When it comes to JGR, forgiveness the way to go

Forgiveness goes a long way in old school NASCAR, where you have to hope a certain degree of "good ol' boy" mentality will always prevail.

It doesn't make getting in any easier, whether you're a man, woman or dumb ol' donkey; but once you're established it can be something of a small comfort.

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And that's why it was good to see Joe Gibbs Racing's crew chiefs, Dave Rogers and Jason Ratcliff, at last weekend's Nationwide Series awards ceremony that was held in combination at those Central Florida icons, Universal Orlando and the Walt Disney World resort.

Which speaking of tendencies, is certainly an indication that NASCAR has long eclipsed its true good ol' boy tendencies, which for the purposes of finance and world-wide recognition is certainly not a bad thing.

But my thought was that it was really great to see Rogers and Ratcliff at a public NASCAR event, to the best of my knowledge, for the first time since they ran afoul of NASCAR's post-race inspection process at Michigan International Speedway in August.

The two men, along with their car chiefs, were suspended from attending any NASCAR sanctioned racetrack activity, although they never gave up their roles as heads of the No. 20 and No. 18 programs, respectively.

Rogers and Ratcliff engineered in concert what was probably the most stunning performance by an organization in series history -- a total of 19 race victories that was capped by the Nationwide owners' championship for JGR's No. 20 Toyota.

If things really fall in the right ways next season, they could do better than that, as 10-time 2008 Nationwide winner Kyle Busch plans to run the full schedule with Ratcliff next season; while Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano, who combined for five wins in '08, will split the 20 car, possibly with Brad Coleman.

But last weekend was an opportunity to celebrate 2008, and it started on Friday with the ceremony's media day.

Rogers couldn't stop apologizing for "my mistake," saying that his self-admitted bad decision had created a mingled atmosphere of satisfaction and frustration -- at what his boys were accomplishing at the track, but in his heart-aching absence.

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Obviously, the Gibbs organization, which piled on its own balance-of-the-year suspension for its men atop NASCAR's, had long forgiven them. JGR had a huge contingent of Nationwide crewmen on hand, which caused driver champion Clint Bowyer's owner Richard Childress, late in the evening, to issue a challenge to his section of crewmen to make some noise to prove they were really in attendance.

Rogers' statements prove he has a lot of respect for NASCAR and the series; and he gave high praise to team president J.D. Gibbs in his opening remarks when he thanked him and owner Joe Gibbs for showing "a lot of class" by bringing all their Nationwide troops to Orlando.

But that doesn't address the issue of getting Rogers and Ratcliff back to the racetrack. And that's where you can't help but think old school is going to come into play.

NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton came to the dais to introduce Toyota's Lee White as winner of the Bill France Performance Cup signifying the series' manufacturers' champion.

When he did, he turned to the Gibbs' head table, cocked an eyebrow in Rogers' general direction and said "Hey Dave, long time no see," or words to that effect. He was smiling, and it provoked a round of titters from the crowd.

Several more sideways comments were only more evidence of the good ol' boys' networks' effects. And that was good to see.

The healing process will be complete when it's time to submit 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series license applications, which no one in attendance seemed to think was more than a formality.

When it comes time to reconvene the series at Daytona next February, it'll be good to see if forgiveness has truly been extended.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.