CONCORD, N.C. — There’s an age-old question that has never been adequately, 100 percent answered.
When does a driver retaliate for on-track trespasses?
As in most things subjective, the answer is subjective in the extreme, especially when it involves two racers battling for the same real estate. Let’s take two different scenarios and see what we can see.
First is the case of Chase Elliott and Kyle Busch at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in mid-May. Elliott, who was angling for his first victory of the season, was second during the very late going and had a bead on leader Denny Hamlin heading to turn one.
Busch had a run on Elliott that he backed out of on the inside and looked to slip in behind Elliott to get through turns one and two. Busch clipped the back of Elliott’s car in the process and sent the young driver spinning into the wall and out of contention.
Should Elliott be hot about that? Yes, quite certainly. Should he have retaliated for it? In my estimation, no.
Why?
Well, in this writer’s opinion, it was clearly an error in judgment and no intent was evident, at least that was clear to the viewing public. If a driver like Busch had the intention of parking you, you’d know it. It happens. That’s different from an out-and-out dump-and-run.
I will say Elliott has most likely filed that away as a potential get-out-of-jail-free card for use in the future, sort of a free “whoopsie” he can use when it happens the other way.
Busch, no stranger to on-track justice, as much as admitted after the race that it was both a mistake on his part and that he knew he had one coming at some point.
It isn’t like the finish at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway when Elliott was unceremoniously dumped by Hamlin a few years back. That, in my opinion, was a dump-and-run, plain and simple.
Perhaps the most famous retaliatory strike in recent memory was Matt Kenseth’s obliteration of Joey Logano in 2015. You know the story: Logano spun Kenseth with five laps to go to win at Kansas Speedway, in a race that would have allowed Kenseth to move on to the next round of the playoffs.
Then, Kenseth was taken out in a scrum with Logano and Penske teammate Brad Keselowski at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway the following week.
After visiting the garage area for repairs, Kenseth returned to the track and set a trap for Logano.
As you all know, Kenseth waited until Logano was about to pass and drove him into the turn-one wall, ending the day for both drivers and ultimately helping to end Logano’s chances at a championship.
Kenseth judged the response was warranted after the Kansas dust-up, and he got even. NASCAR turned a gimlet eye on the tit-for-tat and sat him down for two races.
Logano was unable to overcome the Martinsville finish and did not qualify for the Championship 4 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In a perfect world, symmetry was observed and the slate wiped clean. It never works out that way, but in an objective sense, it is true.
We’ve seen these spats go on for whole seasons, usually until one side or the other runs out of cars or other events move the needle. Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski went through the same thing several years back, and there are other feuds that have lingered longer than absolutely necessary. Eventually, they peter out and things return to normal.
Racers tend to have long memories. If you’re done dirty more than once, it becomes an issue, and revenge is a dish best served cold. It depends on your personality, I guess.
Mike Eddy, the veteran late-model star from Michigan, had a philosophy about it that rings true even now. Back in 1986, he dumped another driver for perceived violations of the code, with the simple explanation that he had plenty of race cars and he would make sure the other guy ran out before he did.
That seemed to work then, but it probably won’t now. It’s a case-by-case thing that the individuals must negotiate between parties.