Last Lap: Where have your manners gone?
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM
April 11, 2006
01:02 PM EDT (17:02 GMT)


The emotional divide between impetuosity and cordiality in Nextel Cup racing is as great as it's been in years, and possibly ever, given the increasing financial stakes involved and the sense of urgency created by the championship format.

So tense are these spring Sundays, in fact, that drivers' girlfriends have entered the fray, as evidenced by Nicole Lunders' verbal Texas Two-Step in the face of Kurt Busch's fiancé, Eva Bryan, atop the No. 2 team pit box, pointer-finger six-shooter drawn, after Busch wrecked Lunders' boyfriend, Greg Biffle, early in the Samsung/Radio Shack 500.

It made for phenomenal television, and elicited gut-busting fan response. Case in point:

Superspeedway4me: I've been waiting for weeks for Kevin Harvick to box Kurt Busch's ears, and out of nowhere Biff's girlfriend said "enough" and did what we've been dying to do. Good for her!

And even better, she wouldn't be called to the NASCAR hauler after the race. This was better than watching Kurt's helmet get stuck in the grass after the Busch race Saturday! Nicole has earned a ring and a date!

Step up, Biff, or you could be next. Moving along...

Used to be there was something called a Gentlemen's agreement in Cup Series competition. This unwritten, unspoken code of respectful conduct was utilized by NASCAR racing professionals during the heat of battle. Give-and-take, as it were.

That code is extinct.

These days respect is given strictly on a case-by-case basis. For the most part, drivers race as they're raced, show competitors as much respect as those competitors show them.

Race me clean, I'll reciprocate. Bump me? Bang me? Body slam me? Block me? It'll come back to you twice over.

According to a five-driver mini-poll I conducted, Bobby Labonte takes no flack, Kurt Busch gets no slack.

And it depends what stage the race is in, too. With 30 to go, a man does what a man has to do, as race-winner Kasey Kahne did on the outside of Tony Stewart with 27 laps remaining Sunday.

"Obviously if it had been 80 laps to go, neither one of us would have raced each other that hard," Stewart said. "But with less than 30 laps to go, you're going to race that hard, for sure, knowing you're getting that close to the end."

That's one of three reasons Biffle was so miffed at Busch. There were 250 laps left when the No. 16 was thrown on the rollback, marking the second time this season Biffle suffered an unfortunate finish in the race's best car.

And then there's the history involved.

"He tried that at the [2004] All-Star race and wrecked a lot of good cars [then] he comes back and does the same thing here," said Biffle, who dropped to 23rd in the point standings.

"At some point common sense has to set in and say, 'I can't run into the back of a guy at a superspeedway going 175 miles an hour, unless we have restrictor plate bumpers or our bumpers line up.'"

Busch said Biffle slowed down in front of him. I leaned on the boys from Inside Nextel Cup -- including Ken Schrader, who was just ahead of the melee -- for some definitive insight. But they, too, felt the evidence was inconclusive.

It's racing. Things happen fast, dynamics shift in an instant. All drivers know it, but sometimes, like in Biffle's case, they're just impossible to accept.

There's no denying that the Nextel Cup Series is changing, but is it that drivers aren't giving each other enough respect, or that the competition is keener than it's ever been?

"The thing about it is you've got to have a little bit of respect for the other drivers you're racing with, and Kurt hasn't shown respect," Biffle said. "Or that surely wasn't showing respect."

Busch is certainly not alone. Tony Stewart body slammed Matt Kenseth at Daytona. Stewart felt Kyle Busch raced too hard, too soon at Vegas. Dale Jarrett, one of the most revered, respected drivers on the Nextel Cup tour, blocked Kenseth at Bristol, possibly costing him the win. Sterling Marlin dumped Jeff Green at Martinsville.

It's the nature of the game today, and it's often unforgivable.

"That's pretty unforgivable, I would have to say," Biffle said. "If he slid up in the corner and caught me or something on accident, or couldn't react quick enough, that would be something. But he had plenty of time to react.

"He consciously thought about it before he turned us into the fence. We'll just have race him a little different. If he's not clear or whatever, then maybe the shoe will be on the other foot, I don't know."

mcmurrayfan: I don't think the answer is that simple. There are a combination of factors at work. Certainly, the lack of respect for one another on the racetrack gets less and less.

Also, with the rules packages in place to tighten the competition, one little mishap on the track can ruin your day, and maybe even your season. But there are other factors at play as well. The rules on the racetrack have helped create the situation as we see it today.

Face it, rules like the Lucky Dog have made it so everybody on the racetrack is racing somebody for something, so the lapped cars not longer want to get out of the way of the leaders. After all, they have a right to race one another just the same as the leaders. That certainly has created tension.

Another big factor is the Chase. You can bet that the sponsors are putting pressure on the teams to at least make the Chase. Therefore, any instance on the racetrack to affect that is going to ignite some tempers.

Very well stated, Bob Berglass. Myriad factors have combined to create the impatience, and each of those you mentioned played an integral role.

Side note: Many folks, it seems, find considerable humor in uncovering the meanings behind naming references I choose in Last Lap. Bob Berglass is a bit vague, so I thought it best to clue you in.

He's the president of Dep hair gel.

Cmadragon: Maybe the problem is that the competition is not tight enough. If one guy or a group of guys is so much faster that they can put half the field laps down, then you are going to have the problem of lapped cars being in the way.

Anyway, you should always race a guy if it is for position. You should never let a guy get around you easily if it is for position. Make him earn it. However, if he really is faster and you block him and he spins you, too bad for you.

Also, you should race the leader if he is going to put you a lap down. But if you go a lap down, there is no reason to race the second-place car if he is faster because that won't affect your position.

Interesting opinion, Honah Lee. The rationale is impeccable, other than the competition not being tight enough.

For the first time ever, no less than 30 teams are capable of winning on any given Sunday.

That's rather tight, from my estimation.

FanofNascar: When a sport expands, the talent pool is diluted. Today there are plenty of teams capable of producing a victory based on their equipment and or sponsor contributions.

There isn't enough high-end drivers capable of driving these cars. A driver can make it to the Cup Series with a lot less experience than what used to be required. Not to mention the current debate over some of the newer drivers having great rides handed to them, accusing them of not respecting what they have.

When the gene pool is diluted, you cannot expect every driver to be as skilled as we have been used to in our sport.

The argument that young drivers are less experienced entering the Cup Series than drivers once were is bogus. The argument that they hop into elite equipment much earlier than drivers once did is legitimate.

Compare Denny Hamlin to Dale Jarrett, for example.

Hamlin started racing at 7, and made it to the Cup Series full time 18 years later, in elite equipment from the get-go at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Jarrett? He started racing in 1977, at age 20, and made it to Cup full-time a decade later with Eric Freedlander's team. He moved to Cale Yarborough's organization in 1988 and '89, then got his big break in 1990, taking the seat of the Wood Brothers' No. 21.

PistolPete9: The only thing I saw wrong with the Biffle-Busch incident was that Biffle forgot that Busch was on the outside of the turn and was thereby coming off the turn like a scalded ape.

What was Busch to do? Park and wait on Biffle to pass? No way. I am not a Busch fan, but neither am I a Biffle fan. Racing is racing, and a top of the track run on a turn is super-fast at Texas, and Busch was on top.

Biffle needs to go to his spotter and have a very serious conversation, as well as his high school girlfriend, about correct conduct.

Couldn't help but chuckle, Maravich. Scalded ape. High school. Sounds like one helluva party.

rcr_29: I think the pressure to make the Chase has created the lack of give and take we're seeing. The difference between 10th place and 11th place has only been a handful of points each of the last two years.

The drivers know losing one spot in a couple of races could be the difference between making it or not, so they won't give that inch now that they would have in the past.

Bingo, Scott Naset. And since the Chase cutoff is so close, it's time NASCAR began awarding points for a top-five qualifying effort.

2muchtnt8: It all comes down to our current culture, or let's call it the Me Syndrome. Older drivers give and take. The younger drivers take. It's how our society has grown. We have given our kids everything that we didn't have growing up, and it has come back to haunt us.

Whoa. Deep. Maybe Laz should change his screen name to 2muchDrPhil.

RollTide_48: I think that drivers expect too much respect from their competitors. Where is it written that you are supposed to move over and let a car pass you, or that it's your responsibility to get out of a competitors way?

It's racing! Why is it that Driver A should move over and let Driver B pass? Driver B should find a way around Driver A if he really has the faster car.

I don't know much about racing etiquette. But I can tell you the ol' Golden Rule my Momma always preached so religiously has yet to let me down.

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 5 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.