COMMENTARY: NASCAR Charter and Owner Points Manipulation Begins Anew

Here we go again. 

Just days before the official start of the 2020 NASCAR campaign, the annual outbreak of bamboozlement and chicanery surrounding NASCAR’s Cup Series Charter system and Xfinity Series owner points has once again reared its ugly head.

Originally designed to reward teams who loyally support NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity and Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series, the charter and owner points systems have sadly become manipulated to do something they were never intended to do.

In the headline Cup Series, 36 charter-holding teams are guaranteed to start in every point-counting race, from Daytona in February to the season-finale in Phoenix. That’s a nice little insurance policy to have, and teams have traditionally gone to great lengths to procure a charter and guarantee their participation in all 36 races.

In the Xfinity and Truck ranks, owner points are used to fill four spots near the back of the weekly field, after time-trials set the bulk of the starting grid. In the opening events of the season, owner points from the previous season are used to fill-out the field. As in the Cup garage, Truck and Xfinity Series teams have become extremely creative over the years, in an attempt to acquire the Owner Points necessary to guarantee participation in the opening events of the season.

When the system was first instituted in 2016, Cup Series Charters were awarded to teams that “showed a long-term commitment to the sport by attempting to qualify every week for the past three years.” As part of the system, team owners are allowed to transfer Charters to other organizations for a season, once every five years. There have also been instances of “selling” a Charter to a cooperative fellow owner, with the understanding that it will be sold back the following year.

And there, my friends, is the rub.

While well-intentioned, the sanctioning body’s Charter and Owner Points systems have slowly been manipulated to the point where instead of rewarding teams for long-term loyalty, they sometimes benefit

teams that have never turned a lap in NASCAR National Series competition.

That will once again be the case in 2020.

Ragan has a Daytona insurance policy.

In the Cup Series, three charters appear to be on the move this season. After downsizing from four cars to three during the offseason, Front Row Motorsports will transfer a charter from its now-inactive No. 36 Ford to its No. 38 Mustang driven by Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate John Hunter Nemechek. That move is clearly within both the letter and the spirit of the law, since both the No. 36 and 38 cars attempted every race last season.

Front Row’s No. 38 charter will transfer to Rick Ware Racing this season; after either a direct sale, a one-year lease, or a paperwork shuffle to enter the car as a defacto FRM Ford at Daytona. Ware will have at least three (and likely four) Cup entries on track at The World Center of Racing next week, with David Ragan driving the organization’s No. 53 car (conveniently re-numbered 36) in a one-off effort, Joey Gase wheeling the No. 51 car, JJ Yeley in the No. 54 and a No. 52 entry with driver still TBA.

Ragan reaps the benefits of that Charter shuffle, coming to Daytona as a guaranteed starter, even though the team for which he will drive finished 39th in 2019 Owner Points.

That’s not what NASCAR had in mind.

There is also some maneuvering going on in the Xfinity garage.

Hattori Racing has NXS Owner Points

GMS Racing will not compete in the Xfinity Series this season, with its Owner Points transferring to the new No. 02 Our Motorsports team, which will field a full-time entry for Andy Seuss, Brett Moffitt and others this season. That acquisition virtually ensures that Our Motorsports will race in next weekend’s season-opening NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona, despite never taking the green flag in a NASCAR National Series event, ever before.

Hattori Racing will also compete in next Saturday’s race, using 2019 Owner Points from Motorsports Business Management (MBM). The two teams worked together to field NXS entries under the Hattori banner in only three events last season; Daytona in July, Bristol and Indianapolis.

Confused? Just wait. It gets much worse.

The Jimmy Means Racing NXS team has peddled its 2019 Owner Points to Mike Harmon Racing, improving Harmon’s chances of making the first few races of the season. Means then acquired Owner Points from Stewart-Haas Racing with Biagi-DenBeste, which will not field its traditional No. 98 Ford this season.

Means: Maximizing his chances

Nonsensical as it appears on the surface, the Means-Harmon-SHR shuffle actually makes competitive sense. Both Means and Harmon dramatically improve their standing in the event of an early-season qualifying rain out, virtually ensuring that they will begin the 2020 campaign without a costly DNQ.

And finally, consider the curious case of JD Motorsports.

Veteran team owner Johnny Davis played the Owner Points system like Liberace played the piano this offseason, executing an in-house points shuffle among all four of his Xfinity Series teams.

Owner Points from JDM’s No. 01 car will move to the team’s No. 6 this season, with points from the No. 0 transferring to the No. 4 car. Owner points from Davis’ No. 15 jump to the No. 0, with points from the No. 4 car now residing with the No. 15.

Why, you ask?

Simply to put the maximum amount of Owner Points – and their accompanying security on qualifying day – behind his youngest, least experienced drivers, maximizing JDM’s chances of getting all four cars into the starting field.

The owners are not to blame here. They are simply exploiting loopholes in the Charter and Owner Points systems to their full advantage.

That’s what racers do, they exploit legal loopholes to find an advantage.

NASCAR is also well-intentioned in its effort to reward teams for making the maximum effort in previous seasons. But the current system continues to have some serious – and readily apparent – flaws that require attention.

A significant number of this year’s Charter transfers are nothing more than transparent paper shuffles designed to prevent organizations from failing to qualify, due to underperformance.

NASCAR’s current Charter agreement expires at the end of the 2024 season. Hopefully, the sanctioning body will see its way clear to close the loopholes before then.

COMMENTARY: There's Enough Larson To Go Around

Social media is in an uproar today, after Kyle Larson once again dared to mention NASCAR and the Chili Bowl in the same sentence.

The Elk Grove, California native carved out another chunk of history for himself Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma, overhauling rival Christopher Bell with a testosterone-rich, high line pass that carried him all the way to Victory Lane in the country’s premier indoor midget race, the Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Nationals.

The win earned Larson his first Golden Driller trophy and reversed a pattern of “close, but no cigar” Chili Bowl performances that have repeatedly denied him a shot at Victory Lane in recent years.

“It’s a pretty different range of emotions,” said Larson, who came out on the short end of a late-race, wheel-banging battle with Bell in last season’s Chili Bowl. “365 days later. I feel like I’m going to pass out.

“I’m sorry NASCAR. I’m sorry Daytona. But this is the biggest f’ing race I’ve ever won.”

Those comments triggered a veritable firestorm of reaction, with NASCAR fans leaping to defend their piece of the motorsports landscape against Larson’s perceived insult, while dirt track fans hooted in delight.

The debate continues at maximum volume today, with the two fan factions – dirt vs asphalt, big-time vs grassroots – lobbing digital insults at each other in a misguided attempt to prove that their form of motorsport is the best form of motorsport.

There are obviously plenty of differences between the Daytona 500 and the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.

The “Great American Race” tops 100,000 in attendance each season and is watched by millions more worldwide on FOX. The Chili Bowl plays out before a somewhat cozier in-person crowd of roughly 15,000, with thousands more watching on MAV-TV.

Both events do tremendously well. And while undeniably different, the Daytona 500 and Chili Bowl Nationals share identical roots. Both showcase the very best that our sport has to offer, galvanizing legions of supportive fans to pack their respective grandstands, clad in a rainbow of apparel that pledges allegiance to their favorite driver.

That’s a good thing, my friends, regardless of where your motorsports allegiance lies. And before the rising tumult drowns out any remaining semblance of rational thought, here are a couple of points, for what they’re worth.

Kyle Larson has never won the Daytona 500. He did go to Victory Lane in an Xfinity race there – the Coca-Cola Firecracker 250 in July of 2018 – but until he does, Saturday night’s Chili Bowl win should indeed rank as the “biggest f’ing race” he’s ever won.

Perhaps a Daytona 500 win – if it comes -- will change his perspective. Perhaps not. Either way, it’s fine.

The contention in some corners that Larson has short-changed his NASCAR career by giving so much time, attention and emotion to his Sprint Car and Midget program is difficult – if not impossible – to prove. Easier to determine is that with 20 NASCAR National Series wins in eight seasons, the 27-year old has experienced far more success than the vast majority of drivers his age.

“Yung Money” has been a Top-10 points finisher in four of his six NASCAR Cup Series seasons, and since going full-time with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014, he has finished above his respective teammates (Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch) every year but one.

It is difficult to measure the success of a driver against competitors who drive different equipment; either better or worse. Has Larson won enough to rank with Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano on the talent scale? That’s a matter of opinion.

But the facts show that he has been the lead horse in the draft at CGR, just about every step of the way.

Larson clearly loves driving race cars; either full-fendered or open wheeled. He demonstrated that affection by showing up for last week’s Chili Bowl preliminaries with the whites of his eyes tinted an eerie mixture of purple, red and black; the result of an end-over-end, eggbeater midget crash at a dirt track in New Zealand late last month.

He didn’t have to tape his eyes open, Ricky Rudd-style. But Larson’s dedication to the game was on full display in Tulsa last week.

The current debate over Larson’s “Sorry NASCAR” comment is like cats fighting over a favorite toy. There’s enough of Kyle to go around; enough for us all to share from Daytona to Tulsa, Watkins Glen to New South Wales.

Larson is a walking, talking throwback to a bygone era in our sport when drivers like AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney jumped from stock cars to sports cars to Sprint Cars to midgets – sometimes in the same weekend – and earned our undying respect by doing so.

It’s time to cut Larson some slack.

Let him race what he wants, and love it all.

COMMENTARY: MLB Controversy Provides A Valuable Lesson For NASCAR

Major League Baseball finds itself earlobe-deep in controversy this week, after it was revealed that the Houston Astros used technology to steal signs from opposing teams during their 2017 World Series championship season, as well as in 2018.

The controversy first came to light in November of last year, when former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers told reporters Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drelich of The Athletic that the team had utilized a center field video camera to steal opposing teams' signs and communicate pitches to batters. Following an MLB investigation, the Astros were fined $5 million and will forfeit their first and second-round draft picks in both 2020 and 2021.

General manager Jeff Luhnow and manager A. J. Hinch were suspended by MLB for the entire 2020 season, before subsequently being fired by the Astros. Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora – who helped orchestrate the sign-stealing scam while serving as bench coach for the Astros in 2017 – was also dismissed, as was newly hired New York Mets manager Carlos Beltran, who played for the Astros in 2017.

The sanctions were the most severe ever handed down to an MLB organization for in-game misconduct, and they provide a valuable lesson for other sports – like NASCAR – about the importance of safeguarding the integrity of the game.

Cheating is not unique to baseball. NASCAR has long grappled with the concept of “superior interpretation of the rules,” dating back to its moonshining roots. In the past, when faced with cheating scandals of its own, NASCAR and its fan base have often responded with little more than a wink and a shrug.

The consensus of opinion among many in this sport is that “If you’re not cheating, you’re not competing;” an attitude that has done little to aid NASCAR’s effort to be seen as a major league professional sport. In fact, NASCAR is often viewed in the stick-and-ball world as the sport where everybody cheats, and nobody cares.

The sanctioning body has taken steps recently to alter that perception. NASCAR announced a year ago that it would begin disqualifying teams found to have broken the rules, penalizing them to last place in the finishing order. Joe Gibbs Racing was the first team to feel the impact of that new attitude, when driver Erik Jones lost a fourth-place finish to a post-race Optical Scanning Station failure at Richmond Raceway in September of 2019.

The current Major League Baseball controversy provides a valuable opportunity for both NASCAR and its fans to honestly evaluate how casual observers have long viewed our game. As we look down upon MLB and the Houston Astros today – collectively shaking our heads and harrumphing in disdain – we understand at long last how the rest of the world has viewed NASCAR through its myriad rule breaking scandals.

With the benefit of a little distance, NASCAR and its fans now have a unique opportunity to see the forest, rather than just the trees. We have an opportunity to see – from a comfortable distance -- just how damaging the concept of widespread, systemic cheating can be to a sport, its teams and its players.

There is a lesson to be learned here, if we’re smart enough to learn it.

Unfortunately, the reaction of many in NASCAR Nation has been indifference.

“I don’t care about baseball,” they huff. “That has nothing to do with NASCAR.”

Well, it has everything to do with NASCAR.

Baseball’s current state of upheaval is no different than what NASCAR went through in the aftermath of the 2013 Michael Waltrip Racing “Itchy Arm” scandal, when drivers Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers and others intentionally manipulated the outcome of the regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway, in order to allow teammate Martin Truex, Jr., to advance to the playoffs.

Like the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, what happened in NASCAR that day was a systemic, organization-wide plot to manipulate the outcome of a major sporting event. And like the current MLB controversy, the events of September 7, 2013 cast a shadow over our sport that may never completely dissipate.

For those among us who are not NASCAR myopic -- who recognize and understand that there are other sports out there that do not involve screaming engines and squealing tires – how has your opinion of Major League Baseball changed in the last few weeks?

Has this latest controversy – combined with the still-lingering taint of the Steroid Scandal – sullied the sport in your eyes? Does the realization that cheating in Major League Baseball is widespread and largely condoned make you less of a fan? And does the knowledge that the Houston Astros (quite literally) stole the 2017 World Series title make you think less of them as an organization?

Of course it does. As it should.

And that’s why NASCAR needs to watch, listen and learn from what Major League Baseball is going through right now.

Integrity matters.

Reputation counts.

And once it’s gone, it’s difficult to regain.

NASCAR's Phelps Charts A Course For 2021

NASCAR President Steve Phelps met with the media yesterday, just hours before Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400, delivering an annual “State of the Sport” address that hailed the 2019 campaign as a positive one for the sport.

“Our competition right now on the intermediate tracks and superspeedways… is the best we’ve ever seen,” he said. “I’ll start with myself as a fan. I love watching and am super excited when we get to the intermediate tracks and superspeedways, (for) the type of racing we are going to see.

“The results from the competition side are working from a consumption standpoint,” he said. “Our (television) ratings are up 4% this year. All of sports is down 9%, we’re plus 4%. There are fewer people watching television in all sports, obviously, (and) fewer people watching television overall. So when they were watching… they were watching more NASCAR. We’re taking share from someone else, which is important.”

While declining to name names, the NASCAR president said there is strong interest from other manufacturers in joining Ford, Chevrolet and Toyota in the sport, once the new NextGen race car comes online in 2021. Published reports had executives from Honda in attendance two weeks ago at ISM Raceway in Phoenix, and Toyota Racing Development President and General Manager David Wilson said he had a lengthy conversation with that unnamed manufacturers last week, answering questions about the requirements and hurdles associated with fielding a new NASCAR brand

“We had some folks in Phoenix that were interested in coming into the sport,” Phelps said. “It’s important for us. We are working hard to try to determine kind of the timing of that, what that looks like, and what that partnership would look like moving forward bringing someone in.

“The world is a lot different than it was. We’re trying to make it as easy as possible to have an OEM come in, plug in, and start to compete on the racetrack.”

Phelps confirmed that hybrid technology will be a part of NASCAR’s engine plans, calling it critical to the sport’s effort to attract new OEMs. He assured, however, that full electrification in not a part of the sanctioning body’s plan.

“This engine is going to sound significantly the same as the current engine,” Phelps said. “We’re not going to have a bunch of electric cars going around. That’s not what this is about. It’s about having a relevant engine to our OEM partners; Ford, Chevy and Toyota, as well as the new OEMs that we’re looking at.”

While hailing the impact of the sanctioning body’s new rule package on intermediate tracks, Phelps admitted that more work is needed to resurrect the sport’s short tracks and road courses. NASCAR originally proposed that the new package be used only on tracks longer than one mile this season. Team owners resisted the idea, saying that two packages would create a financial hardship. NASCAR elected to implement the package across the board, a decision that negatively impacted competition on short tracks and road courses  

Phelps revealed that despite his promise to make no additional rule changes in advance of the NextGen car’s projected rollout in 2021, changes will indeed be made next season.

“Do I think we need to work with our industry, Goodyear, our race teams and OEM partners to improve what we’re seeing on the short tracks? I do. We’re going to do that in the off season, for sure.”

COMMENTARY: For Hamlin, This One Feels Different

Denny Hamlin remembers.

He remembers the seasons when he entered the NASCAR playoffs as a top bet for the title, only to have bad luck, twists of fate and frequent lacks of focus send the championship trophy home in the hands of others.

He remembers the 2010 debacle at ISM Raceway in Phoenix where botched pit strategy cost him an almost-certain trip to Victory Lane and most of a 60-point championship edge over Jimmie Johnson.

He remembers a stunning early crash in the 2010 season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway that ended his championship hopes and handed a historic fifth-consecutive title to Johnson.

Those failures loomed like thunderclouds on the horizon Sunday; less than a week after a stunning, solo spin at Texas Motor Speedway dropped the Joe Gibbs Racing driver from a relatively secure 20 points above the playoff cutline to 24 points below, setting the stage for another potential playoff collapse. The signs were all there; another “here we go again” opportunity for Hamlin to let victory slip through his fingers when it matters most.

This time, though, it was different.

This time, the Virginia native exorcised the demons of seasons past with a championship-qualifying win in the Bluegreen Vacations 500 at ISM Raceway in Phoenix.

Despite a late-race caution caused by John Hunter Nemechek’s bout with the Turn Four wall that set up a three-lap dash for all the marbles.

Despite a decision by crew chief Chris Gabehart to take just two tires on a decisive final pit stop, leaving Hamlin in the crosshairs of teammates Kyle Busch and Truex, both of whom had bolted on four fresh Goodyear Eagles.

Despite a desperation attempt by Ryan Blaney to snatch the lead away and steal Hamlin’s ticket to Ford Championship Weekend.

This time around, there was no disappointment. No excuses, no “what ifs,” no “what might have been.”

Just an opportunity to finally remove his name from the list of Greatest NASCAR Drivers Never to Win a Championship.

“I can't believe it,” said a stunned Hamlin in the aftermath of his sixth win of the 2019 campaign and the 37th of his career. “This race team worked so hard this whole year. They deserve to be there.  I put them in a bad hole last week. I told them today in the meeting, ‘I'm going to give everything I've got to make up for the mistake I made last week.’ That's all I got.”

The Fed Ex Toyota driver led a race-high 143 laps Sunday, surrendering the lead only once in the final 146 circuits; then only during a run of green-flag pit stops. He built a lead of more than 12 seconds at one juncture, wheeling what he called “one of the best cars of my career” through a minefield of lapped traffic without so much as a momentary glitch.

On the final restart, with former champions Truex and Busch set to relegate him to the “close, but no cigar” column yet again, Hamlin was perfect, stiff-arming the competition and pulling away by .377 seconds down the stretch, leaving Busch to wonder aloud how two tires could perform so much better than four.

With the win, Hamlin joins JGR teammates Truex and Busch in Sunday’s title tiff, along with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick. There is no clear favorite for this year’s title, but Hamlin and Gabehart seem to have everything its takes – including the proper mental outlook – to finally grab NASCAR’s brass ring.

"I've been through so many playoffs,” said Hamlin in Victory Lane. “So many things that went wrong. This year, I'm waiting for the right next thing to happen. I can't thank this team enough. I don't have words yet. I'm going to have to do a little bit more donuts… then go to Homestead."

Everyone talks confidently at this time of year. Everyone likes their team and their chances. Hamlin has said all the right things before, only to come up empty when the chips were down.

This time around, though, things feel different.

The Chesterfield, Virginia native seems more confident, more focused and more confident in a crew chief who has helped him exorcise his demons; a man whose confidence level is so high that he chastised his driver via e-mail last week for saying that their season would still be a success, even without a championship.

With 37 MENCS victories in his column, it’s time for Hamlin to take the final step in his career; the step from “winner” to “champion.”

And this time around, he seems ready to do exactly that.

Penske Acquires Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar

For the first time in 74 years, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a new owner.

Penske Entertainment Corp. – owned by billionaire businessman and legendary race team owner Roger Penske -- has acquired IMS, the NTT IndyCar Series and IMS Productions from the Hulman family, which has owned the Brickyard since 1945.

The sale was announced to IndyCar teams in a written announcement earlier today.

“We have found the ideal steward of the company and its iconic assets,” said the announcement. “Penske Corporation -- with its 64,000-plus employees and more than $32 billion in consolidated revenue -- will bring tremendous energy, leadership and resources to IMS, IndyCar and IMSP.”

The sale is expected to close in early January.

Penske – whose teams have won a record 18 Indianapolis 500-mile races and 15 IndyCar championships – will become only the fourth owner of the iconic, 110-year-old speedway. Hulman & Company patriarch Tony Hulman purchased the track in 1945, returning the facility to its pre-WWII glory. His family, including daughter Mari Hulman George and grandson Tony George, have steered the facility since Hulman’s death in 1977. They began actively divesting their holdings about a year ago, and today’s announcement comes a year and a day after the passing of Mari Hulman George on Nov. 3, 2018.

"For a number of years, the Hulman & Company management and board have engaged outside advisers and experts to consider the full range of strategic options available,” said the announcement sent to IndyCar teams. “Ultimately, it was decided to focus on the possible sale of the company and finding a buyer.”

The 82-year old Penske’s involvement in motorsports is lengthy and widespread. He is a former owner of Michigan International Speedway and Auto Club Speedway in California. He currently promotes the Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar event, in addition to fielding IndyCar Series entries for Helio Castroneves, Juan Pablo Montoya, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power. He is also a major player in NASCAR, fielding Monster Energy Cup Series Fords for Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney. He also fields a full-time Xfinity Series Mustang for Austin Cindric, along with a part-time entry driven by a rotating roster of drivers that includes, Keselowski, Logano, Blaney and Paul Menard. His teams have won 187 races in NASCAR top two divisions.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by president Donald J. Trump last month, in recognition of his accomplishments in business and motorsports.

COMMENTARY: NASCAR Needs NHL 'Third Man' Rule

For the second time in as many weeks, NASCAR has seen its on-track action overshadowed by post-race fisticuffs.

As Martin Truex, Jr., completed his celebratory burnout on the front stretch at Martinsville Speedway, drivers Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano convened on pit road to discuss a Lap 458 incident that saw the two swap sheet metal in Turn Four, before Logano’s car hit the outside wall and spun. The Team Penske driver eventually recovered to finish seventh, but confronted Hamlin after the race, looking for an explanation.

The conversation began civilly, until Logano shoved Hamlin in the shoulder before turning to walk away. Hamlin attempted to pursue Logano, triggering a melee that involved crewmembers from both teams and ended with Hamlin being thrown bodily to the ground by Logano crewman David "Mule" Nichols.

Just one week ago, an Xfinity Series imbroglio between Tyler Reddick, Cole Custer and their teams at Kansas Speedway saw Reddick put into a head lock/choke hold by a rival crewman who approached him from behind.

Those aren’t fights, those are sucker punches. And there is no place for them in our sport.

It started calmly...(Photo: Tyler Strong | NASCAR Digital Media)

With two post-race melees in as many weeks, NASCAR now has all the ammunition it needs to put a stop to these multi-combatant brawls, once and for all. It is time for the sanctioning body to institute an NHL-style “Third Man In” rule, severely punishing anyone who escalates a simple, man-on-man confrontation between drivers into a dangerous, post-race dog pile.

Sunday’s incident involved two men who – at least verbally – expressed a willingness to square off and settle their differences, face to face.

 “He said, ‘Do you want to go?’” recalled Hamlin afterward. “I said, ‘Yes, I’m here.’”

Unfortunately, the two were prevented from doing so by a group of overzealous crewmen who over the years have been allowed to confuse “I’ve got your back” with “I’ll punch you in the back of the head.”

It's virtually impossible to recall an instance where drivers were actually hurting each other, until crew members intervened to de-escalate the situation? It's always the other way around. Third parties escalate the situation, increasing the possibility of injury.

Mob scenes get people hurt. In stark contrast to the NHL’s now-outlawed 1970s line brawls – where the benches emptied to trigger dangerous, 40-man melees -- mano-a-mano hockey fistfights rarely produce anything more serious than a bloody nose or a busted lip. It’ll work the same way in our sport, once we take the crewmembers out of the mix.

...Until the third parties got involved.(Photo: Tyler Strong | NASCAR Digital Media)

Two weeks ago at Talladega, NASCAR missed a golden opportunity to send a message. Mugging a rival driver from behind is unacceptable, as is grabbing him from behind and hurling him to the asphalt the way Hamlin was thrown Sunday. Perhaps the sanctioning body felt bound by past precedent, after allowing decades of such conduct to go unpunished. But that does not prevent them from adding verbiage to the rulebook that outlaws “Third Men In,” effective immediately.

NASCAR should police these situations like the NHL does. If two men insist on squaring off (and most often, they won't), everyone else backs away. Only NASCAR officials are allowed to approach, and in the unlikely event that the fight results in someone actually hitting the deck, the referees step in, separate the combatants and call a halt to the proceedings. 

Neither Hamlin nor Logano are built for brawling. Neither tips the scales at more than 140 pounds, and while the bantamweight tandem might be equally matched in a man-to-man scuffle, the addition of a half-dozen heavyweight crew members ensures the kind of one-sided beat down we saw in Martinsville Sunday.

The last two weeks notwithstanding, fisticuffs are fairly uncommon in NASCAR. Like bench-clearing brawls in baseball, they are the exception, rather than the rule. Unfortunately, video footage of the latest NASCAR skirmish ran on all the network morning shows Monday; shows that had no problem omitting any mention of race winner Martin Truex, Jr.

Dust-ups like we saw in the last two weeks encourage casual fans to ignore the circus and focus on the side show, and that cannot be good for our sport. It may sell a few dozen tickets for Eddie Gossage at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend, but the gain is not worth the loss in public perception.

It’s time for NASCAR to take crewmembers out of the mix, levying suspensions and hefty monetary fines on anyone who wades into a driver-on-driver confrontation. In most instances, the lack of backup may prompt angry drivers to talk it out, rather than slug it out. And if fisticuffs do ensue, at least it’ll be a fair fight, allowing the wheelmen to settle their own scores.

Hamlin Unhappy – But Not Distracted – By Logano’s Aggressiveness

In the aftermath of a chaotic Drydene 400 at Dover International Speedway, Denny Hamlin appears determined to remain focused on championships, rather than controversy.

Late in the middle stage of Sunday’s race, defending Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano found himself in danger of being lapped by leader Hamlin. He raced hard – perhaps too hard – impeding the progress of both Hamlin and second-place driver Martin Truex, Jr., despite the fact that his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford was 24 laps down at the time.

Logano failed to take the green flag Sunday, after pulling to the garage with a broken rear axle during the pre-race pace laps. A lengthy repair ended any hopes of a Top-10 finish before they even began, leaving the Connecticut native to play a backmarker’s role for the remainder of the afternoon, salvaging whatever points he could, while hopefully staying out of the way of the lead-lap contenders.

He did a masterful job of collecting every available point, gaining a handful of spots in the second half of the event. He made no friends along the way, however, angering some of the same playoff contenders that he will have to deal with in the next few weeks as he attempts to defend his 2018 title.

“Here’s the situation,” explained Logano after Sunday’s 34^th-place finish. “There are four or five cars that I could possibly catch. That’s five points. I’m in (the playoffs) by zero points right now, so we’d better get them all. When you think of that, I’ve got to try to get every car I possibly can. I ran as hard as I could this whole race. I don’t have anything to show for it, but I ran it as if we were on the lead lap and did everything we possibly did to be better.”

Hamlin was critical of Logano after the race, saying the Team Penske driver raced the leaders far too aggressively for a driver 23 laps down.

“I’ve got to race,” said Logano afterward. “There’s four or five cars that I could possibly catch. That’s five points. I’m in (the playoffs) by zero points right now, so we’ve better get ’em all. I ran as hard as I could this whole race. I don’t have anything to show for it, but I ran it as if we were on the lead lap and did everything we possibly did to be better.”

Perhaps predictably, Hamlin was hearing none of it.

He called that explanation, “The most idiotic statement I’ve ever heard. It’s not your day, you had bad luck. I don’t understand that at all. That was a bad choice to say that he’s fighting for something. He’s not fighting for anything, he’s just running around the race track. Stay in one lane… get the laps over with. Get the race over with and go home and get ready for Talladega. All he did was piss some people off and what did he really gain? He didn’t gain anything.”

“Make up position? He’s 24 laps down,” said Hamlin, who started on the pole and led a race-high 218 laps. “We’re battling for the end of the stage. It’s not your day, you had bad luck. I get it. But why? I don’t understand that at all. That’s just a stupid statement by an idiot.

“I probably shouldn’t call Joey an idiot,” said Hamlin, measuring his words carefully. “He’s not an idiot. But that was just a bad choice to say that he’s fighting for something. He’s not fighting for anything, he’s just running around the race track. Stay in one lane. Maybe the high lane, because nobody’s up there. Get the laps over with. Get the race over with and go home and get ready for Talladega to try to win that race.”

“I get it. Everyone races hard,” added Hamlin, who enjoyed a sometimes-rocky relationship with Logano as Joe Gibbs Racing teammates early in their careers. “If you’re one lap down, I get it. Even two. Just not 24.

“All he did was piss some people off. And what did he really gain? He didn’t gain anything. He just pissed off some guys that he’s racing with now (for the championship). So now, we’re just going to race him extra hard, and for what? Because he didn’t want to go 26 laps down.”

Logano has never been known as a shrinking violet on the race track. He has never hesitated to employ the “bump and run” in pursuit of Victory Lane, and if Sunday’s incident with Hamlin balloons into a legitimate, late-season controversy, it will not be his first.

Hamlin, however, seems reluctant to dwell on Sunday’s situation, displaying a degree of big-picture focus that has sometimes evaded him in the past.

“Nobody’s going out there maliciously trying to screw over Joey,” he said. “I’m just saying that through these playoffs, you can’t make enemies. You’ve got to give and take. It’s those deposits and withdrawals that I talked about with (Kevin) Harvick earlier this year. You gotta be able to say thank you. Thanks for that spot. … I don’t want to hear, `It’s just racing.’

“That’s not smart. Being smart is a part of racing, too. Not just skill.”

Logano races hard. Every week, every lap, in every situation. It remains to be seen whether that “damn the torpedoes” philosophy will negatively impact his bid for a second consecutive MENCS championship.