How Rumors and Controversy Get Started

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DE_Wrangler_2

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Found this at NASCAR.com. After reading it I thought, "Gee, some reporter for AP just started the next big hulibalu among the ranks of NASCAR fans". Ain't it nice how someone speculating in print (or broadcast, for that matter) about something that hasn't happened yet can make it "happen"?

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Could tight Chase bring about team orders?
Most in NASCAR community don't think so
August 29, 2004
01:39 PM EDT (17:39 GMT)


BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) -- The race for the Nextel Cup championship is down to the wire and the points leader is running away from the field.

Suddenly, a slower car gets in his way, holding him up until the other contenders catch up. It just so happens, the slower car is a teammate of one of the contenders.

Impossible? Think again.

With so many multicar teams in NASCAR, it's a very real possibility that drivers not eligible for the championship chase will become moving chicanes and assist their teammates through blocking -- or even intentional wrecks -- during the 10-race playoffs.

The competitors would like to think their rivals wouldn't intentionally sabotage one another.

"This isn't 'Days of Thunder,"' said defending series champion Matt Kenseth. "That's not going to happen. Everybody has way too much respect for each other in the garage area. We have to live with these people basically every week of the year for 40 weeks, plus it's dangerous."

Kenseth drives for the five-car operation of Roush Racing. He and teammate Kurt Busch are locked into the playoffs, while Mark Martin is trying to get in. Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle aren't.

NASCAR is confident the teams won't stoop to cheating, primarily because every car and driver has individual deals with sponsors. Companies won't take kindly to seeing their car wreck others during the last 10 races for the sake of a teammate the sponsor has nothing to do with.

"Teams share resources, but they all have independent agreements and individual agreements and it all boils down to each driver wants to do the very best they can," said series director John Darby. "And I would be hard pressed to believe a team is going to blow the last five races of the year to block for a teammate."

But, if Darby suspects it is going on, he vowed to quickly step in.

"If the situation appears to be a rock solid case, there is no doubt in my mind we would hand down a very severe penalty," he said.

There's still the possibility of "team orders" developing between teams. Formula 1 is the only racing series that regularly uses orders, in which the second driver must always defer to the team star.

Situations could arise in which one teammate gives another passing room, but Dale Jarrett is hopeful owner Robert Yates would favor him or Elliott Sadler.

"I can't imagine ever Robert Yates getting on and telling one of us to back off, the other guy needs the points," Jarrett said. "I can't see that happening in any of these other guys. I know that happens in Formula 1 some, but this is NASCAR."


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Anyone want to bet against me that this topic becomes a big issue in the next 3 or 4 weeks? :D
 
I put nothing past no one when it gets up around your ears. Roush has done it, Hendrick has done it, DEI has done it, Childress has done it...it's going to happen. People are going to be spun out in the last ten races. I've said for weeks that there are about three drivers who will make it their mission to make sure Tony Stewart doesn't win the championship. Kurt Busch's reputation is going to work against him. Drivers may not be so friendly to Junior at Talladega this time. Expect it, it's gonna happen.
 
Some people are prone to buying into conspiracies........articles such as this fuel the fire. Gonna be interesting to say the least. But, I guess I can't blame the reporter for AP..........he's looking to make a buck just like the rest of us. :D
 
Originally posted by DE_Wrangler_2@Aug 29 2004, 10:39 PM
NASCAR is confident the teams won't stoop to cheating, primarily because every car and driver has individual deals with sponsors.
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Damn, I must be watching the wrong channel again.

Teams cheat, Nascar claims it doesn't happen, fans ignore it - at least when their driver is the benefactor.

It's been that way since the beginning I suspect.

Too think that Roush guys wouldn't "help" Martin win a cup or Waltrip wouldn't block for DEjr or Vickers wouldn't race someone a bit harder to help out Johnson is , IMHO, naive. What a perfect way to get your sponsor in the spotlight when they otherwise may have been all but forgotten about.
 
Originally posted by DE_Wrangler_2@Aug 30 2004, 12:40 AM
Some people are prone to buying into conspiracies
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And others are prone to conveniently ignoring what is directly in front of them because it doesn't fit their theory.
 
Add to all this........................."they"(the media) even talked about this very subject on telly Saturday night after the race. They were saying that Richmond will be a real fest!!!!! That that is where we will all see the fight to get in the "Race For The Chase". Friends helping friends, family helping family, etc.

DUH!!!!! Are ALL the drivers REALLY that stupid?????

I think not. :wacko: B) :p :p
 
I have no doubt this will happen. Mickey has been blocking for Junior for years now. If I was Jeff Gordon and I was going for a historically significant 5th Cup and Vickers or Texas Terry didn't at least try to help out a little bit I would be ticked off. I'm not saying intentionally taking out a Tony Stewart or a Dale Jr, but blocking, bumping or otherwise holding up a competitor seems like a pretty good idea to me. ^_^
 
So the way I see it is everyone is going to not enjoy the final 10 races from now on.........it's WWE don't you know!! :rolleyes:

Look for problems and, yeah, there they are.......right in in front of your eyes. Maybe some of us choose the path of " conveniently ignoring what is directly in front of them because it doesn't fit their theory" because we choose to enjoy the show that NASCAR Nextel Cup put up for us. Everyone already sees "cheating" and "favoritism" in the C4C..............and it ain't even begun yet!! :D

Weird way to enjoy a sport in my opinion.
 
Me, I think back to Talledega last year when Gordon, Johnson, TLabonte and Nemechek were running 1-4 with Lil'E up to the door of Nemechek for 5th. All Joe had to do was make a right turn and take out most of the field, including Lil'E, to insure good finishes for the Hendricks group. But, no he didn't and about 10 laps later his engine expired. He could have written his name in the history books for that one brief moment of loyalty. Darn him anyway. :blink:
 
Originally posted by barelypure@Aug 31 2004, 06:44 AM
Me, I think back to Talledega last year when Gordon, Johnson, TLabonte and Nemechek were running 1-4 with Lil'E up to the door of Nemechek for 5th. All Joe had to do was make a right turn and take out most of the field, including Lil'E, to insure good finishes for the Hendricks group. But, no he didn't and about 10 laps later his engine expired. He could have written his name in the history books for that one brief moment of loyalty. Darn him anyway. :blink:
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Call it what ever you choose.......naive, blind, or just plain stupid. But what I find really silly is statements like the above......nothing but "woulda, coulda, shoulda". No facts at all to back it up......only wild speculation about something that never happened and projecting it into a scenario where conspiracy rules. Why not wait till something happens before you spout your wild theories? If refusing to accept statements like that makes me naive, then I choose to be naive.........at least I can enjoy a race without looking for faults. While on that subject......yeah, there are faults........and more to become apparent. But those faults are being addressed. And many are so busy pointing out the shortcomings, they fail to see the improvements.

Being bold with your insights into how crappy NASCAR is cannot make it fun to watch.......at least it would not for me. I'll just be blissfully blind and naive and enjoy what I've been enjoying for about a quarter century. I choose to wait for a problem to arise before I start bitching. :)
 
Everyone defines "problem" differently. Else, boards like this would be rather dull.

It's happened before. It's happened this season. It'll happen in the last ten races. See it or ignore it as you choose. Anybody who tries to tell me it doesn't happen clearly did not watch (soberly) the last Coke 600 Mark Martin won. Matt Kenseth clearly could have dusted him any time he chose to. Mark was in a points race; Matt wasn't. Matt played blocker for Mark.

Ditto (fill in the blank race at) Talladega with Junior and Mikey.

Ditto the race that killed big Dale. He was blocking so the car he owned would win. It meant a bigger paycheck. If it comes down to it again, you honestly think Jeff Gordon won't help Jimmie a little, seeing as he owns the car? You think Mark didn't do it last year for Matt seeing as he owns a good portion of that car?

There's conspiracy, there's blindly naive, and there's reality somewhere in the middle. Fall where you like so long as it ain't on top of me. I bite.
 
But what I find really silly is statements like the above......nothing but "woulda, coulda, shoulda". No facts at all to back it up......only wild speculation about something that never happened and projecting it into a scenario where conspiracy rules.
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Actually I think I was making a point about what didn't happen even tho it would have benefitted his team mates. I guess subtlety is lost on some.
But, as was pointed out blocking for a team mate does happen whether we want to acknowledge it or not. Will/can NASCAR do anything about it? Will it matter who the parties involved are? Time will tell but if the past is any indicator the answer to the questions is 'yes'.
 
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