Done proper way, nothing wrong with bump-and-run

What's with all the fuss?

You'd think that Carl Edwards had taken a tire iron to Kyle Busch's front bumper, or keyed the side of his No. 18 Toyota. You'd think he had done something dastardly, the equivalent of beaning a batter in the helmet or hitting a quarterback after the whistle. Busch was upset. Busch's fans were upset. Some of Edwards' fans were embarrassed. There was talk of payback, and warnings that you reap what you sow. It was as if an episode of The Sopranos had unfolded at Bristol Motor Speedway, and everyone had a vendetta they wanted to unleash on somebody else.

And over what, exactly? A completely legal and expertly executed move on the racetrack, that's what. Every time somebody wins using the bump-and-run, there's an uproar. Drivers get angry. Fans get angry. Harsh words, old memories and veiled threats are bandied about. Amid all the noise and recrimination, nobody seems willing to appreciate the move for what it is -- a fundamental tactic of short-track racing that, when done correctly, is as devastatingly effective as the deep post route or the 3-point shot.

Enough of the outrage already. Jeff Gordon did it to beat Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt did it to beat Terry Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield did it to beat Earnhardt, and list goes on and on and on. Over the years we've seen different incarnations, like Busch banging the back of Jimmie Johnson's car on the restart before his shootout victory in July at Chicagoland, or Gordon giving Johnson a few good shots in his unsuccessful attempt to get by at Martinsville last year. It's not cheating, it's not dirty, it's not out of line. It's more difficult than it used to be, given the matched bumpers on the new car. And it's a completely legal way to win a race, despite the fact that it's been bastardized by unwritten rules and partisanship.

Crew chiefs are expected to try anything and everything to manipulate NASCAR's technical box, owners get insanely creative when it comes to points and the top 35 rule, but drivers are stigmatized if they don't walk this outdated, invisible line of decorum. As it stands now, the formal protocols are murky. Do you use the bumper only when there's no other alternative? Only if the driver you're pursuing has used the bumper on you? Only if you have a reputation as an outlaw or an iconoclast? Nobody knows.

"I don't think there are any rules," Johnson said. "You race people how they race you, and you also factor in that if you do this now, you know you have one coming. So you factor that stuff in, and I don't think there's a right or wrong. It seems to be public opinion which makes it right or wrong. If you're a Carl Edwards fan, you love the move, and if you're a Kyle Busch fan, you hate the move. I don't think there is a right or wrong. You just have to know at the end of the day, the way you race people, that's how they are going to race you back. If you can live with that and respect other people on the track, you won't have a lot of problems."

Now, that's not to say that guys should start hacking on one another without consequence. You don't do this on the supertracks where any kind of contact can have disastrous results. You don't do this to intentionally take someone out. You don't do this if you're not good enough to avoid wrecking the guy in the process. But if you're at a place like Bristol or Martinsville or Richmond, and you possess the requite level of talent and reflex and hand-eye coordination that allows you to apply just enough pressure and get the guy just loose enough, and if you're in the final laps and it's clear your only chance of winning is the front bumper -- hey, it's there for a reason, right?

What goes around ...

Kyle Busch wasn't happy with Carl Edwards following the Bristol race. Dave Rodman says post-race actions and words can come back to haunt you.

• Complete story, click here
• Video: Tempers flare

Strip the thing of all the emotion that surrounds it. Get past the anger and the finger-pointing. Remove all the bluster about, well, I hit him because he hit me. What you have left is raw strategy, like drawing up plays in the dirt.

"What Carl did, that was absolutely within reason," Johnson said. "If you're intentionally trying to crash someone and cause harm and take them out of a points-earning position, NASCAR will get involved at that point. What took place was just good racing."

It's not for everybody. Jeff Burton has made the point of saying he doesn't race people that way, and he's widely respected for it, and that's fine. But that doesn't mean everyone who does it is a jerk or a lout or a cheater, anymore than a baserunner who barrels over the catcher trying to jar the ball loose is a bad guy. Done the right way, in the right place, and within the framework of NASCAR's (admittedly vague) rulebook, the bump-and-run is a legal move. Find me athletes in any other sport who will bypass legal tactics because they don't want to be perceived a certain way.

But perception often clouds reality, and the perception held by many coming out of Bristol is that Carl Edwards didn't win the right way. Please. Say what you want about the post-race fracas, but we've rarely seen the bump-and-run executed better. Busch's car barely wiggled, moving up the racetrack just enough for the No. 99 to get underneath. Even Johnson, a two-time defending series champion, called it a "pretty smooth" move. Because it was, the perfect summation of a racetrack and a sport build upon close, physical contact. Maybe eventually, the doubters out there will put their squeamishness aside and feel the same way.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.