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Former champion Darrell Waltrip says drivers are racing more recklessly and he worries how soon it could be before a driver is unable to walk away from a spectacular accident.

Waltrip admits the cars are safer but suggests that the added safety measures embolden drivers into taking greater risks, particularly at the end of races -- as seen with last-lap crashes at Talladega this spring and Daytona last weekend.

"These guys are driving more recklessly then they ever have before because they can't get hurt," Waltrip said Tuesday. "And that's where we are now with these cars.

"Sure, I'm going to block. I'm going to run all over you because if I hit the wall, so what? It's soft. If I hit the wall, so what? I've got a HANS device. If I hit the wall, so what? I've got a big seat. I ain't going to get hurt.'

"We got comfortable like this once before with safety and we ended up with some people hurt. I know we're in better shape than we've ever been before, and God only knows that you don't want anybody to get hurt, but there is an awfully eerie feeling for me that these guys have got a comfort zone with this safety thing that makes me nervous."

Waltrip says the yellow-line rule should be re-examined. NASCAR prohibits anyone from going below the yellow line at the bottom of the track to pass. That keeps drivers from getting into the grass to make a move but also makes for less room that a lead car has to block.

"It just takes smart people with maybe some new ideas that we haven't thought of," Waltrip said of finding a solution.

PIT STOPS: Braun Racing announced that it will have David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson and Brian Ickler join Brian Vickers in driving for the Nationwide team the rest of the season. ... Kurt Busch is scheduled to throw out the first pitch and lead the singing of the seventh-inning stretch at the Chicago Cubs' game Sunday. Busch is a longtime Cubs fan.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com