When it comes to 'have at it, boys,' how far is too far? By Rob Sneddon
4inch_nascar_072610_ghns_7.qxd:GHNS
7/26/10
12:50 PM
Page 1
NASCARRundown DRIVER FEUDS
ONE TO WATCH
Denny Hamlin Why he matters Two straight Pocono wins make him Sunday’s favorite. What he says “I just search around (at Pocono) and seem to find what works.” What the numbers say Think Hamlin (four wins in nine career starts) would like to see Pocono added to the Chase?
ABOUT POCONO
TRACK Pocono Raceway (Long Pond, Pa.), 2.5-mile paved oval RACE LENGTH 200 laps, 500 miles FIRST RACE 1974 SERIES NASCAR Sprint Cup
Quote of note “Everybody was ready to kiss us off. We knew that wasn’t the case.” — Chip Ganassi, whose team struggled in recent seasons but has won the two biggest races of 2010.
Where to watch Sunday’s pre-race show on ESPN starts at noon EDT, followed by race coverage at 1 p.m. Brad Keselowski wrecks on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway on July 17. DILIP VISHWANAT | GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR
Defining the line When it comes to ‘have at it, boys,’ how far is too far?
By Rob Sneddon
n January, NASCAR extended an invitation to its drivers for the 2010 season: “Boys, have at it.” Ever since, through numerous driver feuds — including two high-profile paybacks in which Carl Edwards wrecked Brad Keselowski — there’s been an intense debate about what exactly that directive means. NASCAR’s position remains vague. After the first Edwards-Keselowski encounter, at Atlanta, the sanctioning body essentially took no action. “There is a line you can cross,” NASCAR president Mike Helton asserted at the time, without offering specifics. “When you cross that line, in our opinion, we’re going to get involved.” Indeed, NASCAR got involved last week, fining Edwards $25,000 and docking him 60 points in the Nationwide series after Edwards spun Keselowski on the last lap at Gateway International Raceway, triggering a 10-car crash. But while that penalty may have demonstrated that the line exists, it still didn’t spell out where the line was. And so the meaning of “Boys, have at it” remains a matter of opinion – and there’s been no shortage of that this season. Here’s a sampling.
I
BRIAN FRANCE, NASCAR chairman and CEO: “Some contact, especially late in the race, is part of NASCAR. There are limits to that. The limits are pretty obvious. You can’t just spin somebody around, especially intentionally. That’s No. 1.” DAVID REUTIMANN, driver, No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota“If you draw a line in the sand, then you’re saying you can do everything up to that line and it’s OK, but anything over that, it’s not. I don’t think you can do that. … I think it’s just going to be (reviewed) on a raceby-race basis.” JEFF GORDON, driver, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet “I’m anxious to see how far it’s going to be taken before (NASCAR does) step in or if they step in. Who’s to say where that line is at right now? I definitely have some questions to kind of try to clarify that a little bit for myself.” CHIP GANASSI, co-owner, EarnhardtGanassi Racing “Each (driver) should be allowed one (aggressive) move. But I don’t think you should be allowed to use your car as a
weapon … and I don’t think that’s what NASCAR had in mind when they said, ‘Boys, have at it.’ I’m positive they didn’t have that in mind. They certainly don’t want to hurt anybody.”
tona Beach. Nobody wants to see that. That’s just a mess. You’ve got to watch it, obviously, that you don’t let it go too far out of hand. … The way it is right now, I think it’s a great mix.”
KEVIN HARVICK, driver, No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet “With the leash let off, everybody wants to gain that position and you have to get aggressive to pass because the competition is so close. Sometimes you make mistakes and you run into guys and people get mad and things escalate from there. … It seems to get more exciting every week and it seems like we come home with more bent fenders every week. That’s OK. As long as it’s good to watch and everybody is racing hard, that’s what it’s all about.”
JACK ROUSH, co-owner, Roush Fenway Racing “When NASCAR looked at what they needed to do to stimulate more interest in the fans, to sell more tickets, to have better TV viewership, they thought they should let the drivers take the gloves off – not that they should roll around on the ground, but they should be more free to express themselves, they should be more willing to make a decision on the racetrack that might result in something that’s questionable (without worrying) what they can or can’t do in advance. … We’re not going to make a brawl out of it. But to have people express their emotions and show their frustration is OK.”
MARCOS AMBROSE, driver, No. 47 JTGDaugherty Racing Toyota “What NASCAR does really, really well is they let the racers have it out on the track. They let the emotions come to the surface so the fans can see it and the drivers can work it out between themselves. We don’t have to duke it out in a stewards hearing or officials hearing on a Tuesday down in Day-
CARL EDWARDS, driver, No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford “It’s not OK to move me out of the way. If somebody else wants to let people move them out of the way for the win, that’s OK with me. They can do whatever they like, but I can’t allow myself to be run over like that.”
UP TO SPEED
Follow the bouncing bubble There’s been little drama atop the 2010 Sprint Cup points standings over the first 20 races. Aside from the first week, when Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray held the top spot, and a month in the spring when Jimmie Johnson took command, it’s been the Kevin Harvick show. The real churn has been at 12th place in the standings — the cutoff to make the Chase. Clint Bowyer has been on the bubble the most, five separate times in a topsy-turvy season that’s seen him climb as high as second and fall as low as 15th.
Brickyard winners, losers Jamie McMurray was the biggest winner at Indianapolis last Sunday, as he became the third driver to take the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season. But McMurray wasn’t the only winner. McMurray’s team owner Chip Ganassi completed an unprecedented hat trick by winning Daytona with McMurray, the Indy 500 with Dario Franchitti and the Brickyard 400 in the same year. Biggest loser? McMurray’s teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya. For the second straight year Montoya led the most laps but lost the race in the pits. He opted for four tires on a late stop while other contenders took two. Montoya got caught in traffic and wrecked, taking Dale Earnhardt Jr. with him. Earnhardt fell to 14th in the standings, almost 100 points off the bubble. Another winner? Roush Fenway Racing, which put all three of its Chase contenders in the top 12.
Milestone Kevin Conway, who leads the 2010 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year standings by default, led the first lap of his career early in the Brickyard 400.
7/26/10
12:50 PM
Page 1
NASCARRundown DRIVER FEUDS
ONE TO WATCH
Denny Hamlin Why he matters Two straight Pocono wins make him Sunday’s favorite. What he says “I just search around (at Pocono) and seem to find what works.” What the numbers say Think Hamlin (four wins in nine career starts) would like to see Pocono added to the Chase?
ABOUT POCONO
TRACK Pocono Raceway (Long Pond, Pa.), 2.5-mile paved oval RACE LENGTH 200 laps, 500 miles FIRST RACE 1974 SERIES NASCAR Sprint Cup
Quote of note “Everybody was ready to kiss us off. We knew that wasn’t the case.” — Chip Ganassi, whose team struggled in recent seasons but has won the two biggest races of 2010.
Where to watch Sunday’s pre-race show on ESPN starts at noon EDT, followed by race coverage at 1 p.m. Brad Keselowski wrecks on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 at Gateway International Raceway on July 17. DILIP VISHWANAT | GETTY IMAGES FOR NASCAR
Defining the line When it comes to ‘have at it, boys,’ how far is too far?
By Rob Sneddon
n January, NASCAR extended an invitation to its drivers for the 2010 season: “Boys, have at it.” Ever since, through numerous driver feuds — including two high-profile paybacks in which Carl Edwards wrecked Brad Keselowski — there’s been an intense debate about what exactly that directive means. NASCAR’s position remains vague. After the first Edwards-Keselowski encounter, at Atlanta, the sanctioning body essentially took no action. “There is a line you can cross,” NASCAR president Mike Helton asserted at the time, without offering specifics. “When you cross that line, in our opinion, we’re going to get involved.” Indeed, NASCAR got involved last week, fining Edwards $25,000 and docking him 60 points in the Nationwide series after Edwards spun Keselowski on the last lap at Gateway International Raceway, triggering a 10-car crash. But while that penalty may have demonstrated that the line exists, it still didn’t spell out where the line was. And so the meaning of “Boys, have at it” remains a matter of opinion – and there’s been no shortage of that this season. Here’s a sampling.
I
BRIAN FRANCE, NASCAR chairman and CEO: “Some contact, especially late in the race, is part of NASCAR. There are limits to that. The limits are pretty obvious. You can’t just spin somebody around, especially intentionally. That’s No. 1.” DAVID REUTIMANN, driver, No. 00 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota“If you draw a line in the sand, then you’re saying you can do everything up to that line and it’s OK, but anything over that, it’s not. I don’t think you can do that. … I think it’s just going to be (reviewed) on a raceby-race basis.” JEFF GORDON, driver, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet “I’m anxious to see how far it’s going to be taken before (NASCAR does) step in or if they step in. Who’s to say where that line is at right now? I definitely have some questions to kind of try to clarify that a little bit for myself.” CHIP GANASSI, co-owner, EarnhardtGanassi Racing “Each (driver) should be allowed one (aggressive) move. But I don’t think you should be allowed to use your car as a
weapon … and I don’t think that’s what NASCAR had in mind when they said, ‘Boys, have at it.’ I’m positive they didn’t have that in mind. They certainly don’t want to hurt anybody.”
tona Beach. Nobody wants to see that. That’s just a mess. You’ve got to watch it, obviously, that you don’t let it go too far out of hand. … The way it is right now, I think it’s a great mix.”
KEVIN HARVICK, driver, No. 29 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet “With the leash let off, everybody wants to gain that position and you have to get aggressive to pass because the competition is so close. Sometimes you make mistakes and you run into guys and people get mad and things escalate from there. … It seems to get more exciting every week and it seems like we come home with more bent fenders every week. That’s OK. As long as it’s good to watch and everybody is racing hard, that’s what it’s all about.”
JACK ROUSH, co-owner, Roush Fenway Racing “When NASCAR looked at what they needed to do to stimulate more interest in the fans, to sell more tickets, to have better TV viewership, they thought they should let the drivers take the gloves off – not that they should roll around on the ground, but they should be more free to express themselves, they should be more willing to make a decision on the racetrack that might result in something that’s questionable (without worrying) what they can or can’t do in advance. … We’re not going to make a brawl out of it. But to have people express their emotions and show their frustration is OK.”
MARCOS AMBROSE, driver, No. 47 JTGDaugherty Racing Toyota “What NASCAR does really, really well is they let the racers have it out on the track. They let the emotions come to the surface so the fans can see it and the drivers can work it out between themselves. We don’t have to duke it out in a stewards hearing or officials hearing on a Tuesday down in Day-
CARL EDWARDS, driver, No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford “It’s not OK to move me out of the way. If somebody else wants to let people move them out of the way for the win, that’s OK with me. They can do whatever they like, but I can’t allow myself to be run over like that.”
UP TO SPEED
Follow the bouncing bubble There’s been little drama atop the 2010 Sprint Cup points standings over the first 20 races. Aside from the first week, when Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray held the top spot, and a month in the spring when Jimmie Johnson took command, it’s been the Kevin Harvick show. The real churn has been at 12th place in the standings — the cutoff to make the Chase. Clint Bowyer has been on the bubble the most, five separate times in a topsy-turvy season that’s seen him climb as high as second and fall as low as 15th.
Brickyard winners, losers Jamie McMurray was the biggest winner at Indianapolis last Sunday, as he became the third driver to take the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in the same season. But McMurray wasn’t the only winner. McMurray’s team owner Chip Ganassi completed an unprecedented hat trick by winning Daytona with McMurray, the Indy 500 with Dario Franchitti and the Brickyard 400 in the same year. Biggest loser? McMurray’s teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya. For the second straight year Montoya led the most laps but lost the race in the pits. He opted for four tires on a late stop while other contenders took two. Montoya got caught in traffic and wrecked, taking Dale Earnhardt Jr. with him. Earnhardt fell to 14th in the standings, almost 100 points off the bubble. Another winner? Roush Fenway Racing, which put all three of its Chase contenders in the top 12.
Milestone Kevin Conway, who leads the 2010 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year standings by default, led the first lap of his career early in the Brickyard 400.
