A Family Squabble- Edwards vs. Kenseth
Did you react the same way I did? I learned of the YouTube footage of the Carl Edwards- Matt Kenseth shoving match after last Sunday’s race in Martinsville and I was more than a little schocked. I’m thinking “What in the name of Richard Petty is this all about?” Well, unless you’re a casual fan or cave dweller, you know by now that this storm has been brewing for quite a while, and the portrayal of Team Roush, as seen in the Dish Network commercials, is not as realistic as we all thought.
My how a week changes things. Until now, Carl Edwards has been largely perceived as this classy, upbeat, generous racer who also happens to be a fairly successful Nextel Cup driver, sitting squarely in the middle of the Chase standings. I mean, who doesn’t like his celebratory backflips? His homespun demeanor has earned him the nickname “Cousin Carl.” Who wouldn’t like this Wally Cleaver type for a cousin? Yes, until now, “The King of Concrete” (he has a knack for running masterfully on concrete tracks) has received a pass for his display of temper with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a couple of other blow-ups on the track. Now suddenly the leader of the “Young Guns” has a reputation tarnished, and suddenly he’s showing up on “drivers I don’t like” lists on places like Yahoo Answers! alongside the usual suspects- Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and the like. Hey ya know, given the level of success those guys have had, maybe I wouldn’t mind being that list after all. What gives?
It is my opinion that the concept of teamwork is pretty tenuous to begin with. Let’s face it, auto racing is fundamentally an individual sport. Yes, there is the crew, but they are support for the man who gets the spotlight. On the track, it’s 43 men for themselves. Every race, especially lately where you have Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon running up front, a discussion will come up at a magic moment where commentators will tell you the team concept will go out the window from here on out, and if one teammate has to rub out another, so be it. As it is, we’ve seen the nature of competition test the mettle of the friendship between Gordon and Johnson, as they’ve battled hard against each other for wins. Apparently, the two didn’t speak to each other for two days after the spring race in Martinsville, but obviously they got over it. It begs the question: What are you supposed to do when racing a teammate? Do you give up track position because your teammate is higher in the standings or has more at stake? That seems to go against the grain of good old fashioned competition!
Realistically, all you can expect in my opinion is for your teammate to show you enough consideration not to put you in the fence. The concept of teamwork may also come into play when “drafting” on a Super Speedway like Daytona or Talladega. Otherwise, the only other place I expect to see the comeraderie you see in team sports is in the garage, where information will be shared among drivers, crews and engineers on what’s working out on the track. It also pays dividends with sponsors. Roush Racing (of which Edwards and Kenseth are a part), is a classic example of a team where you see a sponsor like Aflac or Dish Network on multiple cars. The team concept does also have that ancillary benefit getting multiple drivers together in commercials. Otherwise, I don’t think you can expect much more from a teammate. They have their own interests, and rightly so.
I never thought I’d see the day- I have to disagree with Carl on his complaint about team support. I honestly don’t think they OWE him a pat on the back when he wins. It would be a show of class if they did- but frankly I think you’re not going to get that from this personnel group. Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle, Jamie Mc Murray, and David Ragan are not cut from the same cloth as the guys at Hendrick or Childress. Heck, for that matter, I see better teamwork at DEI. Kenseth and Biffle are lone wolves, and the younger guys in the Roush group are preocuppied with trying to make their own mark in the sport. It’s been said by others that a lot of leadership was lost when Mark Martin left Roush Racing at the end of the 2006 season. This season seems to provide evidence of that.
If ANYONE was poised to be a leader in this group, it was Edwards. Unfortunately, this episode says a lot about what his oldest teammates think of him, and I’m not expecting we’ll hear from Mc Murray or Ragan on this. Instead of being put in a class with the aforementioned racing teams, we see with “Team Roush” a level of dysfunction we expect from Joe Gibbs Racing- home to NASCAR’s “resident rebel” Tony Stewart, and his strong-headed protege Denny Hamlin. It will take a long time for Concrete Carl to regain credibility with his team. To some, it wouldn’t matter.
It does to Carl. For him, this is going to hurt a while.
