Yahoo Autos NASCAR Richmond Notebook: Mending Fences Just Part of the Game
When it comes to mending fences NASCAR Cup drivers agree there is a difference between settling disputes with teammates than with other competitors. That’s because when two drivers are on the same team, they are forced to work out their issues with one another.
“Typically, when I have an incident with a teammate you have your Monday morning meeting and then you talk it out after everyone leaves the room,” Denny Hamlin said at Richmond during the Toyota Owners 400 weekend. “The others, you can just avoid it if you want to. You don’t have to return calls or text message back. You don’t have to answer to them in person. They’re not allowed to retaliate back to you on the race track anymore.”
Ryan Blaney said a dispute with a non-teammate might be mended with a nail whereas with a teammate “you’re gonna mend that thing with screws and wire and maybe even a little bit of glue.”
“No matter if you’re a teammate, worst enemies, best friends, you do this enough, you’re gonna get into it with everybody intentional or not,” Blaney said. “Those things just happen.”
Kyle Busch believes a team owner plays an instrumental role in solving issues between teammates. When Busch drove for Hendrick Motorsports, he had an issue with Jeff Gordon.
“Rick (Hendrick) brought us in, sat us down and we talked,” Busch recalled. “Myself and Denny (Hamlin) once or twice; once for sure in the All-Star race, but then after that there were a couple of speedway racing incidents where we had to agree to disagree on our philosophies on speedway racing. That was where Joe (Gibbs) had to get involved and kind of talk us through our differences.”
Busch said when he had an issue with a couple of his drivers at Kyle Busch Motorsports he first talked with them individually.
“Then I bring them together and I talk to them together to try and go over that stuff,” Busch said.
\
Changes Within Sport Contribute To Racing Tactics
Denny Hamlin cites the numerous rules that now exist in NASCAR as the contributing factor to the lack of respect on the race track.
“They frown upon hand-to-hand combat after the event,” Hamlin said. “They frown upon retaliation on the race tracks. So, really, what’s the worst that can happen? There’s just no repercussions. You just try to do the best you can for your team and screw everyone else in the process.
“It’s just different now than it used to be because of all the rules that we’ve got.”
Brad Keselowski notes that in addition to the sport’s rules other contributing factors are the car’s durability and different track layouts, specifically the road courses.
“Certainly, the drivers have changed, too. I wouldn’t want to write that off,” Keselowski said. “All of these factors aggregated together have generated that type of racing and in some instances I think it’s really good. I think it’s really compelling to watch, so I wouldn’t say it’s all bad. But at times, it’s like anything, it goes too far. It’s like having a candy bar. One is probably good. If you end up having four, five, six, probably not so good.
“I think as a sport we are evolving, the drivers are evolving, the cars are evolving, the tracks are evolving, and things pop up like this and we just have to go fix them.”
Harvick Leads Ford Camp
Kevin Harvick was the top performing Ford in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway, recording his third, fifth-place finish this season.
Harvick never led in the 400-lap race at the three-quarter-mile track, but he ran in the top 10 for most of the race. The only time he found himself outside the top 10 was during green flag stops.
“We didn’t have a very smooth day and the car didn’t really do anything that I wanted it to do to have a shot at winning,” Harvick said. “We were definitely expecting to be a little bit better, but that’s the way it goes.”
