I came across a story about playoff drivers annoyed with non playoff drivers:
https://apnews.com/article/sports-a...denny-hamlin-a2f477e0fbbb845fb9b0fb6f51edea09
I thought Briscoe had a pretty good answer:
“I get paid to race, just because you guys are racing in the playoffs doesn’t mean I’m just gonna wave you by,” Briscoe wrote back to Hamlin. “One of the best cars we’ve had all year and I was trying to take advantage of it. I understand you guys are racing for a championship which is awesome for you guys but I’m racing for a job and results let me keep that job.”
It's a rare year that some self-righteous driver or team tries to blame their own failures upon somebody else. Somebody can't get past a car that hasn't been a consistent contender, so they whine and say something stupid about those drivers "not respecting" them... as if they're not showing their own disrespect, yet somehow expecting the people they insult to gladly do what they want them to do for them...
Goes along with drivers who have been enjoying success for several years but are now struggling, and in their frustration claim that the young drivers have no respect for the older drivers... they forget that it wasn't long ago that they were a young driver who was getting guff from an older driver for doing the same thing...
If the complainers are such great drivers then they shouldn't be having all of these problems with the young drivers - the "great" ones should be able to pass right on by no matter what those kids try to do. When I hear older drivers trying to blame their lack of results upon young drivers, I hear an old driver who is feeling that he's lost his edge - he knows it, but he doesn't want to admit it out loud. If he just shrugs off the day's problems, he's more confident that it was only a rare bad day and he's got plenty more good days left in the tank.
We need the also-rans in the field. Some of those also-rans will become tomorrow's heroes. They aren't going to learn how to be tomorrow's heroes if they simply move over or get out of the throttle early in order to make some old hotshot happy... if their car owners think they're doing that, they might be looking for a new ride or a new sponsor.
Some playoff drivers act as if they expect all of the non-playoff drivers to just stroke, and keep out of their way, as if they own the place. Who wants to watch that? Should the non-playoff cars not bother to show up once they are out of championship contention? Should the final championship race consist of only four cars?
NASCAR considers all of the drivers and teams to be independent contractors, even as it offers some carrots to some teams (such as franchise status). If a team goes bankrupt or quits racing, NASCAR isn't going to bail them out - even as race ratings drop due to lessened competition. It is unlikely that one of the big boy teams will come to their rescue. So drivers and teams have to look out for themselves.
I've heard that rubbin' is racin'... but I've never heard that "well you're not supposed to rub on me, especially if I might lose a championship"...
