NASCAR NATION: Hot Tempers at Hot-Lanta

Thanks, Mary.  And, no, I have not seen Zane around in a while.  I know he kind of dropped off the radar a few months ago, too, because of stuff going on off-line.  Then he was back.  But, he hasn't been on in a while.  I'm going to have to email him to make sure he's OK.  Thanks for the reminder.

I thought it was Talladega, Jason.  I'm worried about the participants, though.  That fence will only hold back so much.  You can still get injured from flying debris.  As for Talladega, though, Brad was holding his ground and racing Edwards when he got flipped.  I don't think it was Brad's fault.  It was racing.  That was as much Carl's fault as Brad's.  Just like the first bump between Carl and Brad at the beginning on yesterday's race.  If Carl had turned Brad because they were racing for position, that would be one thing.  To turn him for no reason other than to be a little brat, that's uncalled for.  I still love the racing, though.

What group re you in, Gerry?  I'm not opposed to the bump drafting.  Makes for interesting racing.  But, this wasn't "bump-drafting".  It was just unsportsmanlike behavior.  My friends and I always talk about JPM and how he likes to wreck people.  Doesn't seem to be an issue this year.  But, for the last couple of years, Juan Pablo always seemed to drive too aggressively, too quickly and wrecked too many people.  I always hated him coming around my drivers.

The same thing Edwards did I would guess, Michael.  He was the king of bump-drafting, right?  He was one of the most aggressive drivers when he was alive from what I know.  I didn't start watching NASCAR until the year after he died.

Well, with other drivers getting fined and penalized points in years past, Gerry, I think the 3 race "probation" is a load of crap!  It's tantamount to a slap on the wrist for not only putting another driver's life at risk on purpose, but also creating a possible issue with spectator safety.  This was not racing.  This was poor sportsmanship and unnecessary.

Something really spectacular has to happen in NASCAR for it to garner more than a mention on the 5:00 news, Sheldon.  And, yes, I think it was very scary.

Hey, Wallace.  Good to see you, too.  I was more disappointed in the tantrum Carl seemed to throw by wrecking Brad when Carl was 150 laps down.  The car taking flight just made it scarier.  I don't mind when drivers bump the car in front of them to get them out of the way if you have no way around them and they are too slow.  That's the "rubbin' is racin'" philosophy to me.  But, the intentionally wrecking a car is uncalled for.  And I've seen it with lots of drivers, including my very own beloved Jeff Gordon.  Letting drivers settle it via fisticuffs in the garage is fine with me.  Keep it off the track.  Other drivers and fans don't need to be caught up in the aftermath.

I'm not a Brad Keselowski fan.  But, the wreck last year at Talladega and the bump earlier in the Atlanta race didn't appear to me to be Brad's fault.  It looked like racing.  At Talladega, Brad and Carl were racing for position.  Brad tried to go around Carl, Carl went to block him.  That's when Carl went flying.  I don't see that as Brad's fault.  They were both racing.  Carl tried to block him.  He didn't succeed.  That's what happens.

See the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9FsYDEIZWk

And, if you watch the video of the initial issue at Atlanta in my blog above carefully, you'll see that Carl actually moves down in front on Brad and gets turned again.  But only because it looked like Carl had misjudged how much room he had.  Brad never moves. 

Again, I'm not a Brad fan.  I think he is an incredibly aggressive driver.  But so was Dale Earnhardt Sr. and people seemed to love him.

Mark Martin IS the consummate gentleman, Gerry.  I think Juan Pablo Montoya has been an incredibly aggressive driver as well as Kyle Busch.  Although both of these guys have simmered down a little bit this year it seems.  JPM always makes me nervous because he's bound to wreck somebody.  I think NASCAR needs to have some consistency, though.  I watched Inside NASCAR on Showtime last night and listened to them speak to Mike Helton.  Helton seemed to give himself a big pat on the back because they parked Carl "for the rest of the race".  That's not a big deal when you realize that Carl was already 150 laps down and caused the wreck 3 laps from the end.  It didn't change anything.  He should have, at the very least, had some points deducted.  And, as Michael Waltrip said, "not make it so obvious" he simply went out to wreck Brad.  Brad's no angel.  And his day will come, I'm sure.  Especially if he keeps turning people.

For sure, Al & Peggy.  And this is just the START of the season.  Can you imagine what we have in store now?