April 6, 2010
By Allen Madding
After the much publicized and much reviewed altercation at Atlanta Motor Speedway between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski that left Keselowski and the Penske No. 12 flipping on the front stretch, many thought NASCAR would suspend Edwards. Edwards was black flagged and parked from the remaining laps in the event and the following Tuesday, NASCAR announced that it was placing Edwards on probation (remember the movie Animal House and double secret probation?) Most thought that NASCAR’s response would get drivers’ attention and make the point that the “Have at it” policy NASCAR announced at the beginning of the 2010 NASCAR season had its limits.
To date, the “Have at it” policy does seem to have impacted the level of competition on the racetrack in NASCAR’s top three series, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. There has been a notable amount of tires smoke, and bumper paint being traded since the green flag flew at Daytona. Also on the rise seems to be on track pay back.
For years in NASCAR racing, the unwritten rule has been, if someone does you dirty on the race track, pay it back. The smarter drivers always waited several events before seeking out their retribution on the offender. This way, NASCAR officials might not readily recall the prior incident that triggered this one. Additionally, drivers in the past have for the most part have elected to clip a guy in the turns instead of on the straight-aways so it did not seem quite so deliberate.
Since the “Have at it” policy was announced, we have seen more retribution being enacted during the same event of the original incident and more blatant and deliberate pay back.
This past weekend during the NASCAR Nationwide Series Nashville 300 at Nashville Super Speedway on lap 43, James Buescher’s No. 1 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet got loose on the bottom of Turn Two and while trying to gather the car up, slid into the side of Jason Leffler’s No. 38 Great Clips Toyota sending Leffler into a slide ending with hard contact with the SAFER barrier.
Leffler took the No. 38 to the garage for significant damage to the rear of the Great Clips car. After 60 laps in the garage, the Great Clips team had repaired the No. 38, and Leffler returned to the track. On lap 143, Leffler found Buescher and coming off Turn Four on the front straight-away in front of the NASCAR flagman, all of the fans in the grandstands, the NASCAR officials in the control booth, God and everyone, Leffler turned into the side of Buescher’s No. 1 driving him into the outside wall.
Apparently the damage knocked the fuel pump off Buescher’s car as it erupted in flames. Fortunately, the onboard fire suppression systems that NASCAR requires on the cars in the NASCA Nationwide Series quickly extinguished the flames and Bueshcer escaped the car uninjured.
NASCAR Nationwide Series officials responded by blackflagging Leffler and parking him for the remainder of the event. Nationwide Series Director Joe Balash said Leffler was parked for retaliating against Buescher which appeared to be intentional. Balash indicated the situation would be reviewed first of the week and any decisions on fines or punishments would be announced after that review.
Leffler quickly denied the contact was intentional and then threw a punch below the belt, “I’m sure his girlfriend’s dad will write another check and he’ll be back next week”, referring to Busecher’s fiancee and her father who owns Turner Motorsports.
If there is any consistency in NASCAR rule enforcement, Leffler will be put on the same double secret probation that Carl Edwards received, no fines, no points, no suspension, no harm, no foul.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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