Now I am all for a driver doing whatever it takes to win. It really livens up the racing action. Dale Earnhardt spinning Terry Labonte at Bristol on the last lap to take the win. Amazing! So much fun for the fans to see that kind of desire and passion for victory. The Intimidatior was the absolute best at rattling someones cage. But there is a fine line between driving aggressively and driving destructively. Brad Keselowski crossed that line during Saturday's Nationwide race in Phoenix when he spun Denny Hamlin late in the event. To better understand how this rivalry got started, let's go back to the beginning.
It all started back at Charlotte in the spring Nationwide race last season. Hamlin felt Keselowski was racing him too hard and cut across his nose under caution, crippling the #88 car's left front fender. A fight ensued on pit road after the race when both cars parked next to each other and the crew flocked to defend their drivers. A few weeks later at Watkins Glen, Keselowski, perhaps in retaliation, drilled Hamlin going into Turn 1, spinning the #32 Toyota out. Fast forward to Dover in the Spring of this season when Hamlin's #20 Toyota was tapped by Keselowski's Chevy, sparking another pit road tussle and reigniting the feud between the two drivers. After that, an incident at California where Brad ran Denny up the track into Greg Biffle's #16 Ford. Biffle and Hamlin wreck, while Keselowski went on. This incident really opened my eyes as to how reckless Keselowski really is. It doesn't matter who is around him, as long as he wrecks Hamlin, that is all that matters. Keselowski has also wreck fellow Nationwide driver and future Penske teammate, Justin Allgaier, on several occasions, along with David Reutimann's potential race winning car at Milwaukee in 2008. And after every incident, the one constant was Keselowski getting out of his car giving phony apologies and thinking up reasons why it wasn't his fault.
NASCAR needs to seriously look at the way this kid (who bears a stunning resemblance to The Incredible Mr Limpet) is racing. And I am in no way sticking up for Hamiln either. He gets out of his car, talks about wrecking him back and does nothing and at times, he is just as bad as Keselowski (like wrecking David Reutimann at Pocono, taking the #00 out of the Chase and a top five finish). It is all a matter of perspective in Hamlin's case. If he is the spinner it is okay, but if he is getting spun, he whines like a little girl. But in Keselowski's case, he is endangering the lives of the driver's he's racing against. He won the race in Memphis this year by spinning several cars and triggering several big accidents. Very inconsiderate, not to mention dangerous. NASCAR met with him before the race on Sunday and all he talked about afterwards was how "impressed" he was that NASCAR chairman Brian France was there and how in tune and concerned he is about the goings on of the sport. Nowhere did he mention anything about a message getting across. Hamlin may be a whining baby girl, but he does have a point. A lot of drivers owe this punk big time and whether or not Hamlin is first or not (he won't be), someone will take Brad out behind the garage and knock some sense into him. I for one can;'t wait till it happens.
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