that he's been voted Driver of the Year four times. But what happens when the guy the award is named for -- Richard Petty -- gets a little fumblefingered? Hilarity, friends, hilarity. Click on the photo below to go to the video:

All right, maybe I oversold the "hilarity" part a bit. But still, it's always good to see The King in action. Plus, props to NASCAR scribe extraordiaire Dustin Long for predicting that the trophy might fall apart, yes?

Better late than never, I always say. For those closet Said-Heads out there (we know who we are), great news: In a partnership with Jack Roush Racing, Boris Said's Latitude 43 team, owned by Vermont businessman Bill Jenkins (who just wanted to get into NASCAR; you have to admire that logic) has received the owner's points from Roush's 26 team. That means Said has just had a starting spot in the Daytona 500 drop right into his lap.

The deal also includes 12 complete racing chassis, a Roush-Yates engine deal, and all the technical support Said's little heart desires. Having failed in two of his four attempts to qualify for the 500, Boris is understandably pumped about having a sure berth this year.

"I can't even tell you what [having a guaranteed spot] is going to be like," Said told NASCAR.com. "The four years I've tried to make the 500 -- I've made it twice and missed twice -- and how hard it is mentally, how it is to try to qualify for that race, it's a tough system and a lot of pressure on people.

"I wish that a Jimmie Johnson or a Jeff Gordon or a Dale [Earnhardt] Jr. could experience that once cause it'll make you tough. I feel this year for people like Max Papis, or even Michael Waltrip -- it's going to be tough for him. And I feel like I've hit the lottery, to be able to come down here and relax all week and know that I'll be in the greatest race in the world come Sunday [Feb. 14]."

Boris doesn't have a pit crew lined up yet; but minor details like that aren't going to stop the tousle-headed driver or dim the sparkle in his eye. He has managed to acquire sponsorship for the one race, in a hush-hush mystery deal to be announced hopefully later this week, and is still seeking sponsors for the other 35.

This is one more step in his journey from road-course-ringer to becoming a real boy. And who among us can wait to hear the inevitable jubilant shouts of all the curly-wigged fans: "Who said? Boris Said!"

Time again for a Marbles 2010 chat! Last week's chat got completely derailed by that freakin' iPad announcement -- the chat software was overwhelmed by Steve Jobs touchpad fetishists -- so we'll give this a go again. Join us at 1 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday to talk the upcoming season. See you here!

The wait is over! A dozen lucky tracks will be the site of Danicamania this year, and Danica fans in Vegas, California, Miami and other locales can start officially making their race plans.

Danica Patrick and JR Motorsports have announced Danica's 2010 Nationwide schedule, and it basically goes like this: Florida, Cali, Vegas, loooong time off, then most of the rest of the slate.

Still up in the air is whether Patrick will race in the Feb. 13 season opener at Daytona. She'll be racing in an ARCA event on Feb. 6, and based on her performance in that race, she may be slotted for the seat in the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet. (The car's already entered; it's just a matter of whether Danica will be driving it.) Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be running the 88 in the Nationwide race at Daytona, and after that, Kelly Bires will slide into the seat of that car; Bires is available to run the 7 if Patrick isn't deemed ready.

After Daytona, Patrick will race in California at the Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 20 and in Las Vegas on Feb. 27. She will then take a four-month break from NASCAR -- she does have a day job, you know -- and will return to the Nationwide series in late June at New Hampshire.

Here's how the rest of her schedule shakes out: Chicagoland Speedway (July 9), Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 14), Dover International Speedway (Sept. 25), Auto Club Speedway (Oct. 9), Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 15), Gateway International Raceway (Oct. 23), Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 6), Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 13) and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 20). She'll be missing out on racing at Bristol, Talladega, Atlanta and Richmond, among other notable tracks. This schedule -- heavy on the 1.5-mile cookie cutters -- should give her a chance to get comfortable at some of NASCAR's more straightforward, so to speak, tracks.

Already, tracks are capitalizing on Danica's presence; emails from the tracks where she'll be visiting are already showing up promising special Danica deals. She will bring in fans, and that's not a bad way to start.

Sometimes, team owners should be seen and not heard. Because when you put a microphone in front of a guy who's used to having everyone snap to at his every word, well, you might just get a little something unexpected and -- dare I say it -- offensive.

Exhibit A: Felix Sabates -- you know, the special guest star in "Earnhardt Ganassi Featuring Felix Sabates" -- who raised a few eyebrows and a few blood pressure rates in Detroit when he teed off on the state and Michigan International Speedway, calling the state and its people ...

Wait a second, Detroit? Hang on, this calls for some musical accompaniment. Give us some Motor City-appropriate audio, Mr. Mathers:

Ah, yeah. Perfect. So anyway, Sabates had some choice words about which tracks should lose NASCAR races, starting with Michigan International Speedway. Why?

"I mean, there's nobody left in Detroit other than the police and the unemployed," Sabates said. "I'd cut Michigan off the schedule altogether. Michigan -- I'm talking about the state -- is never coming back to what it used to be, so why go there and throw good money after bad money?"

Wow. Brilliant move there, Felix, kicking NASCAR right in one of its sweet spots. What's next, saying "Sweet Home Alabama" sucks? Demanding all beer be removed from the infield? Come on, man, could you be any more out of touch?

Rather than tearing Sabates a new one, MIS president Roger Curtis took the high road:

"He races Chevrolets. His peers are Jack Roush and Roger Penske -- fine examples of Michigan's resilience. Hopefully, they can explain to him why NASCAR races at MIS," Curtis told The Detroit News. "We draw 100,000 fans on our worst day and a lot of those great fans make big sacrifices to come here. I'll make sure to invite him to sit with me and the fans in the grandstands this summer. Then he'll see what great fans we have, the beauty of this area and why we race here. Even in the economic conditions that we're in, and attendance being down a little bit last year, MIS is still a huge economic driver with our two NASCAR weekends, and we're very proud of that."

Yes, I'm sure Felix will be rushing right out to sit in the stands with the Great Michigan Unwashed after his comments. Still, seems like somebody -- my money's on Kid Rock -- got to Sabates, and late Friday afternoon, he issued an apology:

"In an attempt at humor I made some comments about the city of Detroit and the people of Michigan that were in poor taste and that I sincerely apologize for,” Sabates said. “I have worked directly or indirectly with the auto industry for over 40 years as both an auto dealer and a NASCAR owner and it was never my intention to put down the auto industry, its workers, the city of Detroit or the state of Michigan. I have such respect for all of them.

"I am so frustrated over the challenges that this tough economy has brought to everyone in this country that I inadvertently joked about one of the areas hit the hardest. Those of us that have the luxury of getting to work in such a great sport like NASCAR owe a great deal to the city of Detroit and their support of the auto industry because without either, the sport of NASCAR would not be what it is today.

"In fact, Michigan International Speedway, even in this tough environment drew an impressive 100,000 fans to the track at their last race.

"My sincerest apologies to anyone that I might have offended, it was certainly not my intent."

All righty then. Nice gesture by Sabates, albeit way way way too late. Still, if you're going to screw up like this, now's the time to do it. By the time the Michigan races roll around this summer, nobody's going to remember this.

Unless Bob Seger writes a song about it, that is ...

In a cost-cutting move, NASCAR has decided to take a hatchet to those big ol' checks that everybody gets at the end of the race. Purses will be cut by 10 percent in all three national series -- Sprint, Nationwide and Camping World Truck.

"Last year we launched an industry-wide effort to help the sport manage budgets in this economy," said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston. "NASCAR did the right thing to work with the tracks to reduce their costs in order to manage the economic realities. In return, the tracks have done a great job reducing ticket prices and enhancing the fan experience. Likewise, we worked with the teams to contain costs, such as elimination of testing and other steps. This is consistent with how virtually every sport and business has adjusted to the economy over the past year."

Wow. That is huge, folks. Do you have any idea what this means? This means that Paul Menard might not clear $4 million this year! How are these guys gonna scrape by?

In all seriousness, this is a reasonable and relatively pain-free way for NASCAR to save a few bucks. The money at a NASCAR race gets distributed and passed around like beers at a tailgate -- the tracks get television money, then feed a portion of the television money back to the winners' purse, and NASCAR gets a share of the TV coin, and reroutes some of that to the purse as well. It's all kind of byzantine, and it's probably best not to think too much about how many fingers are in that pie. (Yours and mine most definitely aren't.)

While attendance revenues are projected to drop by about 5 percent this year, TV money is expected to increase by at least 2.5 percent. Indeed, Fox is expecting that Daytona will have a 100 percent ad sellout this year, a reflection of an improving ad economy.

There's plenty of the typical doom-and-gloom surrounding NASCAR, and much of it will be perpetuated by know-nothing flyover media reports in the next couple weeks. (Gold star to the person who counts the most hack "NASCAR in trouble!" articles in the Daytona runup.) But the sport is at least giving the appearance of taking this financial crisis seriously, and NASCAR -- at least in theory -- could be well positioned to take advantage of the eventual economic recovery.

Okay, this is F1, but give it a view, NASCAR fans. Courtesy of our pals at Red Bull Racing, here's Sebastien Buemi doing a little rubber-wheel skating. The video commemorates F1's return to Montreal in 2010, but who cares -- it's a car on ice! With cool music! What else do you need, huh?

Remember, folks, you shouldn't go driving on ice yourselves ... but if you do, make sure to film it. Just in case.

No sport offers up a more bewildering array of souvenir crap memorabilia than NASCAR, and They Make It digs deep into the corners of the Internet to bring all that strangeness to light. Today: classy illumination!

The item: NASCAR touch lamps, around $50 from Magic Touch Lamp.com.

The deal: Because nothing says class like a backlit, stained-glass Intimidator, we present these touch lamps. You know what a touch lamp is, right? When the concept of a "light switch" is too much to handle, you get one of these -- all you have to do is slap this thing anywhere on the base, and it turns on. (Just like your mom!) 

Anyway, there are all kinds of models, from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Kasey Kahne to Tony Stewart to Jeff Gordon to ... well, you get the idea. (One guess which one lights up brightest when you touch it.) Me, I simply cannot think of a better gift to get your NASCAR friend who's, let's say, getting married. Because what spouse wouldn't love the swankiness of a NASCAR touch lamp? That's the kind of style you can't bottle, friends!

The hat tip: Reader Nixiechick, who offered this assessment: "Tacky and functional!" If you've got some bizarre NASCARiana of your own to show us, send links and/or pics to jay.busbee@yahoo.com. We'll make ya famous!