If there is one thing you can always be sure of, it’s that no matter what changes with the cars and drivers, the short tracks will always provide a good show. Saturday night’s race at Richmond was no exception, and it gave us everything we’ve come to love about short track racing: beating and banging, tight battles, and flared tempers.
Montoya v. Newman Whether you believe it was warranted or not, Juan Pablo Montoya predictably retaliated against Ryan Newman because of the incident between the two earlier in the race. Montoya has shown in many previous cases that when he feels he’s been wrecked, he will retaliate. Denny Hamlin’s post race comments made it clear that every driver knows it too. And as part of NASCAR’s “have at it” policy, neither driver was penalized or called into a post race meeting with NASCAR. Both drivers were clearly still upset after the race, and with no penalty coming from NASCAR, don’t be surprised if Newman and Montoya tangle again in the future. Both drivers felt wronged, and it’s hard to blame either side.
Martin Truex Jr. The troubles for MTJ continued at Richmond, when his race was effectively ended by a bad pit stop. Truex had to come back to pit road after the front changer had lugnut issues (clearly a loose wheel), and his frustrations exploded into a tirade over the radio in which he “fired” his entire pit crew. This comes only a few weeks after Truex was angry with his team over a hung throttle that ended his day at Martinsville. I wrote a couple years ago about drivers and their love/hate relationship with pit crews, and in this case the hate was on full display. Hopefully front changer Corey Quick doesn’t lose his job over the incident, but if he does, he won’t be the first to be replaced this season (see Denny Hamlin).
Jimmie Johnson On a night when he didn’t have a particularly stellar run, somehow 4-time 5-time again found a way to finish in the top ten. You really have to hand it to this bunch because they never give up. But what I really wanted to say about Jimmie, is that he proved on Sunday that social media is a beautiful thing (and entertaining too). When a fan thanked him for “running over the 20″ on Twitter, Johnson responded with “he ran me across the apron. I’m sure it looks easy from the couch.” Nice.
Now it’s on to Darlington, where the “Lady in Black” will make sure 2011′s drama continues.
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To anyone not sitting in the #00 pit, what initially transpired between Kyle Busch and David Reutimann was nothing more then a racin’ deal. Reutimann slipped up in the center of the corner, and Busch couldn’t check up fast enough. It was an accident, pure and simple. What followed was a classic overreaction. (In case you missed it, view the whole incident here.)
After getting his car back in racing shape, Reutimann went back on the track and waited for his chance. He would get it on lap 156. The two drivers were side by side out of turn two, and Reutimann took his shot down the backstretch. The #00 would again end up spun around, while Busch’s car sustained serious damage to the rear end and rear suspension. Reutimann would end up 35th, eleven laps down, while Busch soldiered home 21st.
You may agree or disagree with me, but I believe Reutimann overreacted terribly. I understand he and his team were upset by having their day ruined by the #18, but the contact was in no way intentional. So instead of trying to salvage a decent day for his team, Reutimann decided to kill Busch’s day as well.
What I think is interesting to note here is Reutimann’s deficit to 13th in the points. After Dover, Reutimann was only 173 points behind Ryan Newman for 13th (remember there is a big bonus for being the highest finishing non-Chase driver). A few good runs along with some trouble for the 39, and Reutimann could have been right there. Now, following the dustup at Kansas, Reutimann is 253 points out, and has basically eliminted himself from that bonus money. I hope the payback was worth the million dollars that he may have thrown away in the process.
I can understand wanting to get payback if an incident was intentional, or appeared intentional. This was neither. And obviously Busch has a reputation for these sorts of incidents, so I can see that side of the argument. Reutimann was trying to show that he is a driver that is not to be messed with (especially by Kyle), but in this case, his actions were not warranted. If he ended up choosing to not get payback, no driver would have thought less of him. In the end, all he really accomplished was making himself look like an ass.
Besides the unneeded retaliation, I also wanted to throw in my two cents about non-Chasers racing Chasers. I’ve written this before, but those outside have absolutely no obligation to treat the Chasers with kid gloves. If you are on the track, you are fair game. And you are especially fair game if you intentionally wreck somebody. The Chasers should not be given a free pass to rough up whoever they please just because another driver isn’t in the Chase. This isn’t necessarily what happened on Sunday between Reutimann and Busch, but I wanted to make the point anyway.
“Boys, have at it” may have finally reached its limit.
In the final lap of the Nationwide race at Gateway this weekend, familiar foes Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards went at it…again. Each driver took a shot at the other, beginning with Keselowski into Edwards, and ending with Edwards into Keselowski (and Keselowski into the wall and Shelby Howard into him). The controversial end to the race is just the latest in a series of incidents since NASCAR loosened its grip on driver confrontations.
Overall, I think we can all agree the policy shift has been successful. Drivers are now settling their disputes between each other, and NASCAR is not affecting points or relationships. Like all good things though, there comes a time when too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing – we may have seen that Saturday night.
Perhaps the goal of these two is to see which can kill the other first – I don’t know. That said, I can’t necessarily blame either for their individual actions. Brad was utilizing the bump and run (it didn’t work), and Carl wasn’t happy about it (given their relationship that’s no surprise). What transpired just short of the start/finish line though should be yet another warning for all those considering ending a fellow competitors day on track.
Did you see how hard Shelby Howard hit Keselowski? The front stretch at such a small track is dangerous with the checkered flag in the air. Again, I don’t necessarily blame Carl for doing what he did, but I think we’re nearing the point when NASCAR needs to draw a line in the sand, and say “this is not acceptable.”
The problem with NASCAR issuing damaging penalties though is that it could have a chilling effect on the policy. If drivers see that there are limits, they might be more apt to keep their mouths shut and their frustration private – something NASCAR desperately wants to avoid.
NASCAR has to walk a very fine line with this (especially under the circumstances). Too much of a penalty they risk alienating a positive policy change. Not enough, they enhance the environment for something more serious to occur.
So far we’ve just seen probation given to those who have actively engaged in on-track retaliation this season. Could that change on Tuesday (NASCAR’s usual penalty announcement day)? I honestly don’t know, but I wouldn’t be surprised either way.
What do you think? Was the payback justified? Should Carl be penalized? What’s the limit for ‘boys, have at it’? Talk amongst yourselves.
NASCAR policies often ebb and flow in their enforcement. In the past we’ve seen a sanctioning body that really likes to loosen things up when people start complaining; but when that inevitable watershed event occurs enforcement gets ramped up again.
In true NASCAR form, this season brought us one of those promises of lighter enforcement. They wanted to foster an atmosphere of self-policing (within moderation of course). In response to that just more than a month ago Robin Pemberton looked at the gathered media and said, “Boys, have at it.”
Well Sunday in Atlanta, NASCAR got their wish; the boys had at it. After getting wrecked early in the race, Carl Edwards returned to the track 153 laps down and quite clearly took out the guy who helped him into the wall earlier.
That guy, Brad Keselowski, has made a name for himself in his very short career of getting involved in incidents like this one. Remember the Brad K. v. Denny Hamlin feud just a few months ago? Right or wrong, being aggressive and unapologetic about it is his style.
So with that, it was only a matter of time before an incident like this one occurred and it came as no surprise (to me at least) that Brad K. was involved.
I applauded NASCAR’s move before the season began and I still believe it was a good call. I think this incident though should be a wake up call to everyone in the garage. There’s self-policing and then there’s self-policing. Everyone needs to agree this sort of thing can’t be tolerated. Obviously Carl didn’t mean for Keselowski to get airborne, or expect that happen, but the possibility always exists at 200 mph.
That said though, I have a hard time justifying a suspension, and I’d be surprised if NASCAR issued one (famous last words). Even more, of all people to be calling for someone to get suspended for aggressive driving, it’s almost laughable that person is Brad Keselowski. By all means he deserves to be angry for what resulted from the payback; he could have been seriously injured (thankfully he wasn’t). But if ever there was a situation where that old idiom ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ applies, this is it.
No question, it’s unfortunate this happened. Frankly drivers should know better than to do things like this. While I can’t say what the proper punishment should be here, Robin Pemberton has said NASCAR will evaluate the incident further. If there are additional penalties, we’ll likely hear about them by Tuesday.
So what do you think? Was the retaliation justified? What, if any, should the punishment be for retaliating on track?
Following another run-in with Brad Keselowski during Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at Phoenix, Dave Burns of ESPN asked Denny Hamlin if NASCAR needed to get involved. Hamlin responded: “No, no, I’ll take care of him. It’s no biggy. I got him.”
Anybody else looking forward to this situation heading to Homestead?
In his ascension to the Cup Series this year, Keselowski has often used his bumper and some aggressive driving to get the job done. And it seems as though he’s done it more often lately. He has been called out by a few drivers including Hamlin and the brothers Busch. But strong words and threats from competitors haven’t slowed him down. Maybe a little retaliation will.
Hamlin and Keselowski have had on track incidents before, but fuel was added to the fire on Saturday. Following a restart, Hamlin’s Toyota got into Keselowski’s Chevy into turn one, sending the #88 car up the track. On the same lap, Keselowski attempted payback into turn three, but missed. Then in the center of three and four, Brad K. caught Hamlin and laid the bumper to him, sending Hamlin’s GameStop Camry around in front of the field.
After the warning from Hamlin during a post race interview, and the comments from other drivers, Keselowski was called into a meeting this morning with Cup Series directory John Darby and NASCAR’s CEO, Brian France. Keselowski told reporters the meeting “went real well.”
I certainly can’t fault Brad for being aggressive, as he is out there to win. And a little bumping and banging, along with some flared tempers always makes for some good racing action. But Keselowski needs to be a little more careful about who he roughs up. If he continues to cause problems with some of the sport’s top drivers, they can make life very difficult for him. He will be entering his first full season of Cup competition in 2010, and in order to be successful, he’s going to need at least a few friends. A driver that doesn’t respect him won’t give him room on the race track and they won’t help him out when he needs it.
Hopefully though, he is able to find a balance between being aggressive and also respectful. Mending a few fences along the way probably wouldn’t hurt either.
But no matter what happens, it sounds like things could get interesting this weekend at Homestead.