jaqua19
Team Owner
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2015
- Messages
- 11,264
- Points
- 883
Often NASCAR has its hands tied by perception - was it intentional or not? Usually the offending driver(s) deny that it was intentional, making NASCAR's call harder - but in this case Dillon admitted it, and then he and his car owner and team piled on to justify it.
NASCAR wants to grow, or at least stop its shrinkage, and it wants to be the leading car racing league. It gets a ton of pre-race, race, and post-race coverage and commentary. In the past it realized that while some banging and controversy helps ratings, letting it go overboard costs sponsors and market share. With all of its coverage NASCAR needs to remember that it is shaping the mindsets of young racers, some of whom will become its future stars.
When Earnhardt Sr. was rough-riding his competition, NASCAR and even he admitted that things needed to get toned down. To the nonracing public it appears to be bullying and unsportsmanlike. There are more dollars in the nonracing public than in the hardcore fanbase. I was doing a lot of kart racing when Earnhardt was busting other drivers, and I saw kids in the karts emulating him. Dads were encouraging their kids to copy him. It lead to kids getting hurt and a lot of equipment getting torn up - and several racing teams that quit and were probably lost to racing (as competitors and fans) for good. That does not grow the sport.
"Rubbin' is racin'" is fine, but not "wrecking is racing" or "it's all good if you get what you want". None of these drivers are saints, and both Logano and Hamlin have had their cringeworthy moments too, but still the ends do not justify the means. Poor sportsmanship is usually not what an organization wants to be known for. NASCAR needs the general public to respect it rather than equate it with professional wrestling.
As I've said on another comment thread, we will see if NASCAR decides to crack down on this behavior (and pacify the general public, as has been its marketing policy for at least the past twenty years) or if it decides to placate the bloodthirsty minority who wants to see carnage. Because unless it disciplines this case hard (including Logano endangering people on pit road at the end) it will essentially tell the racers that "do onto others" is okay and that there are no rules during the last laps of a race.
This is an amazing comment.
