Bob Pockrass: NASCAR should ban extra team cars in the Chase
Part-time Hendrick Motorsports driver Brad Keselowski finished 13th in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. // Jeff Robinson, NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
There has been a lot of talk about Brad Keselowski and whether NASCAR should have warned him about being aware of his surroundings during the Sprint Cup race at Kansas last weekend after he had contact with Juan Pablo Montoya.
Keselowski was driving for Hendrick Motorsports in one of his seven races for the team under a provision in the rule book that allows an organization to have a fifth car for a rookie to get used to Sprint Cup competition. Montoya is one of the contenders for the Chase For The Sprint Cup.
The contact was so surprising to Montoya that he said he figured Keselowski didn’t know he was there, that it wasn’t done on purpose. If that’s the way it looked to Montoya, then that’s probably the way it looked to NASCAR. A warning, or a reminder that a championship is on the line, isn’t totally out of line – just as NASCAR warns lapped cars at the end of the race that the leaders are coming by.
But this situation should never have happened. Beyond whether NASCAR was right or wrong to tell Keselowski to be careful around the Chase guys, there is a bigger question: Should Hendrick Motorsports – or any team that has cars in the Chase – be allowed to put an extra car out on the track during the 10 races that determine the championship?
No.
Joe Gibbs Racing is putting David Gilliland in a car for three races later this year, and it shouldn’t be permitted to do that either.
If these organizations have sponsorship or want to get a rookie ready, strike a deal to put Keselowski in a car for Phoenix Racing; put Gilliland in a car for Germain Racing or another Toyota team. But don’t create an uneasy situation where a part-time car could impact the Chase and help one of the other drivers in the organization.
It would have been totally ridiculous if Keselowski had damaged Montoya’s car. If he had wrecked him, there would have been allegations that Hendrick told him to wreck Montoya on purpose or at least to block him and make it difficult to get by. If Gilliland gets in an accident in that JGR car with some of the Hendrick cars and JGR’s Denny Hamlin gets the benefit, that just wouldn’t be right. The complaints would be just as loud as they are over whether Keselowski should have been warned in the first place.
Now most people would say a driver wouldn’t wreck anyone intentionally, and for the most part they’re correct. But even if an accident happened by mistake, it would leave a pretty sour taste in the mouth of those impacted that one of the Chase organizations had a part-time car that isn’t worried about points ruin it for other teams that are running for a championship. At least if it’s a driver with a full-time ride, the driver isn’t going to risk a points position or intentionally embarrass a sponsor by impacting the Chase on purpose.
If Keselowski was driving for Phoenix Racing, would it make any difference? It would, at least in perception that he was driving for a different team. Just as if Yates Racing put in a third car, it would be considered an entry that might help a Roush Fenway driver in the Chase but with a driver who most likely wouldn’t do anything radical to change the outcome.
For the record, Keselowski wasn’t trying to impact the Chase. He has every right to race Montoya as hard as he could. He was just racing.
But it’s the perception that’s bothersome. NASCAR doesn’t need the old days where owners in the championship fight would bring out extra cars to be enforcers on the track. If an organization has a car in the Chase, it just should not be allowed to field a part-time effort for another car. Period. End of story.
