Waid's World
A NASCAR BLOG BY Steve Waid
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A rivalry that may cool down - unfortunately
Aug
31
I hope that Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards go at it again.
No, I don’t want to seem them deliberately wreck each other and endanger their fellow drivers.
But I wouldn’t mind seeing them rub fenders. And if the opportunity arises where one can do the bump-and-run to pass the other, I hope he does it.
I certainly wouldn’t mind a little more trash talking.
However, the odds are most of that is not going to happen – if, in fact, any of it does.
That’s because Busch and Edwards have been place on probation for six races by NASCAR following their actions at Bristol.
Late in the Sharpie 500 Edwards employed the bump-and-run to pass Busch for the lead and the win. A frustrated Busch, who had led 415 laps and seemed headed toward a runaway victory, whacked the side of Edwards’ Ford on the cool-down lap.
Edwards retaliated by hitting Busch, which sent his Toyota into a spin.
A few days later NASCAR announced the punishment.
Why? The race was over. Busch and Edwards were driving slowly. Busch took action first and Edwards paid him back. What happened was nothing new. It’s been around as long as NASCAR. As the old saying goes, “That’s racin.’”
I echo the opinion of many media members and bloggers who maintain NASCAR may have extinguished the spark of a rivalry.
And a rivalry is good for racing.
It feeds fan interest in races. It rouses their enthusiasm. It polarizes them as they take sides in what is nearly always interpreted as good guy vs. bad guy.
Perhaps NASCAR should have taken a history lesson.
In its past, there have been several rivalries which have become a part of NASCAR lore - Richard Petty vs. David Pearson, Petty vs. Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough vs. Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt vs. everybody.
Many other drivers got involved in spats - Buck Baker (who seemed to be mad at everyone), Fred Lorenzen, Junior Johnson, Tim Richmond and more.
Yes, cars should never be the instruments of retaliation, especially during a race.
If they are used after the race certainly NASCAR can take action. But perhaps it’s the team owners that need to mandate punishment.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea if they told their drivers that if they wrecked a car because of deliberate action, the cost to repair it was coming out of their pockets.
As it is, instead of a rivalry heating up, it’s more likely to cool down.
That’s no fun.
No, I don’t want to seem them deliberately wreck each other and endanger their fellow drivers.
But I wouldn’t mind seeing them rub fenders. And if the opportunity arises where one can do the bump-and-run to pass the other, I hope he does it.
I certainly wouldn’t mind a little more trash talking.
However, the odds are most of that is not going to happen – if, in fact, any of it does.
That’s because Busch and Edwards have been place on probation for six races by NASCAR following their actions at Bristol.
Late in the Sharpie 500 Edwards employed the bump-and-run to pass Busch for the lead and the win. A frustrated Busch, who had led 415 laps and seemed headed toward a runaway victory, whacked the side of Edwards’ Ford on the cool-down lap.
Edwards retaliated by hitting Busch, which sent his Toyota into a spin.
A few days later NASCAR announced the punishment.
Why? The race was over. Busch and Edwards were driving slowly. Busch took action first and Edwards paid him back. What happened was nothing new. It’s been around as long as NASCAR. As the old saying goes, “That’s racin.’”
I echo the opinion of many media members and bloggers who maintain NASCAR may have extinguished the spark of a rivalry.
And a rivalry is good for racing.
It feeds fan interest in races. It rouses their enthusiasm. It polarizes them as they take sides in what is nearly always interpreted as good guy vs. bad guy.
Perhaps NASCAR should have taken a history lesson.
In its past, there have been several rivalries which have become a part of NASCAR lore - Richard Petty vs. David Pearson, Petty vs. Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough vs. Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt vs. everybody.
Many other drivers got involved in spats - Buck Baker (who seemed to be mad at everyone), Fred Lorenzen, Junior Johnson, Tim Richmond and more.
Yes, cars should never be the instruments of retaliation, especially during a race.
If they are used after the race certainly NASCAR can take action. But perhaps it’s the team owners that need to mandate punishment.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea if they told their drivers that if they wrecked a car because of deliberate action, the cost to repair it was coming out of their pockets.
As it is, instead of a rivalry heating up, it’s more likely to cool down.
That’s no fun.
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Comments
3 responses to "A rivalry that may cool down - unfortunately "
del brown said:
Sep 1, 2008 at 2:02 PMNASCAR was boxed in by it's own rule against hitting a competitor's car after the race. They might have been able to ignore the bump/rub - and not because Kyle did it. That was just pretty much Bristol on a Saturday night. Or just racing cool down. But they couldn't ignore Carl running into Kyle. Doing so would have set a precedent that they weren't going to enforce the rule. So NASCAR did what it had to do. For better or worse. And suspect NASCAR would rather have the buzz a good rivalry provides. Might help revive lagging interest.
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
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» Confirm Abuse ReportCraig Spangler said:
Sep 2, 2008 at 1:06 PMIn this new age, NASCAR is under the false belief they Own the drivers not so years ago, when they let them drive, bunp and run, fight or whatever, and did not continually punsh them. NASCAR is not much fun to watch these days. There was no punishment in 1979!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse ReportCraig Spangler said:
Sep 2, 2008 at 1:07 PMIn this new age, NASCAR is under the false belief they Own the drivers not so years ago, when they let them drive, bump and run, fight or whatever, and did not continually punsh them. NASCAR is not much fun to watch these days. There was no punishment in 1979!
Report as AbuseReport Abuse
This feature is intended to allow you to report comments that are abusive in terms of foul/vulgar language, harassment, racial/religious prejudice and any words/phrases of a related nature. This feature should not be used to report users who simply make a comment about your favorite driver, with which you do not agree. Commenting is a forum in which we can all express our opinions. Reporting abuse of others should be done with this in mind.
» Confirm Abuse Report