It's about time NASCAR nips on-track retaliation

One of the great aspects of open human communication is the right to disagree, and thus to alter or entirely change an opinion. And after countless hours of debate with friends, colleagues, NASCAR officials and drivers, I stick by my estimation that self-policing in the Nextel Cup Series -- while impossible to totally eliminate -- can only be tempered if drivers know there is potential to sit out races if they retaliate on the track.

Fan feedback to that sentiment has produced a common, quite valid point -- "We don't want a vanilla sport with vanilla drivers who can't rub on the racetrack or opine off it, where anytime a guy is wrecked and the bird takes off he has to pay a fine or lose points. That's weak, and goes totally against what lured me to the sport in the first place."

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I get all that -- and I agree. Robby Gordon's unbridled fury and Kasey Kahne's breaking point and Kurt Busch's gallop both made for scintillating television, and are the latest examples of what so enamors NASCAR to the fan.

Some fans think I've done a 180. Why was I OK with Dale Jarrett's decision to retaliate against Ryan Newman at Bristol and against what Gordon and Kahne did last weekend at Loudon.

That's not the case at all. I understand a driver's frustration at being wrecked, then watching the driver that wrecked him march on unimpeded and without reprimand. Knowing NASCAR can do nothing, the drivers must deal with it themselves, which I explained in a Sept. 1 column thusly:

"It's a lot like the elementary school playground with the menacing bully, tormenting classmates until finally one takes the initiative to end it. Teachers and parents can threaten or reprimand all they want, but until Little Billy pops Big Bully square in the kisser, Big Bully will continue his antagonistic ways. The same goes for NASCAR and its drivers. It is creed and code. It is unwritten, understood self-policing: Wreck me on purpose, strap in because your day is coming."

My stance has not wavered. A man can only tolerate so much unjust behavior before he fights back. It is a fundamental, unspoken creed that has remained constant throughout history, and been activated in myriad ways at various levels for centuries.

Its latest stop is the Nextel Cup Series.

Remember Ralphie, the kid from A Christmas Story with the Coke-bottle eyeglasses and the Red Rider BB gun and the pole stuck to his tongue? He was bullied and bullied and bullied by the big ugly redheaded kid until, alas, he socked Big Ugly Red square in his big ugly eye.

WHAT'S THE POINT? NASCAR is taking a tough stance against rough driving, saying about what cynics expect:  "There have been a growing number of incidents lately where drivers have taken matters into their own hands," NASCAR President Mike Helton said. "Such unsafe and inappropriate behavior has to stop. NASCAR will use whatever means necessary to stop it."  Just short of actually penalizing a driver, apparently.  •   Complete story, click here

Suddenly, it seems, NASCAR is A Christmas Story at 750 horsepower.

Gordon, Jarrett and Kahne each knew his respective adversary would face no ramification from NASCAR, so each took reparation into his own hands.

That cannot continue. Some fans scream for the glory days when Donnie and Bobby and Cale duked it out in the Turn 3 grass at Daytona. That's what made NASCAR so great! True. But those were fists -- not 3,400 pounds of mobile metal.

NASCAR dropped the ball with Jarrett. His two-lap penalty was insufficient. That's where this started. NASCAR knows this, and continues to escalate the penalties. It's time to make a statement and reaffirm their authority.

NASCAR official Robin Pemberton told me Tuesday that NASCAR will preach to its drivers once again Sunday at Dover, and warn them that, if this behavior continues, suspensions are on the horizon.

Bottom line: I grew up in the country and was taught to start no fights but finish them all. But rogue behavior doesn't work. There is a law for a reason.

NASCAR needs to lay down the law.

On a side note I'd like share an e-mail with you guys, one that offers a wonderful voice of reason to all of this.

"It's pretty pathetic that this whole mess is overshadowing the real racing we saw on Sunday between two of NASCAR's best drivers. Newman and Stewart raced each other hard and clean, and it was some of the best racing we've seen in a while. It's too bad that that's not what NASCAR is about anymore."
-- Bridget Clemons

In the immortal words of Kiplin Ronald Dynamite, "That's what I'm talkin' about."

The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.