NASCAR says Johnson's driving not a problem
BY ED HINTON
The Orlando Sentinel
DARLINGTON, S.C. - Despite a flurry of peer criticism for rough driving, Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson is under no special scrutiny from officials, NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said Thursday.
Asked whether NASCAR has any problem with the way Johnson has been driving lately, Hunter said, flatly and firmly, "No."
After pausing to let the certainty of his word settle in, Hunter added, "Racing is rubbing," repeating an old NASCAR adage.
The flap grew out of Sunday's 25-car pileup at Talladega, Ala. - the usual multicar mess that drivers take as almost inevitable in tightly bunched restrictor-plate racing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. touched off a frenzy Tuesday by saying, "If there was an idiot out there, it was him (Johnson)."
But NASCAR considers Earnhardt Jr. just as much to blame for the Talladega wreck as Johnson, Hunter said.
"At 190 mph, running inches apart, things are going to happen on the race track," Hunter said. "I don't think Jimmie Johnson was the sole reason for that crash. ...Jimmie moving over into Mike Wallace, and Mike Wallace as a result crowding Scott Riggs against the fence, and Earnhardt giving Wallace a shot from the rear - it all happened at virtually the same time," Hunter said.
But at a partly deserted Darlington Raceway on Thursday, as rain washed out practice for Saturday night's Dodge Charger 500, there was little to do but talk about the Johnson controversy.
Since Talladega, other incidents involving Johnson this year have been brought up: his spinning out of Jeff Burton at Bristol, Tenn., on April 3, and his entanglement with Tony Stewart at Phoenix on April 23.
"I'm racing hard," Johnson said Thursday. "I'm doing my job, and there's been some things that have popped up that have been well-documented. I've gone through each of those incidents and moved on, and life goes on."
But neutral Jeremy Mayfield, who hasn't been involved in the Johnson-related wrecks, said he has seen enough evidence that he may approach racing with Johnson differently on Saturday night.
"It started at Bristol," Mayfield said. "Jeff Burton and I were racing together nose to tail, didn't touch each other, didn't hit each other. I pass Burton, and the next thing I know, I looked in my rearview mirror and he was turned around, and I found out later that Jimmie just punted him, basically.
"You give a guy one every once in a while. That's not just aggressive driving. I can run over somebody any time I want to. I can wreck somebody every week. But you try not to do that."
Drivers have a sort of golden rule, of displaying track courtesy to those who display it.
"If I see the 48 (Johnson) and we're racing Saturday night," Mayfield said, "I'll probably race him different, and it won't be the pull-over and be courteous. I'll just race him like he's been racing and go from there."
BY ED HINTON
The Orlando Sentinel
DARLINGTON, S.C. - Despite a flurry of peer criticism for rough driving, Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson is under no special scrutiny from officials, NASCAR Vice President Jim Hunter said Thursday.
Asked whether NASCAR has any problem with the way Johnson has been driving lately, Hunter said, flatly and firmly, "No."
After pausing to let the certainty of his word settle in, Hunter added, "Racing is rubbing," repeating an old NASCAR adage.
The flap grew out of Sunday's 25-car pileup at Talladega, Ala. - the usual multicar mess that drivers take as almost inevitable in tightly bunched restrictor-plate racing.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. touched off a frenzy Tuesday by saying, "If there was an idiot out there, it was him (Johnson)."
But NASCAR considers Earnhardt Jr. just as much to blame for the Talladega wreck as Johnson, Hunter said.
"At 190 mph, running inches apart, things are going to happen on the race track," Hunter said. "I don't think Jimmie Johnson was the sole reason for that crash. ...Jimmie moving over into Mike Wallace, and Mike Wallace as a result crowding Scott Riggs against the fence, and Earnhardt giving Wallace a shot from the rear - it all happened at virtually the same time," Hunter said.
But at a partly deserted Darlington Raceway on Thursday, as rain washed out practice for Saturday night's Dodge Charger 500, there was little to do but talk about the Johnson controversy.
Since Talladega, other incidents involving Johnson this year have been brought up: his spinning out of Jeff Burton at Bristol, Tenn., on April 3, and his entanglement with Tony Stewart at Phoenix on April 23.
"I'm racing hard," Johnson said Thursday. "I'm doing my job, and there's been some things that have popped up that have been well-documented. I've gone through each of those incidents and moved on, and life goes on."
But neutral Jeremy Mayfield, who hasn't been involved in the Johnson-related wrecks, said he has seen enough evidence that he may approach racing with Johnson differently on Saturday night.
"It started at Bristol," Mayfield said. "Jeff Burton and I were racing together nose to tail, didn't touch each other, didn't hit each other. I pass Burton, and the next thing I know, I looked in my rearview mirror and he was turned around, and I found out later that Jimmie just punted him, basically.
"You give a guy one every once in a while. That's not just aggressive driving. I can run over somebody any time I want to. I can wreck somebody every week. But you try not to do that."
Drivers have a sort of golden rule, of displaying track courtesy to those who display it.
"If I see the 48 (Johnson) and we're racing Saturday night," Mayfield said, "I'll probably race him different, and it won't be the pull-over and be courteous. I'll just race him like he's been racing and go from there."
