NASCAR could have used a couple of cones

If the world’s greatest stock car drivers can’t negotiate around a pothole, the rest of us don’t stand a chance. . . .

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was only joking Sunday when he suggested to his crew during one of two lengthy delays in the Daytona 500 that someone should put an orange cone over the hole and let the drivers try to avoid it. . . .

Let’s wait at least until after races at Fontana this week and Las Vegas next week before judging Danica Patrick, whose NASCAR debut was cut short by a crash she did not cause. . . .

The majority of spring training takes place in the winter. . . .

For the first time since 1997, neither Kobe Bryant nor Shaquille O’Neal played in the NBA All-Star game, helping to explain a nearly 40% drop in local television ratings from 2009. . . .

At Phoenix last year, the former teammates were co-MVPs. . . .

Presumably because of the Spaniard’s skill in the post, radio commentator Mychal Thompson recently referred to the Lakers’ nimble All-Star forward as “Gasol Olajuwon.” . . .

The next Clipper to start in the All-Star game will be the first since 1980, when World B. Free was paired with rookie Magic Johnson in the Western Conference backcourt. . . .

Before Ben Howland, the last UCLA basketball coach to have his team twice swept by USC in a season series was Wilbur Johns, John Wooden’s predecessor. . . .

California, chasing its first Pacific 10 Conference title since 1960, has not defeated a team ranked among the top 50. . . .

While Manny Ramirez worries about wearing out his legs in the outfield, reader Gerry Skinner of San Dimas e-mails to suggest, “He should be equally concerned about wearing out his welcome in Los Angeles, which he did some time ago.” . . .

Joe Torre told New York radio station WFAN on Tuesday that Matt Kemp last year “got so much better than I ever thought a player could get in one season.” . . .

Topping the Angels’ to-do list over the next six weeks is finding a replacement for Chone Figgins atop their batting order. . . .

Manager Joe Girardi, who wore

No. 27 last season as the New York Yankees pursued their 27th World Series title, has switched to No. 28. . . .

Thank you, Walter Fredrick Morrison, for the Frisbee. . . .

John Semcken, part of a group trying to lure an NFL team to the Southland and build an $800-million stadium in City of Industry, claims in an interview with the Boston Globe that 300,000 inquiries about the proposed stadium’s 58,000 general-admission seats have been made through the website losangelesfootballstadium.com. . . .

With labor strife looming in the NFL, it’s notable that Coach Sean Payton of the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints broke into the league during the 1987 NFL players’ strike as a replacement player for the Chicago Bears. . . .

He was, in other words, a scab. . . .

In an interview with hoopshype.com, Floyd Mayweather Jr. says, “If somebody had taught me all the fundamentals of basketball, I guess I could have played in the NBA.” . . .

Not likely at 5 feet 8. . . .

Spotted at a 99 Cents Only store: Floyd Landis’ “Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France.” . . .

The news that Verdugo Hills High won its first league basketball title in 51 years is a reminder that perhaps the best-known player in school history was Carl Boldt,a starting forward on the Bill Russell-led USF team that won the 1956 NCAA championship. . . .

On this date 25 years ago, John Walker of New Zealand ran a mile in less than four minutes -- for the 100th time. . . .

Longtime NBA watchers say Kevin Durant reminds them of Hall of Famer George “The Iceman” Gervin, who 40 years ago planned to enroll at Long Beach State before changing his mind and enrolling at Eastern Michigan. . . .

Dwight Howard presumably was kidding when he said of the giant video screen at Cowboys Stadium, which dwarfed the basketball court, “I’ve got to get one for my house.” . . .

An ace-king hole-card combination in poker is sometimes referred to as an “ Anna Kournikova” partly due to the common initials but also because it looks good but rarely wins. . . .

Noting that the Milwaukee Brewers plan to unveil a statue of Commissioner Bud Selig outside Miller Park on Aug. 24, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times writes, “Pigeons and catchers report Aug. 23.”

jerome.crowe@latimes.com