No excuse when a driver gives in to the "red mist" (cont'd)

No clear-thinking person would ever believe he'd get away unscathed with a purposeful pit road ramming incident, or a sucker punch. When passion takes over, reason is tossed out the window like so much roll bar padding. The red mist will do that to you.

Busch penalized

Kurt Busch was penalized 100 points and fined $100,000 for his Dover actions on pit road.

• Complete story, click here
• Pemberton responds to penalty
• Busch thought he would sit out
• Pate: Penalty doesn't fit crime
• Garage mixed on penalty

So much of NASCAR's storied, rough and tumble history goes back to red mist moments. Cale Yarborough vs. the Allison brothers in the 1979 Daytona 500 comes to mind. So does "The Pass in the Grass." Even Kyle Petty admitted on TNT this Sunday that he purposefully dumped Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt in fits of anger. The list goes on and on.

These moments are the stuff of legend. They're part of what makes NASCAR. And we accept them with either a satisfied chuckle, or with a red mist moment of our own.

It has to be said that we're fortunate these incidents haven't caused serious injury to any of the players -- or bystanders. But we've been cutting it pretty close lately. In addition to last Monday at Dover, there's the fall Busch Series race at Michigan last season when Carl Edwards almost crushed Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s hand (watch video) with a love tap during the cool-down lap (no pun intended).

Regardless of the type of racing, there's no avoiding the onset of red mist. The trick is recognizing its arrival and having the discipline to resist its bid for immediate satisfaction.