Steve Waid: Payback is part of racing and NASCAR knows it
CJM Racing's Denny Hamlin (11) gets underneath Brad Keselowski's bumper during the NASCAR Nationwide Series Ford 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
Related stories: Denny Hamlin makes good on threat, spins Brad Keselowski at Homestead
Juan Pablo Montoya earns two-lap penalty for aggressive driving after contact with Tony Stewart
COMMENTARY
I’m certainly not one to advocate that drivers go out and wreck each other during the course of a race, but when it comes to retribution, I say let ‘em do it – within reason, of course.
It doesn’t necessarily make for great racing, but it can be fun for the fans. And given that they’ve complained loud and often that too many races have been boring, NASCAR can use all the fun it can get.
Fiery competitors with an attitude certainly could inject some excitement into NASCAR.
NASCAR has plenty of heroes. It needs more villains.
You may consider Brad Keselowski a hero or villain. Ditto for Denny Hamlin. But their ongoing disagreement, which culminated at Homestead-Miami Speedway, provided some real spark to the season.
Hamlin was fed up with Keselowski, whom he claimed had “fouled” him multiple times during the year. Hamlin said payback would be hell, and he planned to do it.
He did at Homestead when he caught Keselowski and sent him into a spin early in the Ford 300 Nationwide Series race.
Then, in the Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya – neither the meek type – got into it.
Montoya bumped Stewart. Then Stewart whacked Montoya causing a flat tire and a bump into the wall.
After a stint in the garage Montoya returned to the race and delivered his payback. He bumped Stewart and sent him sliding into the grass.
Don’t you know the old guys like Bobby Allison, Richard Petty and David Pearson loved it? Paybacks have returned! Just like we used to do ‘em!
Speaking of Allison and Petty, they were bitter rivals in 1972. Petty was the reigning champion. and Allison, racing for Junior Johnson, wanted to unseat him.
On the short tracks, particularly Martinsville and the old track in North Wilkesboro, N.C., they slammed into each other so hard and so often their cars looked like candidates for the junkyard. They were never personal in their verbal attacks but they made clear who they thought was at fault and what would be done about it.
And NASCAR sat back and did nothing. Why bother? This type of racing was routine at the time. Paybacks were made on the track, as they were at Homestead.
I think NASCAR fully realized what was going on and had no problem with retribution. That’s probably why its penalties for Hamlin and Montoya were minor.
Hamlin was penalized just one lap. NASCAR pretty much had to hit him with something since he’d been announcing all week that Keselowski would get his.
Montoya was penalized two laps, and that didn’t matter much to him since he was already down more than 20 laps.
I think NASCAR has no problem with drivers settling their issues on the track.
And it should have no problem with trash talking, as long as it’s not profanity-laden. It’s inevitable. If drivers don’t do it on camera, just check out Twitter or Facebook.
But I am certain NASCAR has its limits - which it should. And lest anyone think I am advocating mayhem, I am not.
For example, there is a vast difference between a bump and spin and deliberate violent contact that can cause injury.
If any other innocent driver is involved in an act of retribution NASCAR needs to quickly respond with a harsh penalty.
No payback on pit road. The consequences could be dire.
Again, judgment should be harsh.
Otherwise, payback is part of racing. Again, I think NASCAR is well aware of that. It’s one reason it had a meeting with Keselowski to tell him he needed to cultivate friends, not enemies.
Let ‘em settle it themselves and the fans will choose their heroes and villains.
