Drivers a little more clear on ‘boys have at it’ parameters following Keselowski, Edwards penalties

INDIANAPOLIS – Now that NASCAR has punished Carl Edwards and given a stern hand-smacking to Brad Keselowski, Sprint Cup drivers might have a better idea of where the lines of payback are, but there will be no certainty of what’s acceptable under the “boys, have at it” policy and what’s worthy of a penalty when the Brickyard 400 goes green Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Although NASCAR has loosened the reins on drivers, NASCAR officials have shown that they will penalize a repeat offender such as Edwards, who has retaliated twice against Keselowski with both altercations resulting in a pair of scary accidents. The latest, June 17 at Gateway International Raceway, resulted in a 60-point penalty and a $25,000 fine.

Edwards, who got a three-week probation for an incident at Atlanta in March, and Keselowski were put on probation the rest of the year to keep them from retaliating against each other. That is at least in part to keep other drivers from being innocent victims as several cars were damaged as a result of their Gateway feud.

“[They’ve] definitely drawn a line in the sand as far as how far you can take it and I think that’s a good thing,” said series points leader Kevin Harvick. “As drivers … we’ll just keep pushing it until someone tells us to stop. Obviously, last week I think there was a huge safety concern at the end of the race when all that took place.

“For the most part, you have a better understanding and you won’t take it to the next level. I don’t know what the next level is past the move that took place last week, but I guess you could find the next level.”

When NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton said in January “boys, have at it,” he was referring to restrictor-plate racing and officials taking a hands-off policy regarding bump-drafting. But it was part of a NASCAR philosophy to allow drivers to show more of their personalities as well.

“I think we took it in our own hands and thought that we could just do anything we wanted on the race track,” said Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin. “I don’t know if the garage is necessarily getting along with each other as good as they used to, but it doesn’t matter as long as the fans see a great race.

“I think the line has definitely been moved. I think what’s accepted out there is different now than what it was a few years ago.”

And that seems to be OK with most of the drivers.

“I’m very comfortable in understanding [the rule] and where NASCAR’s line is,” said Keselowski’s Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch “Are they the same? Yes. I would race somebody as hard as I would race them as long as I get raced the same way back.

“When somebody steps over the line there has to be a thought that goes quickly through your mind of, ‘Are you going to retaliate or are you going to pass them back clean?’ It just depends on how things happen. Ultimately it comes down to that Christian line of [treating] others like you want to be treated.”

Jeff Burton said he sees the Edwards’ penalty as indicating that payback is alive and well – that a 60-point penalty and probation is not that big inhibitor on the Cup side.

“I thought the penalty was less than it could have been, so that tells me they’re sticking to that ‘boys have at it,’” Burton said. “I think the one that really caused the most damage, and the one that put someone in jeopardy, was penalized less than he should have been penalized. … From my perspective what that told me is you can intentionally wreck somebody twice and there’s a 60 point penalty in the Nationwide Series. [It] doesn’t affect anything he’s doing for the big show.”

Edwards’ Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth said the penalty – or any of the rules – would impact much how he races.

“I’m still going to race the same, so that doesn’t really matter to me,” Kenseth said. “Whether it’s so strict that I’m going to get in trouble for something after the race, or it’s so loose that I wouldn’t, it really wouldn’t change how I race because you’ve got to race these people each and every week.

“It’s a long season. I think that if you respect people, most of the time you get that respect back and that’s what I’m going to try to do no matter what the rules are.”

Drivers seem mixed on how NASCAR handled the Edwards-Keselowski situation.

“It’s two guys that I really don’t agree with at all,” Hamlin said. “I think you’re only going to poke the lion long enough before you’re actually going to get bit and Brad and Carl, in my opinion, were just way overboard and shouldn’t have gone that far.

“I don’t agree with either. I think Brad’s going to have to figure out a way to get some attention other than winning a Nationwide race or running into somebody. … Brad is always getting into somebody and then it’s retaliation, then somebody is getting back into him. I think that until he changes, that’s going to continue and then Carl, that was just a bad move.”

Even with the penalties, the line of crashing someone on purpose will continue to be debated.

“[The policy] ‘have at it boys’ means even if we crash each other or get into an accident or lose respect for one another, you go talk about it,” said Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver Ryan Newman. “That’s the ‘have at it boys’ [policy]. You go behind a trailer and you talk about it. We can get in each other’s faces. That’s ‘have at it boys.’

“Going out there and purposely crashing somebody, turning right or turning left just to crash ‘em on purpose, whether you’re winning the race or not, is not at all ‘have at it boys.’ Some people have thought of manslaughter or attempted manslaughter, but that’s closer to what [that] is.”