Weekend That Was: DIS

According to the Webster's Dictionary, the definition of teamwork is "joint action by a group of people, in which individual interests are subordinated to group unity and efficiency; coordinated effort, as of an athletic team."

The definition of teamwork in NASCAR apparently isn't quite so, um, defined.

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Rarely has there been a Nextel Cup race in recent memory when such varying interpretations of teamwork were on display than during last Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

On one hand, you had Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle doing whatever they could to help Roush Fenway Racing teammate Jamie McMurray get to Victory Lane. Of course, they did this only at the very end when it was apparent that neither Edwards nor Biffle could get there, even though they each finished strong.

On the other, you had Kyle Busch's thinly-disguised (or was it even disguised at all?) disgust with his Hendrick Motorsports teammates in general and top Hendrick driver Jeff Gordon in particular. He blamed them in large part for having to settle for second place behind McMurray.

Oh, and then there was the scrap early in the race between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin. Stewart ran into the back of Hamlin when they were running one-two just 14 laps into the 160-lap event, but Stewart vehemently blamed Hamlin for checking up too hard as they came through Turn 4.

"If he wants me to be the bigger man, I'll take the blame," Hamlin later told reporters, although it was obvious he thought the blame very well might lay with the guy driving the car who actually did the hitting -- and not the other way around.

Examining each example a little closer, Edwards clearly performed the most noble act. Running on the inside line behind then-leader Kyle Busch, he chose to take the earliest opportunity to jump into the outside line behind McMurray -- thereby decreasing his chances of finishing second, which he very well may have done if he remained on the inside and pushed Busch to victory. Edwards later admitted that he thought about trying to pass McMurray to the outside and go for the win himself, but realized that might jeopardize both of their chances.

Basically, Edwards took one for the team. Actually, he took two -- giving up potentially two spots in the end to help push teammate McMurray all the way out front.

Kyle Busch received no such assist. Though he later lamented this fact, what did he really expect? Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson did appear to help him along for a while, but Gordon, who ultimately finished fifth, was content to sit on the outside line and help McMurray (and presumably himself) for several laps instead.

After the race, Gordon complimented McMurray and conveniently "forgot" to mention Busch's fine run that fell about six inches short in a fantastic finish. Again, what did anyone expect? Only days after it was announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would be joining Hendrick next year and that Kyle Busch was the odd driver out, it was Gordon who openly admitted that it wouldn't be long before young Kyle would have to be banned from the weekly competition meetings at his current employer.

That shot across Busch's bow was merely the calm before the storm that is now brewing at Hendrick. Gordon earlier mentioned that the "chemistry" was never really there when it came to Busch totally fitting in at HMS, and Busch countered by saying a couple weeks later that he is looking forward to driving next for a team that isn't so "two-faced."

To clarify, Busch added: "I don't need somebody or something where people will be sort of two-faced, telling you that you're great and this and that and everything else, and then go behind closed doors and tell somebody else, `Man, he's out of control. What are we doing? This, that and whatever.'

"It's just something that where you want to have the personnel behind you. You want to have the people that are backing you. You want to have sponsors who appreciate you and back you. And of course, being able to have a good relationship not just with the team owner, but with everybody in the organization."

Asked to clarify, he made it clear then that he doesn't think that is what he has now at Hendrick. Furthermore, he indicated that he was no longer sure he ever really had it.

He says these things and then expects his lame-duck teammates to push him to victory at Daytona? You didn't have to be Dr. Phil to tell him that wasn't going to be happening. But you would have to be the psychological equivalent of one of Dr. Phil's screwed-up guests not to see it for yourself without outside counseling.

Even Kyle's own brother, Kurt, chastised his younger brother for expecting Hendrick help, and then complaining about not receiving it afterward. For that matter, Kurt also reminded Kyle that in the final laps of any race, it's every man for himself when it comes to doing whatever it takes to get the checkered flag.

Isn't it funny how Kurt has evolved into the wise man on top of the mountain in that family?

Finally, you have the blowup between Stewart and Hamlin. Apparently their motto at Joe Gibbs Racing is that even on Lap 14 of any race, it's every man for himself.

Hamlin may have been guilty of checking up too quickly, trying to compensate for a tight racecar, but how about a little patience on Stewart's part? Why is he running up the back of Hamlin so early in the race, when Stewart even admitted that he already had noticed Hamlin was struggling with a tight machine?

That accident and the subsequent verbal tirade by Stewart made the least sense of all during a weekend when a variety of teammates put the Webster's definition of teamwork to the test -- and many failed miserably to live up to it.

(Near) daily double

Say whatever you want about Busch and the way he handles himself and his business off the track, but the kid can flat-out drive. He proved that again Saturday, when he nearly pulled off a rare daily double by finishing second in the Cup race after capturing the Busch Series race at the same venue earlier in the day.

The Busch race was supposed to go off Friday night, but was delayed to a 9 a.m. Saturday start after rains hit Daytona Beach during Cup qualifying on Friday.

And quite frankly, you can't blame Busch for being frustrated with the way he came up inches short of his second Cup victory of the season. At least he didn't storm away from the track without speaking his mind to the media, which is a step in the right direction.

What everyone wonders now is where Busch's Cup team goes from here. His lame-duck status at Hendrick and the simmering feud that seems to be developing between him and at least Gordon does not appear to bode well for the immediate future.

Qualifying mess

Friday's rains washed out Cup qualifying about 6:40 p.m., after 39 of 53 cars attempting to make the race had made their two-lap runs around the 2.5-mile track at Daytona International Speedway.

According to the current NASCAR rules, all qualifying is wiped out unless all cars attempting to make a race are able to make their qualifying run. It's at best an inadequate rule in need of tweaking, and at worst a really stupid rule in need of total overhauling.

It left Boris Said, among others, out of the race altogether when NASCAR set the starting lineup for Saturday's race based on this season's owner points and a few other seemingly obscure factors. Brian Vickers, for instance, got into the race because he won a race in 2006; Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott got in because they are past series champions; and five others -- Scot Riggs, Dave Blaney , Paul Menard, David Reutimann and Kenny Wallace -- got in because they were among the highest in owner points among those credited for trying to qualify for every race thus far this season.

Said, meanwhile, was left on the outside looking in despite posting a lap time of 185.605 that had his No. 60 Ford sitting on the pole when the rains came. Jeremy Mayfield also missed the race when his time, third-fastest when the rains came, was wiped out -- and even Michael Waltrip was victimized after making a decent qualifying run.

Expensive show car

Said's team had put considerable effort into building a car for the final restrictor-place race for the current Cup car. Beginning with the Oct. 7 race at Talladega, the Car of Tomorrow will be used in all future restrictor-plate races -- meaning Said never will get to run the car he qualified in Friday in an actual Cup race.

"Now we have the most expensive show car ever built," Said said after learning that he would miss the race.

(I just wanted one line in this column with the phrase "Said said.")

Pit stops

• Shouldn't Clint Bowyer have found the time to make a side trip to a casino somewhere on Saturday? Driving the No. 07 car on 7/7/07 and working from pit stall No. 7, Bowyer went on to finish seventh, of course, in the Pepsi 400. At least it wasn't the Pepsi 777. That would have been too weird, not too mention far too long.

• Hope it turns out not to be true that Truck Series driver Aaron Fike actually had heroin and the tools to use the dangerous drug in his sports utility vehicle Saturday in the parking lot of the Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio. But if it does prove to be true -- and police officers there who arrested both Fike and his fiancee obviously believe it is -- it begs the question: Aren't the rides in any amusement park enough of a thrill already?

• Not sure I like the idea of Michael Waltrip Racing sending the No. 55 pit crew to replace teammate David Reutimann's crew for Saturday's Cup race. The plan is to send the best of the three MWR team's pit crews to every race, even if it means subbing for one of the other team's crews that now and forever more has been labeled as inferior. It's a practice that Ty Norris, general manager of MWR, said the organization plans to implement the rest of the season, but what message does it send to the hard-working members of Reutimann's pit crew, who now only will get to work on Cup race day on those rare occasions when Mikey actually makes the race, too?

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.