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It’s Only Fun Until Someone Gets Hurt

Charlotte, NC (May 9, 2011) – The command of ‘driver’s, start your engines’ has long been the traditional way to start a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, but after the past couple of weeks, perhaps the call to arms for the stock car boys should be boxing’s mantra of ‘let’s get ready to rumble!’

To say NASCAR’s ‘have at it boys’ philosophy has spilled over the edge of the cup is an understatement as on-track bashing has led to fisticuffs afterward.

Honestly, what did you expect would happen?

It’s been our experience in racing that guys running into and over each other with a 3,500-pound blunt object really ticks some people off – even when it is as they say in NASCAR – ‘just racin.’

It’s even worse when competitors start pile driving each other into the wall on purpose. You can almost be sure that somebody’s is going to blow a hose, overheat and start swinging when that happens.

So it is no surprise here that Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya tangled – reportedly in the NASCAR hauler no less – for their actions at Richmond two weeks ago before Kevin Harvick took a swing at Kyle Busch after their on-track exploits this past Saturday at Darlington.

Both of these ‘fights’ were more symbolic than substance as the combatants came away with little more than bruised feelings. Still, they represent a trend in NASCAR back to a time when big money sponsors didn’t exist and nobody had to play nice.

Crashes and fights went hand and hand in racing for a long time until everyone starting wearing a lot of sponsor patches and logos on their uniforms. After that, nobody wanted to get those patches dirty, especially by rolling around on the ground as part of a post-race brawl.

Now, that seems to have changed a bit as NASCAR has adopted a hands-off attitude about what happens on the track and sponsors appear to have an insatiable appetite see their name or logo on TV in just about any light.

While NASCAR and its sponsors might pooh-pooh fighting to the media, don’t think for a second that they don’t secretly love the top slots on sports news telecasts or front-page headlines the confrontations generate.

Because of that, we honestly don’t expect any changes – other than you are going to see more and more of this kind of activity.

Of course, there’s always the chance that there might be a human toll when this kind of stuff happens. A bent up race car from an intentional wreck can be fixed. A driver who is seriously injured – or worse – maybe not.

Meanwhile, a black eye delivered by a punch from an angry driver or crew member might generate some snickers in the garage area or some extended media impressions. Somehow though, a fractured jaw, broken nose or teeth knocked out from a wild punch just doesn’t seem quite as entertaining.

Remember – it’s only fun until someone gets hurt.

No Surprise Here

While many were surprised that Regan Smith won the Southern 500 at Darlington Saturday, we weren’t.

We’ve been banging the drum for Smith this season as one of NASCAR’s most underappreciated talents getting the most out of the least in the sport. On Saturday, Smith and his small, single-car Furniture Row team beat the multi-car giant teams and won one of stock car racing’s biggest prizes.

Like we’ve been saying – if Smith can do this kind of stuff with a team with limited resources, you have to wonder what he could do if he really had ‘the goods.’

After his win at Darlington Saturday, look for a lot of other people wondering the same.

You’re Fired!

A lot was made over Martin Truex, Jr. ‘firing’ his crew over the radio during the race at Richmond a week ago.

You’re kidding, right?

Truex has crashed out of two races this season and spun in route to a 10th-place finish at Darlington Saturday (just his second top-10 finish in 10 races this season). His average finish so far this year – 20.2 – has him 20th in the 2011 Sprint Cup point standings and on the outside looking in at another Chase opportunity.

This Sunday’s race a Dover will be Truex’s 200th Sprint Cup start. He has just one win (141 races ago), 19 did not finish efforts because he crashed out of the race, and career average finish of 19th in his previous 199 events.

With this driving record, Truex still had the stones to go ballistic on the radio and send a bunch of his teammates packing for lack of performance.

Amazing.

The way we see it, perhaps the first adjustment the new crew members should make to Truex’s car is to tilt the rearview mirror a little more toward the driver’s seat.

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