September 26, 2007
By Chuck Abrams

Chuck Abrams

Well after a pretty tame week of racing at Loudon, the Cup guys traded a lot of paint at Dover, which could easily be called "Anything Can Happen - Race Number One". Talladega would be Number Two.

The high banks and narrow track at Dover make for some spectacular wrecks that you usually only see on the larger tracks. And traveling at 160 mph into a wall that is so close you can touch it sure rattles some nerves. Dover was a crash fest this weekend for both the Busch and Cup Series taking out many Chase contenders and keeping the points race pretty darned tight.

First of all, the Car of Tomorrow (COT) was absolutely driving most of the teams nuts this weekend. Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth appeared to be about the only two cars that were not having a lot of problems. No downforce and a lack of balance appears to still plague the cars even this far into the season. We have the side by side racing that NASCAR promised us with the new car, but it is not necessarily better racing. And we still see one or two cars that get out front in clean air will take off and leave the others behind. So from that aspect, the new car is no better than the old cars especially considering the fact that the COT was supposed to be less aero sensitive than the previous car design.

Let’s fast forward to the Denny Hamlin and Kyle Petty incident. Hamlin and Matt Kenseth were dominating the race at this point. Hamlin came up behind lapped traffic and got into Kyle Petty, wrecking them both. While Hamlin eventually got back on the track 90 laps down, the incident ended Petty’s day. I have not seen an in-car shot this good since Dale Earnhardt got into Randy Lajoie’s face back in the late 90’s. Petty appeared to admonish Hamlin for his aggressive driving and even slapped him on the helmet! HOLY COW!!! Then back in the garage, Hamlin emerged from his car and looked like he was ready to take Petty out behind the woodshed for some fisticuffs. Only his crew was able to restrain him and keep him from getting a whoopin’ at the hands of a guy twice his age.

I like Hamlin and he is aggressive. He made a poor judgment and ruined what might have been a sweep for him this weekend. And when Kyle Petty, of all people tells you that you ruined your day as well as his, I’d take that advice to the bank and not get all uppity and try to show him who’s the man.

I am hoping that Joe Gibbs will calm Denny down and help him learn a valuable lesson from one of sports last remaining good guys.

And speaking of Gibbs Racing, what is up with Tony Stewart? Was he TRYING to get fined and wreck his own car? Was that a dictate Sunday morning to the Gibbs teams – “Go out there and wreck your own cars today guys.”? Stewart was all whizzed off that Paul Menard did not pull up far enough in his pit stall causing Stewart to have to back up. Stewart then proceeds to punt Menard in the rear as they continue down pit road and continues his “fit” on the track by passing Menard and side swiping his car. It appeared that Stewart was trying to flatten Menard’s tire or dent Menard’s front end to force him into the pits to repair the damage.

I have yet to see any mention of a Stewart fine or being called to the Yellow Truck but he should at least be warned for aggressive driving.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I like a little action on the track. But punting Menard on pit road was plain dangerous. Remember how Stewart reacted to Kurt Busch’s actions earlier this year? My point is that NASCAR needs to be consistent in their penalties. I know that is asking a lot, but letting that kind of retaliation go is what leads to the rest of the stuff. Drivers are not sure what is OK and what is not OK when NASCAR is inconsistent.

Now only 2 more races until we see the COT at Talladega. Talk about some rattled nerves…..

Lastly, will someone PLEASE tell Rusty Wallace that it is David Gilliland, not David Gillian.

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.