Open Season On The Track? I Think Not

by Jim on March 11, 2010 · 2 comments

No matter where you go, you see it all over the ‘net. “If they let Carl Edwards off like this, what’s next?” “A driver’s gonna get killed, or even worse, a fan!” “It’s open season on the track!!!!”

Like all the other doomsday predictions I read on NASCAR-related websites, this too, shall not come to pass. Allow me to explain.

First of all- the drivers won’t let it happen. What? It was a rogue driver that made it happen! For one thing, right or wrong, I think Brad Keselowski got a loud and clear message concerning his standing among the veteran drivers. It may have been Carl Edwards that pulled the trigger, but you’d better believe there were more than a few that would have loved the opportunity. I have no doubt that the young Michigan man will be thinking just a split second longer before he tries threading a needle he shouldn’t.

As for Edwards, I think he had his “Oh snap!” moment. Yes, I’ll concede he’s got a hair trigger temper, and if he hasn’t learned his lesson yet, he’d better before it, at the very least, it costs him his career. More on that later. As it is now, Edwards has a growing list of adversaries, some of whom bear no fear of the guy behind the “99.” Does the name Kevin Harvick ring a bell?

Did you read John “Dawg” Chapman’s article featuring that Randy Lajoie quote? That’s another reason you won’t see those so-called rivalries getting out of hand. These guys have to pretty much live together in this traveling carnival. I mean, look at some of the old rivalries among current drivers. On any given Friday, you’ll see Tony Stewart hanging out with Jeff Gordon. Just last Friday, there’s a nice little picture of Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch making small talk. Kurt Busch won’t likely be getting a Christmas card from Smoke, and I doubt his little brother will ever have much to do with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., but speaking of the younger Busch, I recall him calling former sparring partner Edwards his “BFF.” Heck, in this day and age of perpertual “Silly Season,” you never know when one of these dudes might be your teammate someday. Could you have ever imagined back in the day that the son of one of NASCAR’s most pugilistic legends, would be a teammate of one of his last great rivals? For the most part, it just doesn’t pay to get to nasty with one another. Furthermore, if you look at Lajoie’s remarks, there’s little incentive financially to move somebody out of the way to move up one spot.

Speaking of thuggery (real or imagined), the sponsors won’t let it happen. Does it not strike you as ironic that this latest brouhaha featured one of NASCAR’s most marketable drivers? When sponsors have been leaving one driver for another, where have they been going? To Mr. Pepsodent.

Now imagine you are the marketing manager or advertising agency for Aflac, Scott’s, or Subway. What do you think your response would be to a “nasty gram” from a disgruntled fan? Well, I’ll tell you now, a reader got a response from an executive representing one of Edwards’ sponsors. They took the time to contact me, to let me, and I’m sure other media members know that this incident hasn’t gone unnoticed. Read that, the dude is in hot water. Their letter states that they see the driver as an ambassador, and you can read that to say they take a dim view of one of their ambassadors behaving badly in public view.

Frankly, I’ve said one of the reasons why this sport has gotten a bit vanilla is because drivers don’t want to jeopardize sponsor relationships, especially not in this climate. Now if you sign on with Kyle Busch, Robby Gordon, Kevin Harvick, or one of those guys, you know you’re getting a guy who might pop off verbally, or maybe even “pop” a driver, a la Curtis “Pops” Turner once in a while. In spite of his growing reputation among serious fans, Edwards has cultivated that Opie Taylor, Mr. Positive image a la Jimmie Johnson. After this week’s incident, Edwards’ visage has been on everything from the Weather Channel to ABC Evening News. Regardless of whether or not he decided to flip Kez, you’d better believe Edwards has zoomed to the top of the “Bad Boy” charts, and he’ll hear boos like he’s never heard before. Unlike, Kyle, Cousin Carl won’t like it. I really think Edwards regretted hitting Keselowski the minute he saw the “12″ car flip. I’m certain he breathed a sigh of relief when Keselowski walked away.

If there’s ever another run in between Carl and Keselowski, I’d bet it would be because Brad initiates it, because frankly, I don’t think Edwards will want any part of Keselowski now- after all the fallout. But you know what? It’s not gonna happen. Oh, there’ll be bumping and banging between other drivers, and maybe even the principles in this conflict. The difference is now, you’re not going to see NASCAR over-legislating the regulation of it.

Without naming names, I can think of at least one driver who pretty much mortgaged his career of racing in quality cars away because he couldn’t keep his nose clean, even his reputation was as much about perception as it was reality. You may think your opinion may not matter, but this season has been replete with examples of you, the fan, getting NASCAR’s attention. Furthermore, I see evidence you have corporate America’s attention, and you’ve always had the driver’s attention.

Time will tell whether or not I’m wrong. Even with all this aside, the wing, which played a part in Keselowski flipping is going away as well. I’ve always been more a free market kind of guy, a little bit on the Libertarian in some of my views. I think one reason NASCAR didn’t have to step in more heavily, is because they knew they didn’t have to.

You may think the brass at NASCAR may be crazy, but this may be an instance where they were crazy like a fox. I bet we’ll see where Carl Edwards has learned his lesson- thanks to the sponsors, the fans, and if it continues, let us remember well what happened to Kurt Busch. Jack Roush may be a patient man, but he won’t suffer foolishness for long.

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Is Brad So Bad?

by John Chapman on March 10, 2010 · 12 comments

Brad Keselowski came into Cup like a fox in the hen house. It just happened that Carl was the first to get his feathers ruffled. OK, more than ruffled, more like his neck rung, and his feathers plucked. Apparently he hasn’t forgiven, or forgotten.

If you believe that "Bad Brad" had a lesson coming ( I’m not totally convinced), I’d still have to question the advisability of showing him the error of his ways on the fastest track on the circuit. If we take a look at the incident at Atlanta that spoiled Carl’s and Joey’s day, what I see is Carl making a banzai move from the high line to the bottom. Only one problem, Brad was already there. Brad said in his interview, that he tried to give Carl room, but that there wasn’t time.

Remember the speeds. I think I’d have to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. If he’d jumped on his brakes, he’d have gotten run over. If we look back to Talladega, where this thing really started, I see a clear culprit…..blocking. Carl tried to block a driver who was extremely hungry, who also remembered what happened to Regan Smith, when Tony blocked. If you try to take a pork chop from a pit bull, what do you think is going to happen? One thing I don’t think is going to happen, is if Brad finds himself in the same situation again, the guy in front probably won’t try to
block.

If we believe what we read, then not only Carl and Denny, but half of the garage is down on Brad. Let’s see if we can figure out why.

I’m working on an interview with back to back Busch Series Champion Randy La Joie. I’ll give you a little preview that I think may hold the answer….

John: "We have a lot of long time fans who are upset with the NASCAR. What do you think about the state of Cup racing."

Randy: "There’s too much money in the sport today, no one’s hungry. When I was coming up, we needed every dollar we could get. If you were running sixth, and thought you could move up to fifth, you’d go for it because you needed the money. If you had to move someone, that’s what you did. Now all the drivers are too
good a friends. They all live together on Lake Norman. They park together in the Motor Home Lot every week. No one wants’ to make waves, or make anyone mad."

Make sense? It does to me. A multi-millionaire would race differently than someone who’s really hungry. I think Randy’s nailed it. These guys are comfortable racing against each other. Not just because they respect each others skills, but because they race the way everyone wants’ to. We see way too much of this- “After you.” “No after you.” Maybe they just don’t like racing against someone who takes them out of their comfort zone. Who doesn’t "play the game," and wait until the last laps to really start racing?

I’ve heard drivers whining to their spotters, or crew chiefs about someone "racing them too hard." Say what? Cup drivers are the second highest paid drivers in the world.Maybe it’s not all bad that Brad’s got them a little shook up.

Back to Carl, if he really felt that he needed to teach Brad something about respect, it might have been better to have waited until Bristol. Not only did he put Brad, and other drivers at risk, he also potentially could have put fans at risk also.

The way things are, NASCAR needs all the paying customers they can get. If Carl really felt justified  in making his point the way he did, I might suggest a better place to do it, but I won’t criticize his doing it. After all, I can’t see Jimmie Johnson doing it, and we all know what people say about him.

I’m sure after Brad’s been in Cup a while he’ll settle down. If we’re lucky, when he does, someone else will come along, and race like he’s racing now.

Until that time comes, I’ll keep my eye on him.

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Edwards and Keselowski: My Take

by Patrick Reynolds on March 9, 2010 · 12 comments

Did you intentionally wreck him?

“Well Brad knows the deal between him and I. The scary part was that his car went airborne which is not at all what I expected…” blah, blah, blah.

I heard a yes or no question. I didn’t hear a yes or no answer, which was what we were all looking for. Or I will admit that at least I was looking for it. I already knew the answer. But I was listening for Carl Edwards to say it.

And let me state I like Edwards. I have met him before and he was extremely nice and friendly. I won’t misrepresent myself here and pretend to be good buddies with him either. Over the years he has said and done things I like and said and done things I didn’t like. In Sunday’s Atlanta race I didn’t like.

Backing up the time machine, let’s take a look at the day’s first incident between Edwards and Brad Keselowski. Edwards approached turn one in the middle groove and once in the turn moved to the lower lane. Keselowski was already there. The pair bumped and up to the fence went the Edwards machine, damaging Joey Logano’s ride in the process.

Keselowski said he lifted but couldn’t slow enough to let the Edwards car in. Watching the race, that explanation seemed very plausible. There is a history of tension between the two so maybe Keselowski isn’t exactly looking to help ‘Cousin Carl’ either. The crash appeared to be a racing accident. If anything more, percentage lay with Edwards for the rapid lane change.

Fast forward roughly 280 laps and here comes the revenge move. Edwards turns right along the frontstretch and spins Keselowski. The car does one of the infamous backward lift pirouettes that high-speed stock cars are known for and crashes back to earth.

If Keselowski simply spins into the infield this discussion is not nearly as emphatic. But he didn’t. He took off flying. That is a huge problem.

The reverse turnovers are rare at Atlanta despite the car’s top speeds exceeding the superspeedways. They can happen. Elliott Sadler and Johnny Benson have shown their tailpipes to Michigan fans.

But if any driver hits another in front of them to send that person out of control then the hitter is responsible for whatever happens. If it a lazy spinout, he bears responsibility. If the car flies into the grandstands and spectators have consequences, he bears responsibility.

The blame for the 2009 Talladega crash between these same two also falls at Edwards’ feet. He blocked Keselowski, the trailing Brad simply held his line and into the fence goes the Roush-Fenway driver.

The other Keselowski crashing instances have no place in judging this issue. I agree that he made some mistakes and some drivers will not give the Michigan native any extra room. But no matter who did what to whom, the fans in the stands do not need to be dodging pieces from two guys’ attitude match.

“Have at it boys” was the slogan following NASCAR’s session on the offseason’s media tour. Robin Pemberton’s words were very clear that day. NASCAR would back off in policing bump drafting and other aggressive moves on the track. But there still was a line of dirty and over aggressive driving to cross. Words cannot be printed to outline a rule for every single racecar situation. There needs to be wiggle room for common sense. And everyone knew that.

Anyone who wants to throw this back in NASCAR’s face has no place to do it, unless they have selective memory and hearing. What happened Sunday was obviously over the line for Pemberton’s comment. NASCAR was specific in explaining that fact in that very same press conference.

Carl Edwards was parked for the remainder of the Atlanta race for the crash. And then proceeded up pitlane in the opposite direction, creating a second dangerous situation. His punishment is three weeks probation.

Probation is not a punishment. Any driver I have ever seen on probation and then makes another bad decision simply gets their probation extended. Probation has never been defined to the public. There is no consequence.

I am glad for a rivalry. I love to see raw emotion. But a car flew through the air after a deliberate dump, and created a dangerous scenario for the fans. This is the reason why restrictor plates exist at all, to keep cars on the ground and out of the grandstands.

If you purposefully spinout a car in front of you then you must accept responsibility for whatever that car does, intended or not. Carl Edwards did something wrong on Sunday. In my opinion he got away with it.

(Patrick Reynolds is a former NASCAR mechanic who co-hosts the One and Done auto racing talk show Tuesdays at 11am ET on www.wsicweb.com)

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